THE PASSION OF LT. DE SEZIGNEY
aka ANOTHER SOLDIER'S TALE, op. 23
Opera in one act (approx. 35 minutes)
Music and Libretto by John Feather
CAST
TENOR -- Phillipe Auguste de Sezigny, a French lieutenant during
the Franco Prussian War (range: F3 - C#5)
SOPRANO 1 -- Mother, the dying woman, and a beautiful demon
(range: F4 - D#6)
ENSEMBLE: MEZZO SOPRANO; BASS BARITONE, and BASS
ORCHESTRATION: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Violin, and Viola
SYNOPSIS: A fable of how war and the evil of the world can be be overcome by selflessness.
Part One: Piano/vocal score MP3 w/o words
Phillipe Auguste de Sezigny (1842 - 1870) becomes a lieutenant for the French army during the Franco Prussian War (July 19th, 1870 - January 28, 1871) after the death of his mother. Phillipe comes across a burned village where he sees a hanged young man, a dead child and a pair of lovers, embracing in their death.
Phillippe tries to comfort a dying woman by singing a childhood song. She dies and he buries the bodies, imagining what their lives might have been.
Part Two: Piano / Vocal score MP3 w/o words
A few nights later, soldiers drink beer and sing a pessimistic song. After he sings his drunken verse, Philippe goes outside to pee.
Part Three: Piano / Vocal score MP3 w/o words
A beautiful woman appears who asks him to dance. They dance to a Walpurgis night rite. The hanged man, the lovers and the child are brought forward and condemned for the hate they had in their hearts when they died. When the old woman enters, Philippe says he has hate in his heart and should be punished in their place. The demons agree.
Phillipe finds himself dying on the field after the battle of Villers-Bretonneux (November 27, 1870). Hurting, lonely, he fears what is next. But the woman, now an angelic spirit, comforts him as he dies in her arms.
EXCERPTS:
* Dream sequence at end of scene one
-- listen on Soundcloud (duration: 4' 51")
Lt. Philippe de Sezigney comes across villagers who
have been slaughtered by the opposing army. After
one of them dies in his arms, he buries the others.
But as he buries a child, a hugging couple and a lone
man he imagines their lives, ultimately empathizing
with the lone man.
Instrumental only: flute, oboe, bassoon, violin and viola.
