opera english

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Memorial Universitys

Opera RoadShow Presents

Lenfant et les sortilgesThe Child and the Enchantment

May 5-June 6, 2008

An adaptation ofRavels Lenfant et les sortilges


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The OPERA RoadShow!

.

A Resource for Teachers

Memorial University

Spring 2008

Definition of Opera:

Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding, he

sings!!

Drama set to heightenedmusic - (of a classical nature)


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Table of Contents

Program/Cast list/Scenes.. 4

Preparing the Students

Terminology.. 5Opera! Questions to ask your class..... 6Great Audiences Are.. 7

An Introduction to the World of Opera.... 8Opera Terms. 9Operatic Voice Types 11Careers in the Performing Arts.. 12

General Activitiesa) Listening to Opera.. 14

b) Opera Word Search Puzzle 15c) You be the Critic. 16d) Question and Answer Period 17e) Enterprise Education 18f) Lets Draw 197) Were you Watching?. 20i) Vision Board Activity. 21

Lenfant et les sortilges

Synopsis.. 23Biographies: Ravel; Colette.. 24

Teaching Materials:Music. 26

And He Said... 28Projects; Further Study.. 29Role Play. 30Extended Listening Lesson.. 31


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Terminology:

Libretto: The text in the opera

Score: The music in the opera

Soprano: The highest female voice in the opera. She isusually the love interest of the Tenor.

Mezzo Soprano: A lower female voice.

Tenor: The highest male voice in the opera. Usuallythe hero!

Baritone: A lower male voice; usually the villain.

Bass: A very low male voice; always the Villain!!!!

Overture to the Opera:This is the musical introduction to the opera. Itis played by the orchestra and sets the moodfor the rest of the performance. It usuallycontains the musical themes that will be heardthroughout the performance.

Arias and Ensembles:In opera when someone sings a solo, it is calledanAria.Ensembles can be Duets (2 people),

Trios (3 people), Quartets (4 people), or more.

Opera...something to talk about...

1. Historical Setting

2. Composer

3. Librettist/Plot

4. Characters/Voice types5. Musical Style

6. Set/Costumes/Make-up

7. Listen to the Music

8. Watch a video excerpt or act it out as a play.


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Opera! Questions to ask your class...

What do you think opera is?

Tell me everything you know about opera.

Some predictable answers include:

They scream Opera singersuse their voices inmuch the same way athletes usetheir bodies. Trying to make themost of the sound they have tocommunicate as efficiently andbeautifully as possible.

They sing really high Yes, they sing high . . . also low.

This is a chance to discussfachor voice type in singing.

They sing really loud An opportunity to talk aboutvoice size and the acousticsnecessary to fill a hall beforeelectronic amplification.

They wear funny clothes Well, they wear costumes. Afterall, this is theatre.

They sing in foreign languages Yes, opera can be sung in itsoriginal language, be it English,

Italian, German, French, orSwahili. Take this opportunity todiscuss the wonders of sur-and-subtitles.

What are the jobs at the opera? Provide a brief overview. Which jobwould you choose?

General Manager; Stage Director; Stagehand; Set Designer; Carpenter & Painter;Costume Designer; Lighting Designer; Wardrobe Mr./Ms.; Make-up & Hair

Designer.

Musical jobs

Singer; Instrumentalist; Composer; Librettist; Conductor; Choreographer;Orchestra; Chorus; Dancer; etc.


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To the Students:

Remember that one of the amazing things about live performance is just

that, that it is LIVE and in person. It is not like a movie or TV program.

Whatever you do as the audience affects what happens on stage and behind

the scenes. As audience members you are an integral part of the opera

and the performance.

So what makes a GreatSo what makes a GreatSo what makes a GreatSo what makes a Great audience?audience?audience?audience?

GREAT AUDIENCES . . .

Are active and attentive listeners.

Keep their hands and feet to themselves.

Do not talk or whisper during the performance.

Laugh at parts they find funny.

Stay seated during the entire performance.Clap and shout Bravo! at the end of the performance.

Most of all, they ENJOY themselves!


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An Introduction to the Wonderful World of Opera

WHAT IS AN OPERA?

Write the word opera on the board and circle it. Then ask students for their ideas ofwhat opera is, and write these ideas on the surrounding the circle, creating a thoughtweb.

What is an opera?An opera is a play in which the dialogue is sung instead of spoken. The music that issung in opera generally falls into two categories: arias, which are the melodic songs thateach character sings, and recitative, which is closer to speech. There are some types ofopera, however, that also include spoken dialogue in between the singing. Opera bringstogether music, drama, and poetry.

Where did opera originate?Opera has its origins in 16th-century Italy, during the time period known as the Baroqueera. Since opera began it Italy, many of the terms associated with it are Italian words.Jacopo Peri is credited with writing the first opera, calledEuridice, which was shortly

followed byOrfeo andLincoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) byClaudio Monteverdi. Opera evolved throughout the Baroque era and became morestandardized and sophisticated along the way. Some other notable Baroque composersof opera are the French Jean-Phillippe Rameau, the German George Friedrich Handel,and the English Henry Purcell. The 18th-century, or Classical era, saw the rise of manyimportant composers of opera, including C.W. Gluck who introduced reforms to opera,and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Some of Mozarts most well-known works includeDonGiovanniandLe nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). The 19th century saw therise of Romanticism and nationalism, and it was during this period that most of thestandard operatic repertoire was composed. Important composers from the Romanticera include Richard Wagner, Giuseppi Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, Jacques Offenbach,

and Giacomo Puccini.

Operatic Voice Types & Opera TermsStudents can be introduced to some basic opera terminology from the lists provided inthis package.

THERE IS MORE TO OPERA THAT JUST SINGING

Although the singers who perform an opera are most closely associated with it, there area lot more people than just the singers who work on an opera. The duties of non-singingjobs in opera are provided in the list entitled Careers in the Performing Arts.

Some questions to ask the class:

1. Do you think it would be more difficult to work as a singer or in one of the non-singing jobs? why or why not?

2. Which job do you think would be the most challenging? The most fun?3. Do you need to have any special skills for any of these jobs?4. What kind of personality traits do you think a successful director/stage

manager/costume designer/etc would have?5. Which job do you think you would suit you best? Which job would you like most?


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Opera Terms

Aria [AH-ree-ah] (Ital., air) a song for a solo singer, usually having an identifiablebeginning and end.

Baritone the middle male voice with a range between middle G and the G two

octaves below.

Bass [BASE] (Ital.Basso, low) the lowest male voice, ideally ranging from middle Eto the E two octaves below.

Bel canto [bell CAHN-toh] (Ital., beautiful song) a term for a florid, ornamentedstyle of music and singing. It features a combination of beautiful tone phrasing, perfecttrills and the artistic use of graduations of volume and coloration to decorate the vocallines. Bel canto operas usually deal with overly dramatized or idealized situations.

Bravo (Ital., good) praise for a performance. Bravo! is used to applaud a male

singer, brava! a female singer, bravi! (sometimes bravi tutti! or good, everyone!)for more than one singer.

Buffa/buffo [BOO-fah/BOO-foh] (Ital., funny) an adjective used to designate acomedic (not comic; see below) opera or singer.

Cadenza [kah-DEN-zah] a florid, ornamental passage which is made up and insertedby a singer at the end of an aria.

Coloratura [kaw-loh-rah-TOOR-ah] extremely florid vocal music, related to the belcanto style and most often sung by sopranos.

Comic opera an opera whose events end on a happy note; the story may or maynot be funny.

Contralto [kon-TRAL-toh] (Ital., against the low) the lowest female voices, rangingfrom high F to the G below middle C. It is sometimes abbreviatedalto.

Countertenor a male with a finely developed high range that allows him to sing inthe alto or mezzo-soprano range, sounding rather like a choirboy.

Curtain call the bows that the artists take after a performance.

Diva (Ital., star) a female opera star.

Duet an ensemble for two voices.

Ensemble [ahn-SAHM-bluh or ahn-SAHM-bul] (Fr., together) any group of two ormore singers singing together, including duets, trios, quartets, etc. The termensemblealso refers to the piece of music written for one or more singers.

Falsetto a term used to describe a very high range of the male voice.


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Finale [fih-NAH-leh] (Ital., end) an extended conclusion to an act, made up ofrecitatives, arias, and ensembles.

Intermission a break between acts.

Libretto (Ital., little book) the text of an opera, called such because opera texts are

reduced from longer books or stories.

Maestro [MY-stroh] (Ital., master) an honorary title for a great musician, mostoften applied to a conductor. Either Maestro or Maestra is used when the musicianis female.

Magic Opera - An opera in which there are many magical effects and often animalsappearing on stage. Often the plot of a magic opera involves the rescue of one of themajor characters.

Mezzo-soprano [MED-zoh soh-PRAH-noh] (Ital., middle-high) the middle female

voice, ranging from high A to the A two octaves below.

Opera seria [oh-peh-rah SER-ee-ah] (Ital., serious opera) a stylized type of operafollowing a rigid pattern, popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Operetta a type of opera characterized by a string of songs connected by speech orfiller singing.

Overture [OH-ver-tchur] (Fr. Ouvrir, open) the orchestral prelude to an opera,played before the curtain rises.

Quartet an ensemble for four voices.

Recitative [reh-chih-tah-TEEV] a half-singing, half-reciting style of singing used inplace of regular speech.

Scrim a partially transparent curtain that is hung on the stage to add a mysteriouseffect to everything behind it.

Sextet an ensemble for six voices.

Soprano (Ital., high) the highest range of female voice, ranging from high C to theC two octaves below.

Tenor (Lat. Tenere, hold) the highest range of the natural male voice, rangingfrom the C above middle C to the C below middle C. The tenor gets its name fromMedieval times when this voice commonly held the melody.

Trill the rapid alternation of two adjacent notes when singing.

Vibrato [vih-BRAH-toh] (Ital., vibration) the natural vibrating quality of a singersvoice.


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Operatic Voice Types

The style we refer to as operatic or classical singing was developed during the 17thcentury in Europe. This style flourished as operatic music became more difficult anddemanding for singers. Its specific characteristics are a greatly extended range,especially at the top of the voice, and increased volume and projection. In order for an

opera singer to make the sound needed to fill a theatre without the use of a microphone,singers must learn to breathe and balance tone in a way that maximizes acoustics.

Operatic voice types are categorized by range:

Soprano The highest female voice type. Sopranos often play lead roles in an opera.

Tenor The highest range of male voice. Tenors often portray the heroes or leadingmen.

Mezzo-Soprano Literally meaning medium-high, the mezzo-soprano is the

middle-range female voice. Mezzos often play boys or young men. This is called apants role.

Baritone The middle range of male voice. Baritones often play comic roles andsometimes play leading roles as well.

Contralto The lowest and most rare female voice. They usually sing the roles of olderwomen.

Bass The lowest range of male voice. Basses often portray priests, old men, andvillains.

Voices are further classified as to vocal weight and color. Vocal weight refers tohow powerful a voice sounds: Is it light and birdlike, or heavy and trumpet like? Vocalcolor refers to the richness of the sound: Is it bright and clear, or dark and rich?

Coloratura or leggiero A very light, bright voice that usually performs extremelyornate music.

Lyric-coloratura A bright, medium- weight voice that performs some ornate musicand often portrays younger characters.

Lyric A medium-weight voice that often sings beautiful, sweeping melodies. Lyricvoices are often cast in leading roles.

Dramatic A heavy, dark, powerful voice that sings certain leading roles. Dramatic-voiced singers sometimes portray adult characters.


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Careers in the Performing Arts

The performing arts include much more than what you see on the stage! For every production, there can be up to 100 people working behind the scenes to ensure thateverything runs smoothly. These people work very hard to ensure that theperformance looks and sound great. Listed below is just a sampling of various careers

in the arts. Which job do you think you would suit you best? What specialskills would you need to develop a career in one of these areas?

The General Director oversees the operations of the entire company. The GeneralDirector has the final word on the company's policies and decisions from artistic to business planning and is the ambassador for the opera company, both within thecommunity and abroad.

TheArtistic Director guides the opera preparation from the initial scheme to the full-scale spectacle, organizing and working with the creative team of designers, directors,and production crewmembers.

The Production Manager works closely with the Artistic Director to organize andoversee the planning and execution of each production. The Production Manager is alsoresponsible for distributing all needed information to personnel, scheduling rehearsals,planning artists travel, and coordinating all artistic staff.

The Stage Director is responsible for planning the look of the production anddirecting the action on the stage. The stage director works together with the designteam, technical director, and stage manager during the production process.

The Choreographer designs any needed dances and trains dancers in the execution ofthose dances.

The Technical Director is responsible for overseeing the technical crew in their tasksof set construction, special effects, and properties or props.

The Stage Manager coordinates the actions of everyone the singers, lighting crew,technical crew, dancers, supertitles operator, and conductor during the performance.

The Scenic Designer is the artist who adapts the setting of the opera to the stagedirectors interpretation, using the framework of the available stage. Using perspective,form and color, the scenic designer creates an authentic representation of the historicalperiod and geographical location.

The Lighting Designer works with the stage director and the scenic designer increating the desired visual atmosphere, using lighting to generate moods and to indicatevariations of time and location.

The Costume Designer, keeping in mind the historical period and geographicalbackground designated by the Stage Director and Artistic Director, prepares sketches forthe costumes. The costume designer then works with the wardrobe staff in constructingor altering the required garments for the production.


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The Wig and Make-Up Designer is responsible for designing the physicalappearance of the singers, enhancing them with makeup, hairstyles, and special effectsto create a realistic picture of the character.

The Technical Crewincludes the carpenters and painters who construct the sets andbackdrops, the electricians who hang and focus the lights, the properties manager who

is responsible for seeing that the props are in their proper place, and the stage handswho oversee the arrangement and moving of the set, backdrops, and curtains during theperformance.

The Sur-titles Operator runs the projection system that displays the texts ortranslations above the stage. The operator must watch the musical score closely duringthe performance so that the translations coincide with what is being sung.

-Courtesy of Opera Columbus, Student Resource Guide


Ravels wonderful fantasy opera uses a number of musicaldevices to make the piece more engaging. A few are listed below,try and listen for them as you follow the opera.

Aria

Duet

Ensemble

Sprechstimme (Whispered sound that is half sung/half spoken)

Fioratura (fast moving sections of singing)

Musical tone painting (listen to the music in the garden scene)

Can you remember which character had which kind of music?


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Listening to Opera: Voice Type Analysis

To be explored after students have been introduced to the definitions of operatic voicetypes and some basic musical terms (melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics.)

Materials: recordings of various opera arias

Suggested arias:Soprano: The Fire aria fromLenfant et les sortilges

Porgi amor from The Marriage of Figaro by MozartQuando men v fromLa Bohme by Puccini

Mezzo-Soprano: Toi la coeur de la rosefromLenfant et les sortilgesUna voce poco fa from The Barber of Seville by RossiniLamour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) from Carmen by Bizet

Tenor: Una furtiva lagrima from The Elixir of Love by Donizetti

La fleur que tu mavais jete from Carmen by BizetPourquoi me rveiller from Wertherby Massenet

Bass-Baritone:Duet of Fauteuil et Bergre fromLenfant et les sortilgesNon piu andrai from The Marriage of Figaro by MozartLargo al factotum from The Barber of Seville by Rossini

Words frequently used to describe the spectrum of Vocal Sound:Bright-Dark; Light-Heavy; Fast (agile)-Slow; Low-High.

PROCEDURE

Play an excerpt from an opera aria for the class and ask them to identify the voicetype

Once the voice type is determined have students review what they already knowabout that particular voice type

Listen to the excerpt a second time, this time asking students to write down whatthe music tells them about the character

Some questions to consider:

1. How old do you think the character is?2. Do you think the character is good or evil?3. What else can you tell about this characters personality based on what you

hear? Their emotional state . . .

End the activity by discussing what they would expect to hear from asoprano/mezzo/tenor/baritone aria, and whether or not what they actually heardmet their expectations


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Opera Word Search

s o p e r a a m m p o a

e i t d t l e d e i b o

r o n e t l t e g a t s

e e u g o e l b r n s n

n d n d e g a e r o l s

s o y g e r s u p i c r

e e p l i o r r b o o s

m m t t p s a r i a s o

b t o m p n e p s a t p

l n o o o t h d b s u m

e c r s t m e z z o m e

i p r o v e r t u r e t

ariaallegro

baritone

designer

duetbass

operapiano

score

rehearsalmelody

singercomposer

librettocostume

set

stage

ensemblesoprano

propsmezzo

tempo

tenor

overture


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You Be the Critic

Journal your Favorite Moment from the Opera.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Question and Answer Period

The pre-performance introduction and post-performance question andanswer period will be conducted in English and French and will be directed

by one of our cast members. These interactive exchanges are beneficial in

reinforcing communication skills.

What questions would you ask a member of the cast?

1._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Enterprise Education

An additional component of the Opera RoadShow is its connection to EnterpriseEducation as detailed in the Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum Guide.Young audiences will see Enterprise Thinking modeled through risk taking,

teamwork, organization and management, communication and creative and critical

thought.

Prior to our live performance have in class discussions about what could go wrongin live theatre. Allow their creative and critical minds to wander.

Examples include (all of which have actually happened to us by the way):

A singer may lose their voice

A singer may forget a phrase (line)

A singer may fall, sprain an ankle

A singer may make a false (wrong) entrance

The pianists music may fall off the music stand

The lights may go out


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LETS DRAW

Use the space below to be creative and draw

your favorite word or character used in the opera.

Dont forget to be creative!

WereYou Watching?


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Were you Watching?

Do you think you were watching carefully?

Lets See . . .

Often times in opera one person will play many different characters or roles. They

will often change costume and sometimes wear makeup to help them portray a newand engaging character. This character can be a person or as you saw in our opera,

people can play things and animals too.

InLenfant et les sortilges there were six character in total playing 15 roles.Can you list the 15 roles that were played?

1.___________________ 13._____________________________

2.___________________ 14._____________________________

3.___________________ 15._____________________________

4.___________________

5.___________________

6.___________________

7.___________________

8.___________________

9.___________________

10.__________________

11.__________________

12.__________________


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VISION BOARD ACTIVITY

After listening to music our emotions and feelings can change. Followingthe performance of the operaLenfant et les sortilges, did you notice andchange in how you were feeling?

Did you feel bad for the boy?

Were you ever frightened or worried?

Did you laugh when the footstool came to life?

Did you feel happy when the boy was kind to the squirrel?

Music can make us laugh, make us cry and sometimes make us feel sad.Sometimes when we are watching TV or a movie there is music playing in

the background. It is there to help us understand and FEEL what ishappening. The next time you are watching TV or a movie notice how often

you will hear music playing and pay attention to what the music makes youfeel.

Use the four spaces provided to draw some different emotions that youexperienced while listening and watching our opera.

Remember, there are no wrong answers here; everyones answer will beunique to them.


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VISION BOARD


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Synopsis


Scene I: We begin in the room of a young boy. The Child has refuses to do his homework. His

mother catches him and scolds him for his bad attitude. When he defiantly sticks out his tongueat her, she leaves him his lunch and tells him to stay in his room and think about what he has

done until dinnertime.

The Child decides to make a mess. He begins by breaking the Teapot and Cup. He torments the

Squirrel, tosses the Black Cat, stirs up the Fire in the fireplace then rips the leaves of his fairytalestorybook, yelling I am free, free, nasty and free.

Exhausted, the Child starts to fall into the Armchair. Disgusted with the Child's tantrum, theArmchair moves away and asks his companion, the Footstool to dance. Other furniture pieces

also come to life, spurred on by the horrible behavior of the Child. The Teapot boxing with the

child and the cracked Chinese Cup begin speaking in broken English and Chinese.

As the sun sets, the Child grows chilly, he draws near the Fire but much to his dismay Fire

begins to chase him, emitting musical sparks and threatening to punish him for his tantrum.

Utterly exhausted and bewildered, the Child begins to weep. A Princess from his ruinedstorybooks appears, but she pulls out of reach as the Child tries to touch her. The Child tries to

piece together the last pages of the Princess' fairy tale to find her happy ending but cannot and

she disappears. The Black Cat appears, joining voices in a meowing duet with a White Cat.

Scene II: The Black Cat leads us outside into thegarden. The Child's relief at being out of his

room is short-lived, for now creatures of the garden remind him of his misdeeds. The Dragonflyand the Bat are angry and the escaped Squirrel appears, physically unharmed, but mourning the

years he spent locked in a cage.

Scared, the Child calls for his mother, but the animals surround him. As they jostle about the

squirrel is injured. In a selfless act of kindness, the Child bandages the Squirrel's paw with a

ribbon, and the animals see his repentance of his past misdeeds. They try to imitate his humancry of "Mama! They leave him, reflecting that in spite of his misdeeds he is truly good and kind

at heart. Il est bon lenfant, il est sage.

-Adapted from The Metropolitan Opera Synopsis


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About the Composer

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in the Basses Pyrnes. Afew months later, the family moved to Paris, where Ravel was tospend most of his life. He showed an early predilection for music, and

his father, unlike so many other fathers of talented musicians, actively

encouraged him. Ravel entered the prestigious Paris Conservatoire atage 14, but left in July of 1895 without acquiring any distinguishing

honors. He did return in 1898 to study composition with Faur, but

his willful transgression of musical rules insured that he would again

win no compositional prizes.

Despite his lack of academic success, Ravel found a niche withcontemporary audiences. Over the next decade his popularity in France grew with piano pieces

such asJeux deau andPavane pour une infante dfunte. He began work on a couple of operaticprojects (La cloche engloutie and Olympia) which he never finished, although he did use somematerial fromLa cloche in his first complete opera,Lheure espagnole, written from 1907-1909.

In 1915 Ravel enlisted with the French army, feeling very strongly that an artist should fully

experience the traumas afflicting his country. He missed the minimum weight requirement forsoldiers by a couple of kilograms and so was assigned to be a driver, a job he found less than

fulfilling. After only eighteen months he was taken ill with dysentery and returned to Paris.

Shortly after his return, Ravels mother died. Her death was an emotional blow from which henever fully recovered. Always a meticulous composer, Ravels compositional process further

slowed due to these various stresses. It took him five years to completeLenfant et les Sortilges(1920-1925), only about an hours worth of music.

Ravel began to show signs of a debilitating brain illness as early as 1932. There is some dispute

as to what the fatal disease was; Alzheimers and Picks disease have been suggested. As the

disease progressed, he found it difficult to write and to speak clearly. Musical aphasia also set in,

so that he could hear wrong notes in pieces played to him, but could not write down newcompositions. Although he was mentally composing and working on a couple of different

projects (notably an opera about Joan of Arc), he was unable to transcribe the music he alone

could hear. He died in December 1937 after an unsuccessful brain operation.

Ravels music is known for its clocklike precision and his novel use of modern styles. Bitonality

(using two keys simultaneously) and jazz elements infuse his work, especiallyLenfant. Ravelwas also influenced by the "exotic" sounds of the Javanese gamelan and of Russian music, bothof which he heard at the 1889 Paris World Fair.

-Adapted from http://archive.operainfo.org/broadcast/composer.cgi?id=45&language=1


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Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, LibrettistColette, 1937.born Jan. 28, 1873, Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Francedied Aug. 3, 1954, ParisOutstanding French writer of the first half of the 20th century, whose best novels,largely concerned with the pains and pleasures of love. Her greatest strength as awriter is an exact sensory evocation of sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and colours ofher world.

Colette grew up in a village in Burgundy, where her much-loved mother awakened herto the wonders of the natural worldeverything that germinates, blossoms, or flies.

At age 20 and ill-prepared for both married life and the Paris scene, Colette marriedthe writer and critic Henri Gauthier-Villars (Willy), 15 years her senior. Heintroduced her to the world of Parisian salons and, not long after their marriage, hediscovered her talent for writing. Her early novels were published under the nameColette Willy.

Colette left Willy in 1906. Though her slightly salacious novels were wildly popular, aswere the plays derived from them, she saw none of her earnings; Willy kept theroyalties. Ever resourceful, she took a job as a music-hall performer, working longhours to keep poverty at bay. Her books explore all aspects of female love and life.

Her most well-known work was perhaps Gigi (1944), the story of a girl reared by twoelderly sisters to become a courtesan, was adapted for both stage and screen. Acharming musical film version of 1958, starring Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, anda winsome Leslie Caron, enjoyed great popularity.

Colette was made a member of the Belgian Royal Academy (1935) and the FrenchAcadmie Goncourt (1945) and a grand officer of the Legion of Honourall honoursrarely granted to women.

A delicate and humorous realist, Colette was the annalist of female existence. Shewrote chiefly of women in non-traditional roles. Her chosen format was the novella,

her style a blend of the sophisticated and the natural. From 1949 she was increasinglycrippled by arthritis. She ended her days, a legendary figure surrounded by herbeloved cats, confined to her beautiful Palais-Royal apartment overlooking Paris.

She wrote Lenfant et les sortilges as Divertissement pour ma fille (entertainmentfor my Daughter.)

-From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette


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Lenfant et les sortilges: The Music

Ravel created a world of childhood fantasy in this one act opera. He had a sympathetic

understanding of children and make-believe. The opera consists of brief episodes, each of which

is self-contained as to style. He employed a large orchestra with colorful orchestration and usedsome unusual instruments for special effect. We are using a piano, but here are some specific

examples of this realistic tone painting that occur in voice and orchestra.

1)The teapot and Chinese cup perform a dance to a ragtime rhythm. The teapot sings inEnglish while the cup sings in pseudo-Chinese. The musical style is a parody of 1920s jazz,

including piano, slide trombone, xylophone, wood block and the cheese grater. Note that

the dance between the teapot and the cup is written in 2 different keys simultaneously--F

major and C flat major!

Exercises:How would you move as a teapot? Are his movements indicated by the rhythm of the music?Which line of the music represents the teacup and which is the pot?

2)The Fire comes alive and spits in the Child's face. To an elaborate coloratura passage, itdeclares that it can warm those who are good and burn those children who are bad.

Exercises:

How does the line of the music imitate the character of fire? How do we know she is angry?Look at the range of the vocal line (high or low), speed (fast or slow), line (broken or sustained)

Choose one word toornament in the style of the characters emotion: angry, joyful, or sad.

Allow your voice to travel, fast or slow, on one syllable in any direction. Dont be afraid to play.

3)The Black and White Cat sing a duet, first in alternation then in harmony. No actual

words are sung, but the syllables of "Mi-in-hou" and "Mor-na-ou" sung nasally by the two

cats, together with added crescendos and decrescendos for dramatic effect create an

onomatopoeic "Cat Duet. The meter is unusual and Ravel specifically indicated that the

"cats" should slide into their pitches.


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Exercises:Can you sing in a cats voice, what about a bats. Play with the speed and range

4)Introduced by a trill, a Nightingale colorfully chips away. Beneath her, a Dragonfly

pines for the mate she has lost that the Child has taken.

Exercises:

What makes this sound birdlike? Ravel has used a trill (voice alternating between two pitches) toimply a bird song. Create your own bird song and then add appropriate movement.

5)A Squirrel is accompanied by a jerky rhythm as a Frog stutters away.

6)All the animals attack the child for having been such a mean boy. During this theSquirrel gets injured. As the other animals watch, the Child takes a ribbon and binds up

the Squirrel's paw. They realize that the Child has learned his lesson and that deep downhe is really good and kind. A final tender chorus is sung by all, in overlapping lines, "He is

good, the Child, he is wise, so wise.

Adapted From The Metropolitan Opera-http://archive.operainfo.org/broadcast/operaTeaching.cgi?id=45&language=1&material_id=230


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And they said . . .

The following are quotes aboutLenfant et les sortilgesand its creations:

... M. Rouche asked me to write the scenario for a fantasy-ballet at the Opera. Being a slow,

laborious worker, I still do not know how I produced Lenfant et les sortilges for him in eightdays ... He liked it and began to suggest some composers. I considered them as politely as I

could. Then after a silence Rouche said, "And if I suggested Ravel?" I stopped being polite

instantly and gave vent to my enthusiasm. "We mustn't be under any illusions," Rouche said, "itcould take a long time, even if Ravel accepts."

He accepted. It did take a long time ...

The only thing he seemed to be worried about was the miaowing duet between the two cats, and

he asked me most seriously if I would mind his changing "mouao" into "mouain" - or perhaps it

was the other way round ...

The score of Lenfant et les sortilges is now famous. How can I describe my emotion when, for

the first time, I heard . . . the moonlight in the garden, the flight of the dragonflies and bats ..."Isn't is fun?" Ravel would say. But I could feel a knot of tears tightening in my throat.

(Colette, The Librettist)

On another level, Lenfant et les sortilges, a lyric fantasy in two scenes, obeys the same

precepts [as the duo for violin and cello]. The striving for melody . . . Madame Colette's libretto

justified this freedom by its magical content. Here it is song that dominates. Without disdaininginstrumental virtuosity, the orchestra nevertheless remains in the background.

(Maurice Ravel, The Composer)

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette ... was not the most likely collaborator. When they agreed to worktogether they had known each other for twenty years and had never particularly liked each other... Reading her libretto six or seven years later he must have realized that they had more in

common than he thought, including not only a love of animals but a feeling for the personality of

inanimate objects too ... If they approached the work from different directions - Colette as amother of a child who needs her, Ravel as a child who needs a mother - the symbiosis was no

less effective for that. (Gerald Larner, Author and expert on Maurice Ravel)

Ravel never outgrew the world of his childhood, which he continued to furnish with toys,mechanical birds, music boxes, figurines ... at fifty [he composed] the doll's-house opera

Lenfant et les sortilges, which, though a miniature in every sense, is also the largest work of his

later life. (Robert Craft, Conductor, Author)

All his life Ravel moved in a world of children and animals. He suffered endlessly from the

discrepancy between his own size and that of the rest of mankind, but it provided him with the

creative stimulus to overcome this gap. The worship of his mother was the center of his life untilhis forty-second year ...And so we have this mother image in Colette's play of dream and magic.

It is only hinted at briefly, as would be figures in a dream ...

(H. H. Stuckenschmidt, Critic & Author)


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... I remember Ravel's bitter recriminations concerning the visual presentation of the work that

was so dear to him. His unhappiness was so acute that he said over and over again he wishedWalt Disney had illustrated his music, so badly had the designers and producers of the lyric

theater served him! (Manuel Rosenthal, Composer, Conductor and Pupil of Ravel)

Manuel Rosenthal told me that [Ravel] was both sophisticated and childlike. Mind you, artistsare often like that. The child in Picasso is obviously there - the capacity to delight in all kinds of

things and to find the world constantly interesting. Colette's little story brought out the child in

Ravel, which wasn't too difficult, and his music brought it out in me, which wasn't difficulteither. (David Hockney, English Painter, Photographer and Stage Designer)

The legendary Orpheus could sway trees and soothe threatening animals; the operatic Orpheus

can do better than that, enabling those trees and animals to sing ... Ravel's Lenfant et lessortilges, in which the nursery furniture and the garden shrubbery conspire to punish the spoiled

child of Colette's story, invents a musical language for elemental or vegetable nature: sparky

coloratura for the expiring fire, a rumbling brassy lament for the tree trunk wounded by the boy's

knife. The teacups garrulously chatter and clink, while the garden moans like a wild beast ...They lead the way back to nature, and back through the history of opera. In Ravel's humming,

droning garden, a nightingale - that most intuitively brilliant of opera singers - does its bel canto

exercises ...The single human word Ravel's animals learn from the child is "Maman!"Reverently singing it together, they announce our matrilineal membership in Eden.

(Peter Conrad, Critic)

PROJECTS AND FURTHER STUDY

The opportunities for further study are so vast that we can mention only a few, by category:

Literature: Read other works that draw on the fantastic;Alice in Wonderland; The Hobbit;Beauty and the Beast; Maurice Sendaks Where the Wild Things Are. Explore the poems ofGuillaume Apollinaire.

History: Explore life in France during the First World War

Dance: Research into the history and achievements of Diaghilev and his Ballets Russe.

Art: The movements known as Dada and Surrealism (in literature, too); the works and careers ofPicasso and Hockney, especially their designs for the stage; the art of Cocteau. The Hockneydesigns for Mozart's The Magic Flute (Met production) and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress

(Glyndebourne) are available on video. Many other distinguished artists have designed opera,

among them Marc Chagall (for a Met Magic Flute in the 1960's) and the children's author

Maurice Sendak (several works for the New York City Opera and elsewhere, and a televisionversion of Lenfant!).

Opera: Satie's Socrate; Poulenc'sDialogues of the Carmlites; Ravel'sL'Heure Espagnole.Also, these composers all wrote ballets.

Video: Several video versions of Lenfant are, or have been, available, including one that makes

extensive use of animation techniques. The original Picasso designs and costumes for Parade

were revived by the Joffrey Ballet, with an approximate reconstruction of the originalchoreography, and that production may also have been preserved on video. There are also a

number of versions available through YouTube online.


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Music: Satie and his "group of six" (which included Poulenc); the influence of jazz on the works

of Ravel; the ways in which French musical aesthetics are distinctive.

Exercises

1. Choose a work from opera, dance, and/or theater repertory that you think would make an

appropriate triple bill. Explain why, put them in the best order, and figure out ways to make the

connections between the works clear.

2. Challenge theRoadShow with your own designs for your production ofLenfant.

3. Choose a suitable musical work from one of the composers of this time period and choreograph

a dance to it.

ROLE PLAY

Exercises:

1. Ask the class how they would punish a 7 year old boy who destroyed his room and wasdisobedient. Ask them to devise a punishment that would be appropriate and ultimatelyteach him a lesson.

2. Move in the way of one of the animals in the opera: cat, bat, dragonfly, frog, squirrel.3. How would a squirrel sing if they could? How would a cat sing? What words would it use?Write your own version of the cat duet.4. Describe a day in the life of one of the inanimate objects in your house, i.e. a footstool; an

armchair; your Game boy; a clock . . .

5. Write your own version of the opera.6. Who was your favorite character in the opera? Explore problems created by playing more

than one role in the opera.

Supplemental Listening:

Listen to other animal duets: Rossini, Duetto di due Gatti; Brittens Cat Duet from PaulBunyan;Janaceks opera, Cunning Little Vixen.


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Extended Listening Lesson

Can you Hear Me?GRADES

4-6

LEARNING GOALS

Students will experiment with vocal arranging as related to Lenfant et les sortilges.Students will explore ways of differentiating voices and characterStudents will examine how voices work when combined.

LESSON PREVIEWStudents will use poetry and improvisation to explore how voices in an ensemble can bearranged to create different emotional and dramatic effects.

MATERIALS

Several simple, short poemsA hat with small strips of paper, each with a different emotion written on it

TIME ALLOWANCE

2/ 45 minute periods.

Students will:1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music2. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines3. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music4. Evaluating music and music performances

PREPARING THE STUDENTS

1. Introduce students to opera, singing, and character.2. Familiarize students with the story of the Lenfant et les sortilges.

Part 1

1. Practicing a poem Divide class into small groups and distribute short poems toeach group. Groups should practice speaking the poem in unison.

2. Getting creative with reading text Next, the group should experiment withdividing up the poem amongst the group and reciting in creative or surprising ways.(e.g. Leader calls and others respond, taking turns by line or word, half the grouprepeats a line and remaining half reads beginning to end)

3. Reflecting and brainstorming groups each take turns sharing their poemcreations. Chart a list of student responses focusing on the ways voices can interactwith each other. What didnt we try? Begin to discuss what effects this has on thepoem. Does it have a different feeling? Does it enhance or distract from the words?

4. Revising our poetry creations Review/define tempo (speed), pitch (high low),dynamics (volume), vocal quality/timbre (raspy, mellow, nasal, etc.). Each groupchooses one (or more if theyre inspired) of these musical elements to create more


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contrast in their piece.5. Final Sharing and reflection What were some of the challenges in this activity?How are we more familiar with a composers choices when writing for differentvoices in an opera? How does a composer arrange music for different types ofvoices or characters? What are some ways a composer can use text to make it moreexciting or powerful?

Part 2

1. Warm-up: Emotion charades Choose a fun made-up sentence to use forimprovisation (Perhaps, I heard schools going to be cancelled tomorrow.)Student volunteers come up and draw an emotion from a hat. Student then speaksthe sentence with the emotion written on a slip of paper. Class tries to guess whatemotion was on paper. How do you know? How does the sound of their voicechange? What else changes? If students are using too many visual cues try it witheyes closed.

2. Creating situations with simultaneous emotions

a. In groups, students choose a situation with multiple people experiencingdifferent emotions a wedding, a graduation, a party, the lunchroom, etc.Each student is assigned a person in the emotional situation and comes upwith a line or two to express what the person is feeling. Refer to elementsobserved in activity 1 to help act it out convincingly.

b. Once the students are comfortable speaking/acting their parts the groupthey should try speaking all at the same time.

c. Next, the group should decide how they want to give each voice importancewhile everyone is speaking. Perhaps they want the different parts to have

different volumes or speeds. Encourage creativity and experimentation.

3. Share and reflect -Groups each share their pieces and observing groups shareresponses. How can we understand multiple lines being spoken or sungsimultaneously? Is there a leader? An accompaniment? How can a performercommunicate his/her feelings without every word being understood? What is thecombined effect of hearing multiple voices or characters? How does overlappingparts have a different impact from lines being spoken individually?

DEEPER-THINKING QUESTIONS

What are the resulting effects of combined emotions?

How do our ears hear multiple things simultaneously? Can we still interpret them?How does a composer layer voices so that you hear what is most important?

VOCABULARY

Tempo speed of words or musicDynamics volumeVocal Quality/Timbre the unique elements of a sound often used with sound adjectivesImprovisation creating something new in the moment

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