The Paul Dresher Ensemble Production of

The Tyrant

with John Duykers*
Composed by Paul Dresher
Libretto by Jim Lewis

2005, for Tenor and Pierrot Ensemble

Paul Dresher, in collaboration with writer Jim Lewis and tenor John Duykers, has created a new music theater work entitled The Tyrant.

The Tyrant is inspired by Italo Calvino’s remarkable short story A King Listens, which was written near the end of his life. However, the collaborators have not recreated the story as a performance piece, nor do they use any of the existing text. Rather, they take one of the key elements of the story - a king, unable to physically leave his throne for fear of overthrow, is forced to experience his kingdom entirely through the medium of sound - and build a new text upon this premise.

The sounds of his palace proceed like clockwork, reassuring him that all is as he decreed.  But what is that muffled sound?  The murmurings of incipient insurrection?  The yearning  vocalise of a distant but beautiful woman? The rattling of the chains of a certain prisoner in the depths of the Tyrant's palace, calling to him?

The libretto of The Tyrant is irreverent, counterpoising intense physicality with the existential experience of power.

“… Heaven help you, if
In a moment’s lapse,
Your arms
Erect,
Outstretched,
Doggedly upholding this Orb and sword –
Should cramp
Or slip
And let fall
From their grip
These symbols of your Godlike power."

The work was conceived as a companion piece to Peter Maxwell Davies’ classic work from 1969, Eight Songs for a Mad King, and may be performed in repertory by Mr. Duykers. Thus the work is scored for the same instrumentation as the Davies work, the classic “Pierrot” (from Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire) chamber quintet plus percussion. The core of this entirely acoustic ensemble comes from the regular members of the Ensemble’s Electro-Acoustic Band. It will be augmented with instrumentalists with whom we have forged strong relationships through the development and production of Erling Wold’s operas A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil and Sub Pontio Pilato.

The score was written to draw out the full range and depth of Duykers’ extraordinary voice, a voice that has grown richer with age. (Indeed, at one recent performance it was described as having attained the richness of fine wine.) With The Tyrant, Dresher realizes a long-held goal of creating a substantial solo role for tenor John Duykers, whom he considers as a mentor in the composition of opera/music theater. While Dresher has written for him a number of times, this is the composer’s first solo work for Mr. Duykers.There are a couple of additional firsts in this project for Dresher and the Ensemble. The collaboration with writer Jim Lewis represents the first Ensemble-produced music theater work that Dresher has done with a writer other than Rinde Eckert. And whereas all of Dresher’s prior music theater works have involved a combination of acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments, this score is his first entirely acoustic music theater work.

Long-time Ensemble associate Melissa Weaver directs the work, and Dresher serves as the Music Director.

This work was commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Players, in consortium with the California EAR Unit (Los Angeles), Present Music (Milwaukee) and Musical Traditions/Paul Dresher Ensemble. The Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia joined the consortium and presented the East Coast premiere in Philadelphia May 18 – 22nd 2005, in a festival celebrating their own 20th anniversary. It will have a full week run at the Cleveland Opera in collaboration with the Cleveland Playhouse May 2nd – 7th, 2006.

*John Duykers appears courtesy of California Artists Management