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Hello
Here you
can listen to and read the synopsis. We had to record the small orchestra part
before the voices and not all the soloists have been able to participate.
However I hope you will enjoy.
OperaLove a romantic comedy
musical
Written
and composed by Richard Beswick with the participation of Triin Lellep, and
help from Beatrice Deblache for the realisation.
Triin, daughter of an Estonian oligarch - Soprano.
Marie
Caroline, cleaning lady in an exclusive hotel; -
Soprano.
Chantal, responsible for the clients in the hotel. - Mezzo soprano.
Nadine, craftswomen jewellery. - Mezzo
soprano
Germain, Triin’s brother and trader, - Tenor.
Hugo, orphan of east European father, self educated in informatics and
finance. - Baritone.
Marten, father of Triin and Germain and oligarch, banker. - Baritone
Uncle
Giovanni, leader of the group of stall holders in the
market in St Tropez – Baritone
Various market people,
oligarchs and passers by. - Chorus.
. Love, friendship,
sympathy, fraternity, charity conquers all the problems and difficulties in
life, whereas money is a tool that has lost its usefulness and become a danger
to human, existence. A tale that relates that love makes a bridge between an
oligarch family and a group of poor street traders
No1
Overture Today:
Today is a song which relates the awakening of our senses every day, but also
the disappearance of our consciousness every night. We should rejoice everyday
that our existence is renewed on this wonderful earth.
Triin is
the daughter of a very important banker and therefore in the protected and
secret world of the ultra rich. She has
no freedom of choice, no freedom to live her own life.
Act 1 scene 1. Triin arrives in the very luxurious ‘Ladies
room’ in an exclusive hotel on the Cote d’Azur. There is a secret, closed,
meeting of the financial world. Triin sings. The aria is very strident and
discontinues expressing her total hysteria. No 2 Money Only Money no Love . Marie Caroline is on all fours in a corner cleaning the floor. Triin
doesn’t see her at this moment and she continues her way to the wash room. When
Triin becomes silent, Marie Caroline sings of her distress at seeing someone
being so rich yet not happy, and she pities her own poverty. No 3 « Qu’est qu’elle a cette
fille ».
When Triin
comes back she sees Marie Caroline and there begins a confrontation which risks
to become violent. Luckily, on hearing the raised voices of the two girls
Chantal arrives. She is the hotel liaison person. She calms the two girls. Each
other is convinced that the life of the other is better. Chantal quickly
suggests that their only solution is to change their lives for an evening at
least to see. The girls agree with pleasure but insist, when Chantal suggests
that the curfew should be midnight, and that they are not babies and that 2
o’clock would be more reasonable.
No 5 Danse des imposteurs They change coats/jackets, and first
Marie Caroline enters the hotel.
Act 1 scene 2. Marie Caroline is sitting at a large computer
game called speculation, sitting with her back to the public. Germain, brother
of Triin who is a trader arrives. He has been complimented pour his success,
but he really does not understand the meaning of life, the substantial bonuses
that he earns don’t seem to bring him satisfaction in life. He turns and sees
his ‘sister’ playing the game. He comments on her incapacity to win and that
game. He does know that it is not his sister. Later he returns again and sees
that the score of the girl sitting at the game is rising very incredibly, and
he walks towards her. Sensing that she has someone behind her Marie Caroline
rises and turns, and as Triin’s cloak falls from her shoulder, there begins the
love duet No 8
« Je te donne mon
cœur . It is love at first site. At the end of the duet we hear the father’s
voice calling Germain. Marie Caroline takes fright and goes back to where she
left Chantal. Chantal insists that she goes back to Germain , but she is to
wait until Chantal has been to see if Triin is alright.
Act 1 scene 3 No 13 Chœur des Marchands In the market place at St Tropez, the stall
owners are waiting for clients and they sing of the difficulties of rising rent
for the places and the lack of buying power of the tourists who are often not
very rich, but who come to see at least the luxurious yachts of the very rich.
Triin arrives singing her joy and checks out with pleasure the different
stalls. She particularly likes the jewellery made by Nadine who displays her
creations on a carpet on the ground. The aria ends with cry of pleasure, a
vocalise, at being in the real life. No 15 Triin Market Song Her cry attracts the attention of
the people around her, especially Giovanni, who is the leader of the stall
owners. He accuses Triin to have stolen Marie Caroline’s coat which was unique,
made by her aunt. Everybody starts to attack Triin as somebody rich responsible
for their troubles. It becomes a social lynching scene, ordinary people who
search a scapegoat for their problems. Hugo, also member of the market group
appears and suddenly advances against Giovanni and the others to protect Triin.
He accuses the mob of racism between rich and poor. Triin isn’t responsible for
all the oligarchs in the world, she is as much a victim as them. Hugo says that
we all need more love and consideration in this world and this sparks a flame
in Triin’s eyes that start the love duo No 17 Toute ma vie, All my life, a second love at first sight. They
go off together and the scene finishes happily with a song celebrating the
friendship and solidarity of all the people. No 19 Samba Lumière
Act1 scene 4 Germain argues with his father who warns that
mixing with ordinary girls that are unknown to them is dangerous and absolutely
forbidden. This scene could be completed by a duo between the two guys. Barytone
and tenor.
Chantal ushers Marie Caroline back to where
Martin and Germain are arguing, and she warns Martin that she has introduced a
virus into his reunion, he panics and calls for the security medical, and then
demands the name of the virus. Marie Caroline replies simply with a song,
called No 21 ‘LOVE’
End of Act 1
Scene 1 It is already after 2am and after telling the
girls off for being late, they each describe their evening. They each say that they want to marry their
new boyfriends, but Chantal tells them that if they talk like that, everybody
will think they are crazy, getting married in these days!!! But Chantal
mentions more importantly, that Triin’s father will not like that at all. Triin wants to see Hugo, idem pour Marie
Caroline and Germain, who has suggested a rendez vous, later in the day at St
Tropez. The girls agree to go more slowly with the idea of marriage so Chantal
suggests an engagement party. The girls
agree but they want to at least be able to imagine their wedding. Follows a
trio, No 23 Robe Blanche
“I want a real white dress….and I want black stocking under my
dress!!…we will have the party at St Tropez.” It is late and after the song and
dance they go off to sleep.
Acte 2 Scene 2 Dans le café de Blimey O’Reilly sur le quai
à St Tropez. There really is a café
like this one at St Tropez. Not too expensive and opposite the yachts of the
rich and famous.
Hugo having
explained to Giovanni that Triin is the daughter of an oligarch, now tries to
explain to Gio, what an oligarch is. Chantal arrives with Triin and Germain.
There are lots of hugs and kisses. Chantal sits down with Giovanni who she
knows vaguely, he had come to the hotel to bring Marie Caroline for her
interview. She tries to explain a little more about the oligarchs and the way
they have taken over the democracies, and reduced the spending and public
services. Everybody joins in the discussion, just until finally Marie Caroline,
with a reference to the gillet jaunes, asks if rather than spending all the
afternoon on the roundabouts talking politics, they could discuss their coming
marriages. They decide on next Saturday for the engagement party, but Chantal
warns them that Martin is going to come to St Tropez to go out to sea on his
yacht, event which usually indicates a satellite link up to organise financial
‘hold ups’.
Gio who takes on the role of Marie Caroline’s
father is happy about the party, but says that neither Germain nor Hugo has yet
made an honest proposal to the girls.
There follows an ensemble lead by the Hugo and Germain. “The mode is for
austerity, but we are going to celebrate a plenitude of love.” No 26 L’invitation à l’amour
Act 2 scenes 3 At the Hotel
Chantal has
brought Triin and Germain back to the hotel. Martin is furious, because he has
been looking for them for a long while. He had telephoned the body guards who
were supposed to survey the three of them, but who had lost their trail.
Germain objects to being treated like a child, and reminds his father that he
is major. Triin gets angry as well and finishes by screaming that her father is
a detestable oligarch. Martin calms down
and sings an air in which he explains his involvement in computers and use in
modern economics.
He thought
that a better control of finance would help to avoid the economic depressions
and wars that his father had described. But little by little he begins to see
that the world finance had grown into an enormous monster which could cause the
end of the world. No 28 « L’horreur » After his
air he relates that a very good friend of his had just committed suicide,
terrified by the enormity of the finance.
He leaves and meets Chantal on the way out, who follows him.
The
children are really shocked, and are worried that they had gone too far. They
sing “I would rather have a father than an oligarch.” No 29 « Je préfère avoir un
Papa qu’un Oligarque
Chantal comes back and sings the second verse. Martin’s wife had died
and left him so bitter about the world that he focused completely on his work.
Chantal
explains that Martin is leaving the hotêl for Saint Tropez, and that she will
take them there. He will have to go out into the sea to make a tele conference.
This will become important later. She is afraid that he will be in trouble if
he gets involved in financial manipulations. Triin asked Chantal if she didn’t
have a little something for her father. Chantal then sings a song about her
work in the hotel with very rich clients, and she would like to save Martin
from all that. No 31« J’ai l’impression » Before
leaving she urges the children to hurry. She wants to take them to a special
beach on the way to Saint Tropez.
Act 2 scene 4 At Blimey O’Reilly’s
cafe
Gio and Nadine
enjoy sitting on the terrace and discuss how to negotiate the price for the
pizzas etc for Saturday. They go inside to see the owner. Nadine was the girl
who made the jewellery that Triin had liked on her first visit to the market.
There is a little relation Nadine and Giovanni that develops throughout the
opera.
Marie Caroline and Hugo are like brother and
sister but they met when they were very young in an orphanage. They helped each
other when they no longer could stay in the institution and lived in the
street. They were finally ‘adopted’ by the market people. They are both worried
about how to have a relation with Triin and Germain who come from a very rich
background. Marie Caroline suggests that you need a lot of love, and Hugo
begins his aria ‘little romantic’ where he develops the idée that after the
falling in love stage which doesn’t last very long, and that it is important
that you share projects. No 35, « Petite
Romantique ». After deciding that if they both got married
then they would have brothers in law, and sisters in law and even a father in
law and so they would have at last a large family. The duo No 37 «Une Belle
Famille »,.
Belle
famille means family in law but also a family that is lovely.
Act 2 scene 5 At the Plage de la
Debarquement 1945.
Chantal arrives in a hurry at the beach where
the allied forces landed to re-enter into France at the end of the war. At the
time there were soldiers of from many different countries, and now the tourists
come from these many nations that were at war. Germain wants to build his new
life here in this place where mountains and sea echo his new found love. After
he recounts how he is going to stop trading and buy a little hotel which Marie
Caroline will be the manageress, he will be the chef, Triin and Nadine will
have an atelier and a boutique for their creations, Hugo will have his bureau
de life consultancy and all will work happily with time to enjoy life. He will
invest so that everybody can live and work happily. .
No 39 « Un
Miracle qui vient de notr ’Amour pour la terre et les peuples. »
Act 2 scene 6
At Blimmey’s again
Nadine,
Gio, Marie Caroline and Hugo prepare the party but Nadine is not content that a
banker is coming to the fate. She had problems with her boutique because the
banks didn’t help her. That finishes with an argument that starts with between
Marie Caroline and Nadia and so Gio asked for some music to stop the argument
and starts with a song that has for moto, “believe, hope and love each other.” No 41« Tapis Magique ».
Act 2 scene7
The song
stops abruptly at the end as Chantal arrives running and in panic. She left
Triin and Germain with their luggage to get onto the yacht, but as she came
back from parking the car she saw 3 new unknown vigils that saw her and tried
to go to run after her. The vigils arrive while she talks to Gio and the
others. They hide her, and when they are passed Chantal expresses her fear pour
Triin and Germain. She saw someone on the boat who had a violin case which
contained obviously a machine gun. She was sure he was a Mafioso…No 43 Un mafieux je crois. Hugo receives a texto from Germain who says that
the boat is going to leave….etc everybody starts to panic. Giovanni takes
command and is going to telephone the captain of the port, who he knows, to ask
him to bloc Martins yacht from leaving. He calls the police to say there has
been a kidnapping, and the ‘gilet jaunes’ to ask them to come and make a
distraction on the quayside…Nadine is going to ‘distract’ the vigils, Marie
Caroline to chain herself to the boat and the quayside. The crowd will be
chanting slogans, lights flashing; short pieces of music come in between the
actions. Finally everybody arrives in front of the yacht on the quayside. No 44 Un deux trois go.
Nadine had
cried help rape and the police had taken the 3 vigils to the station: Chantal
saw that in fact the mafioso was a real musician who came from the orchestra to
get more money for playing this awful music. The police for once had not taken
away the gilet jaunes. Suddenly we hear Triin sing a very high note and the
glass breaks, she comes out of the boat on to the deck, Germain follows. Martin
appears and the crowd boos him, and finally Chantal calms everyone down. Martin asked who are all these people, etc
and is introduced to Giovanni, and all the others. Triin tells him that Germain
had sent a texto to Hugo who has changed the password. Martin starts to panic,
31 character password, but Hugo only changed 4 letters, B A N K. They tell him
he has to guess. He tries E U R O, G O L D but doesn’t get it so to give him a
clue they all sing ‘LOVE’. Finally he gets it and goes off, but Triin and
Chantal tell him not to organise a bank crash or something which is bad for all
people.
Acte 2 scene 8
Everybody
leaves the yacht and starts to install the table etc for the fête, Triin and
Germain and the others hope that Martin will make his connexion but that he
will come back soon for the fête. No 48 Danse pour la fête, He soon
arrives, Nadine is happy because he brings some champagne. He tells us that in
fact there is nobody online, only ‘OCTOPUS’ the biggest artificial intelligence
in the world. Martin said that he couldn’t participate in the next complot
because he has been infected by a virus named LOVE, Reference to the end of act 1. A Virus in the octopus code means
that he had security leak problem. Octopus the artificial intelligence did
searches everywhere, but didn’t find love.
Then comes the pseudo marriage with the song written by Triin Lellep. No 49 All my love, I’ll give you all my love The music continues about how to help life with your social relations, how to live connected to the near society, there is a passage a little bit hard rock about the oligarchs and finally a hymn to the planet earth, the environment. It is a kind of Mozart finale giving the moral of the story. It is with our humanity that we will all look after the earth. No 50 Danse pour Demain
Marie Caroline Marie
Caroline Koury,
Triin Triin Lellep
Chantal Laurence Weber
Martem le banquier pour l’Horreur Martin
Milnes
Les Marchands le chanson des Marchands Membres
de l’orchestre, Laurence Weber, Robert Pagnosein
The roles
of Hugo and Germain have not yet been recorded
Violons Pierre Humbert Pottiez, Leonard Stefanica
Clément
Wurm, Pauline Gilet
Violoncelles Julia Colmet Daâge, Raphaël Stefanica
Contrebasse Thomas Julienne
Flûte Michael Kontogom
Clarinette Lillie Daniel
Basson Theo Bemben
Trompette Martin Earle
Direction, enregistrement Richard Beswick
Intendance, et assistance Béatrice
Deblache
Josiane
Hamadi
Lilly Pagnosein