A Village Romeo and Juliet
Written by: Frederick Delius
Samantha Michie
Art 211-LN
A Village Romeo and Juliet, 1907, is an opera by English composer Frederick Delius. The opera is based off of a short story, Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe, written by Gottfried Keller, a Swiss author. Preformed in 2012 at The National Opera House, the forgotten opera was brought back to life with modern performance and technology at the Wexford Festival Opera. So much energy was exerted into making this performance a memorable one for its audiences as well as the people working and performing in this amazing work.
The story is much like that of Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, in which two young characters fall in love, but are not allowed to be together due to a family rivalry. A few years after being apart the two find love in each other again, and go against their families wishes by running away and getting married. A man known as the Dark Fiddler suggests that the two characters join him in a life in the mountains, but the two decide to commit suicide together instead.
The stage performance was absolutely incredible, and the use of colour to match the mood of the music was precise. The yellow tones used in the beginning of the performance match the innocence of the young love that is beginning to bloom, while also portraying the idea that they are outdoors experiencing nature. Blogger wondersinthedark writes that Delius is, “often categorized as a pastoral composer, which is a term used for the type of music being created – that which conveys a oneness with nature.” This ties in the use of the mostly outdoors scenes and yellow tones in the lighting. However, later on in the film we begin to see some foreshadowing in the use of colours. This red lighted tones portray anger and fighting among the rivaling families, while the black tones foreshadow the deaths of the main characters.
The technology used in this specific performance includes a hydraulic lift that helps the stage crew change the scene quickly, as well as a travelator that is a major part of the ending scene. The hydraulic lift was installed in the middle of the stage, and is the key component of the changing scenery. This lift is easily covered by a wall that is lowered from the ceiling, and then the lift descends into the room below the stage where the stage crew quickly moves to change the scenery. The new props are then lifted back up to the stage, and the wall ascends revealing the new scenery of the performance. The use of a travelator is another important technical feature of The National Opera House’s performance of A Village Romeo and Juliet. The travelator is the main feature of the final scene in which the final song has no singing and so the performers must show connection with the music without performing it themselves. The travelator creates this floating affect for the performers, and the use of smoke enhances the experience for the audience. Then the hydraulic lift comes back into play by taking the sinking boat of the lovers down below the stage finishing Delius’s opera.
Compared to the modern performance of this opera I believe that the original audience of this piece would have been just as amazed with the original performance as the modern audience is amazed with the modern performance. This opera is one that is based off of a very well known story, and while it creates its own emotions it reflects the emotions of other works. Audiences are over powered by beautifully ranged soprano notes that evoke pleasure, hate, and fear. While the original audience did not get to experience the amazing modern technology there must have been technologies that were advanced for their time that could have portrayed the same feeling as the modern performance.
Romantic opera is probably one of the most well known types of opera, while it has helped to shape the romantic genre of movies we watch nowadays. This form of opera really evokes its audiences emotions, and tries to connect all the audience members with the characters on the stage. The use of large orchestras and choirs as well as strong lead performers are what romantic operas really wanted to bring to the artistic table. The music in A Village Romeo and Juliet really evokes all the emotions one can feel during this performance, and shows us why romantic opera was such an important piece of the operatic timeline.
While this opera is not one I would typically see as getting turned into a video game, I could imagine it would be one like The Legend of Zelda. The main, male, character would go on missions in nature to rescue his “princess” while avoiding the call of the Dark Fiddler. The Dark Fiddler has the “princess” captured, and is hiding her in the mountains somewhere. The main character must then fight his way through the mountains while also ignoring the tempting calls of the Dark Fiddler himself. Just as The Legend of Zelda has a strong nature theme to it, I would like the game about A Village Romeo and Juliet to as well. The music from the opera will be the main soundtrack for the video game, and will connect the use of nature as the central scenery.
A Village Romeo and Juliet is an amazing work that is not noted enough for the incredible music, and the amazing performance. While I had never heard of this piece before this project I wish it was something that I could have witnessed myself at The National Opera House in 2012. I will be following up with this piece, and try to find my way to a live performance of it.
Works Cited
"A Village Romeo and Juliet by Frederick Delius - Wexford Festival Opera 2012." Vimeo. 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
"Technical Overview of A Village Romeo and Juliet.” Vimeo. 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
"99. A Village Romeo and Juliet." Wonders in the Dark. Wondersinthedark, 21 May 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
"Opera's History." Opera History. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
