The Nitrate Hymnal
Robert Massey
About this work:
SYNOPSIS .
The Nitrate Hymnal is a radical re-invention of a stale form. A live, hybrid orchestra of classical and post-punk musicians plays the score; actors interact with their own projected images and archival home movies; the voices are strong and agile, but stripped of the excesses of classic opera.
The work is in four acts. The five characters are Mimi, Robert, the Grandson, Nurse (aka the Destroyer), and the Lover. Facing the end of her life, her memories all but lost, Mimi turns to home movies to recall the man she loved and the choices that led her here. Each act begins in a similar way: her grandson visits the hospital room to play the old home movies. When the movies roll, Mimi’s recollections return – but her remorse mixes up dreams and history. Toward the end of each memory-dream, her dead husband, Robert, leaves Mimi a canister holding film purported to show the true fruit of their relationship. The possibilities include: the film of her husband’s last wish (Act 1); the film of her son’s suicide (Act 2); the film of her illicit wartime affair (Act 3). Mimi’s paranoia turns her Nurse into the Destroyer, a mysterious persona come to reveal the true picture of Mimi’s life. Each act of the opera moves the story farther back in time, culminating in the true picture of the couple’s life together. The Destroyer, having led Mimi back through her troubled life, opens the canister to reveal Robert’s last gift to Mimi. The film inside shows the young, sexy, carefree newlyweds splashing through their Hawaiian honeymoon – just weeks before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. More importantly, it shows the elusive spiritual state they spent a lifetime – and a lifetime’s footage – trying to recapture.
In action, this project integrates two extremes of DC’s diverse cultural spectrum: the well-established classical music world and the DIY/post-punk community. The aim of the creators is to reach an audience with a hunger for thoughtful, challenging work but feel the established pop subcultures or traditional high art venues don’t speak to their need.
Year composed: 2003
Duration: 01:10:40
Ensemble type: Opera/Theater:Opera, More than One Act, without Chorus
Instrumentation: 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Organ, 1 Electric/Electronic Keyboard, 3 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello,1 Cello soloist(s), 1 Double bass, 2 Electric Guitar, ,1 Soprano soloist(s), ,1 Mezzo-Soprano soloist(s), ,1 Tenor soloist(s), ,1 Baritone soloist(s), 1 Prerecorded Sound (Tape/CD/Other)
Instrumentation notes: Original version is undergoing revision and re-arrangement.