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Gerald Barry (Composer) | Gerald Barry (Librettist)

The Importance of Being Earnest

Opera in 3 acts based on the text by Oscar Wilde

Libretto prepared by the composer

"When Tom Adès and the Los Angeles Philharmonic asked me for something, I said The Importance of Being Earnest. I've always loved Wilde's ecstatic sense of nonsense - like Alice in Wonderland in a way. Wilde has a dark uncaring humour, a delight in lying - and that's my home. I don't know if it's an Irish thing or not - all I know is, it's all I know.I would say that if you'd never read the play before, and read my remaining third, you wouldn't know anything was missing. It shows how strong Wilde's structure is. The play's bones are unshatterable. My version is an X-ray of it." (Gerald Barry)

Edition: Performance material

Series: The Importance of Being Earnest

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Description

When asked what the theme of his play was, Wilde answered “That we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things in life with a sincere and studied triviality". Gerald Barry’s fifth opera based on the play is genuine comic with a dark heart. The previous four have remarkable libretti, but The Importance of Being Earnest, written in 1894, is all but perfect in its construction, and Barry’s audacious approach triumphantly confounds all expectations. As Barry describes it: "The play’s bones are unshatterable. My version is an X-ray of it." The musical references range from Beethoven to Schoenberg, all treated with a reckless panache and impish wit, by turns dazzling, startling and charming the audience.

Orchestral Cast

1(pic).1(ca).1.bcl.2(2.cbsn)-2.2(1.Dtpt).1.1-timp.2perc(mar, vib, cym, s.d, b.d, chimes, wind machine, lion's roar, flex, large hammer, white dinner plates, telephone, jackboots, gun)-pno(cel)-str(1.1.1.1.1)

Cast

John Worthing, tenor - Algernon Moncrieff, bass-baritone - Cecily Cardew, soprano - Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax, mezzo-soprano - Miss Prism, contralto - Lady Bracknell, bass - Lane / Merriman, bass - male chamber choir (tenors and basses) in act 1 only, pre-recorded

More Information

Title:

The Importance of Being Earnest

Opera in 3 acts based on the text by Oscar Wilde

Libretto prepared by the composer

Language:

English

Edition:

Performance material

Awards:

May 14, 2013

RPS Award for Large-Scale Composition 2013

Publisher/Label:

Schott Music

Year of composition:

2009 - 2010

Duration:

90 ′

World Premiere:

April 7, 2011 · Los Angeles, CA (USA)
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Gordon Gietz, John Worthing; Joshua Bloom, Algernon Moncrieff; Hila Plitmann, Cecily Cardew; Katalin Karolyi, Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax; Hilary Summers, Miss Prism; Stephen Richardson, Lady Bracknell · Conductor: Thomas Adès · Los Angeles Philharmonic

(concert)

March 17, 2013 · Nancy (F)
Opéra national de Lorraine
Conductor: Tito Muñoz
Original staging: Sam Brown · Costumes: Anne-Marie Woods · Set design: Anne-Marie Woods
(scenic)

Commissioned work :

Commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director & Barbican Centre, London

Series:

The Importance of Being Earnest

Technical Details

Product number:

LSL 10280-01

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Gerald Barry (Composer)

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Gerald Barry (Librettist)

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