Noh, a Japanese artform combining music and dance, is performed on a sparsely-decorated stage. The vocalizations and movements are highly stylized and thick with puns and allusions. The shite (master player) in Noh portrays climactic emotional scenes with subtle, stylized vocal forms, characterized by a special voice quality for suppressed, but strongly emotional, expression. Noh is consciously artificial and theatrical. All parts are performed by men, even female roles: the Japanese used is as archaic as Elizabethan English and the masks are slightly undersized to emphasize the actor behind them. The ultimate goal is yuugen, a refined elegance that encompasses a sense of universal mystery and the poignant pathos of human suffering. Those familiar with Benjamin Britten's work will have no trouble understanding why all this might appeal to him.
In February 1956, while in Japan on a tour of the East, Benjamin Britten caught two performances of the Noh play Sumidagawa (Sumida River). Sumidagawa, a Kyoran Mono (mad piece), tells the story of a Kyoto noblewoman whose son has been kidnapped by slave traders. In her year-long quest to find her child, her mind has become unhinged. Several bystanders mock the madwoman: finally a ferryman takes pity on her and carries her across the Sumida River. As they cross with the other travelers, they come upon a burial mound. There they learn it is the grave of a child who took sick and died while being force-marched to the East by slavers. Realizing this child is her missing son, the noblewoman falls prostrate with grief. The ferryman convinces her to pray with the others; as she does, she has a vision of her son, who vanishes before she can embrace him. Profoundly moved , Britten resolved to write an opera based on the play. In his words: The solemn dedication and skill of the performers were a lesson to any singer and actor of any country, in any language. Was it not possible to use just such a story – the simple one of a demented mother seeking her lost child? – with an English background (for there was no question in any case of a pastiche from the ancient Japanese)? Surely the Medieval Religious Drama in England would have a comparable setting – an all-male cast of ecclesiastics – a simple austere setting in a church – a very limited instrumental accompaniment – a moral story? |
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| While Curlew River may have been inspired by Britten's experiences in Japan, its structure owes an equal debt to medieval morality plays like Everyman, Castell of Perseverance and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These dramas featured broadly drawn characters enacting stylized roles with clearly defined moral lessons for the edification of an unschooled populace. Figures were quickly identifiable by their characteristic emblems: virgins, saints, devils and angels enacted stories that were as familiar as the characters. In a similar vein,the dramatis personae of Curlew River are defined with musical motifs; each character is represented by a particular pitch and accompanying instrument. The libretto by William Plomer (who had spent time in Japan and who also wrote the librettos for Gloriana, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son) was spare and lean as the staging. The artifices were left plainly visible in a nod not to 1960s modernist theater but to ritualized mystery plays. The end result lived up to its billing of "parable;" stripped to their barest bones, the figures on stage become living symbols of grief and redemption. This was accomplished by five characters: the Abbot, the Ferryman, the Traveler, the Madwoman, and a boy soprano in the role of the Madwoman's dead Child. A chorus of eight (three tenors, three baritones and two basses) act alternately as pilgrims and monks; they are accompanied by a flute, a horn, a viola, a double bass, a harp, 5 small untuned drums, 5 small bells and 1 large tuned gong played by a percussionist, and a chamber organ. There was no conductor: instead, markings in the score showed the place where different instruments took the lead. |
The Ferryman's presence is announced by a sudden French horn: he explains that he carries travelers across the wide Curlew River. The horn fades, replaced by the chamber organ and choir singing softly in the distance. Then the Ferryman begins again, explaining that today many people are gathering before a grave where, a year ago, a young boy was buried. "The river folk believe some special grace is there to heal the sick in body and soul," he explains.
The Traveler next arrives on the scene, accompanied by a trudging double bass and harp. A plodding, hypnotic rhythm accents his tale of long journeying through woods and farmlands, where "many a peril I have faced." He sees the Ferryman and announces "may God preserve wayfaring men" and "now I have reached the Curlew River." But then the Traveler notices the ferryboat is about to leave; the chamber organ and chorus begin the "Curlew River, smoothly flowing" chorus. The Traveler calls out to the Ferryman, who says that yes, he does indeed have room on the boat. Then, just as they are ready to depart, the Ferryman notices an odd noise in the distance, a strange echoing song accompanied by a trilling flute. The Traveler explains that it is a madwoman who supposedly comes from the Black Mountains. She has been wandering about for some time while the people mocked her: this is accompanied by raucous heterophony from the chorus as the madwoman continues. The Ferryman delays the ferryboat, explaining "I will wait for the merriment." With "Clear as the Sky Without a Cloud," the Madwoman (who is played by a tenor) arrives. The passages by the abbot and chorus center around a D; passages by the Ferryman center around an A, a fifth interval from the D. While the Madwoman's songs wander harmonically (as befits her mental state), they return to a D-sharp/E-flat, with a secondary G-sharp/A-flat pitch. This is a dissonant half-step from the abbot and chorus and forms a jarring tritone (the notorious diabolus in musica) with the Ferryman's song. This serves to emphasize her status as outsider and creates the harmonic and dramatic tension which drives much of the action. Like the horn which represents the Ferryman and the harp which follows the Traveler, a flute accompanies the Madwoman's rantings. The Madwoman explains she lived in the Black Mountains with her only child. Then one day he vanished; he was seized by slavers and was taken East. ("East, east, east" she sings in an increasingly high, fragile voice). She has journeyed east, hoping to find him. The Abbot and Chorus respond with the melodic and reverent "A Thousand Leagues May Sunder a Mother and her Son" "Let me get into your boat," the Madwoman begs. The Ferryman orders her to tell him where she has come from and where she is going. "I come from the Black Mountains," she says again, "searching for someone." The Ferryman mocks her, mimicking her unstable warbling and ordering her to "entertain us with your singing," a demand which the chorus takes up. |
William Dazeley as Ferryman: Edinburgh Festival, 2005 |
The Madwoman is indignant. "Ignorant man, you refuse passage to me, a noblewoman. It ill becomes you, Curlew ferryman, such incivility." The abbot notes that she uses "a highblown way of talking." For a moment it appears she has regained her sanity, showing the dignity which had been denied her earlier in a courtly mannered vocal phrasing which says as much about her social status as any Noh convention. Then she begins rambling of curlews and gulls; the Ferryman's mocking tone returns, but at last (with some persuasion from an increasingly insistent chorus) he agrees to take her across the river. "Lord have mercy upon us," the abbot and chorus sing as they hoist the sail and cross the Curlew to a reprise of "Curlew River, smoothly flowing/dividing east and west/dividing person and person."
"Today is an important day," the Ferryman explains as they travel. He tells them the story of a foreigner from the North and the ailing 12-year old Christian slave boy in his care. The boy collapsed on the other bank; when beatings and threats proved futile the foreigner abandoned him. The boy was taken care of by the river people, but grew weaker. When asked, he said he was born in the Western Marches and could see the Black Mountains from his window; his father was dead and he was a noblewoman's only child. Foretelling his death, the boy said a prayer and died. As the chorus joins with a "Kyrie Eleison" the Ferryman explains that the river people now consider the boy a saint and many healings have occurred here. They reach the other bank: the other passengers disembark, promising to offer prayers, but the Madwoman hesitates.
Toby Spence as Madwoman: Edinburgh Festival, 2005 |
"When did it happen, this story you have told us," she asks. As the ferryman explains it happened a year ago, and the boy was twelve, the truth becomes increasingly clear. She responds with a mad, dark monologue bewailing the Curlew River which has washed all her hopes away. Touched by her anguish, the Ferryman offers support and then helps her to the grave of her son. The flute trills madly in the background with the chorus as the Madwoman begins the heartbreaking "Hoping, I Wandered On,"which climaxes with her begging the people to open her child's tomb, that she may see her boy one last time. The Abbot and chorus tell her to pray for her child. "The grief is too cruel," she says. "I cannot pray." The abbot promises that all here will pray for her child, but her prayer is most important. The shattered Madwoman promises she will pray for her lost son; the moon rises to the accompaniment of bells. Several musical motifs join together, forming a base as the abbot leads the congregation. Then, amidst the praying, a treble voice can be heard. "I thought I heard him praying in his grave!" the Madwoman shrieks. The others affirm they too heard his voice as the boy soprano continues the Kyrie Eleison. "To hear the voice of my son," the Madwoman asks. The drums and chorus begin chanting as the Madwoman asks in her trademark warble "Is it you, my child?" Her flute is now joined by piccolo as the spirit of her son sings "go your way in peace, mother" and heals her of her madness, assuring her they will meet again in Heaven. The abbot returns to close the proceedings, as the chorus offers closing prayers. |
Recordings
The original production of Curlew River was conducted by Britten and featured his life partner Peter Pears in the Madwoman role. It is still available separately or as part of the 10 CD boxed set Britten Conducts Britten vol. 3. Many consider this the definitive performance of Curlew River. However, other artists have recorded their versions of the piece: a recording featuring Toby Spence (whose performance at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival was widely praised) is also available.
Performances
Although it features some of Britten's most sophisticated compositional work and several of his most breathtakingly beautiful passages, Curlew River has never become as popular as some of Britten's other work. Its one-hour length works against it; it is too short to be a main presentation and too long and emotionally harrowing to be part of a longer recital. This has begun to change, however, as several modern conductors are rediscovering this austere yet rewarding masterpiece. Groups which have staged Curlew River include the Mahogany Opera Company, San Francisco vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Japanese actor and director and American conductor Yoshi Oida and David Stern and l'Opéra national de Lyon.
References
"Curlew River" at the Britten-Pears Foundation
Christopher Hossfeld. "Curlew River: Yale Recital Singers, January 2004: Program Notes"
Hideki Kawahara et al, " Voice as Artistic Expression in Noh" at Lay Language Papers/4th Joint Acoustical Society of America/Acoustical Society of Japan Meeting (November 28 December 2, 2006)
Christopher Moore, "Traditional Japanese Theatre" (2005) at Anime Web Turnpike Magazine