Jordan Jacques
Professor Blanka Roundtree
FMX-211-LN
25 Steptember 2018
The Beauty of Opera the Rossignol
The Nightingale, normally called after it’s French name “Le Rossignol”. Is a Russian text written by Stravinsky. This opera was first premiered in 1914 in the National Theater in Paris stated Bossey & Hawks catalog[1][1]. Its first act was written in 1908-1909 and then the three other acts were finished in 1913-1914. The musical was completed at a later date in which it would complete the opera by 1957. This essay will be giving a brief summary of the Opera and then move on to the bigger picture. The different section that will be talked about will be as followed. The mise en scene, the audience and how they would have reacted to this musical at the time. The chronology and the different use of intelligent technologies used in the opera. Lastly, during the 21st century, video games is one of the biggest entertainments directed at teenagers so how could these opera be used nowadays in video games.
This opera has surrounded their story around a species of bird called Le Rossignol. Le Rossignol is a type of bird that has very distinct sound and is loved by a lot of bird watchers. The first act starts off with the Rossignol flying around a fisherman and starts singing. It impresses him so much that he calls the emperor to listen but when he does come, the Rossignol does no show. The emperor wants to hear it so he tells a cook, that if he is able to find the Rossignol he will become his private cook. The cook finds him and invites him to sing for the emperor. The emperor loves the song so much that he asks to create a mechanical version of that bird so that as soon as he needs to listen to it he has it automatically. The Rossignol gets furious but then gets banned by the emperor and to never come back.
The last act is when the emperor gets ill to the point where he is close to death. The emperor calls his musician to sing to try and heal him but it does not work. Suddenly the nightingale shows up not caring that he has been banned from ever coming back. He starts singing beautifully that death ( in which death has been changed into a character) who has been slowly killing the emperor asks to sing again. The rossignol tells death that the only way he will sing again is if he leaves the emperor alone. Death accepts and the rossignol sings. As promised death leaves and the emperor is back healthy.
The mise en scene in “Le Rossignol “can be separated in four different part. The colors and the different traditional clothing’s, the scenes such as water landscape and the orchestra. In the first act, something that the audience would probably acknowledge right away is that everything is colorful. The people that are acting the puppets could have simply put black colored clothes to make them fade in the background so that the puppet could seem as they moved. Instead, they embraced the fact that they are there by putting traditional clothing matching with their puppets. Men and women have makeups on such as the puppets.
The Scene is organized with the orchestra at the back and in the front is a circular pond full of water. The water was used to really give the feeling to the audience that there in the story. One of the scenes the actors must be in the water to be able to act it out[2] [2] being half in the water. One major point to bring up is that the audience in this opera would not have expected a pond of water in the middle of an orchestra[3][3]. The actors could have put blue clothing’s on the floor to make it seems like it was water but instead used real water to make the audience have a stronger atmosphere. Lastly surrounding this small pond of water there are spaces around for the actors to walk on such as to the right of the pond of water is a tree and other props including the orchestra. The orchestra brings in the music to the music but also the colors as if they would be the background color of the opera.
Le Rossignol is important to the history of the world and the chronology as in 1920 the World War I was ending. People needed to find distraction and unite with the people they loved. This orchestra was a great way to entertain kids and the parents that have been through awful events. This fairytale starts off beautifully and ends with evil being defeated. Also, the length of the orchestra short, only three acts which were again great for families to have a little time to spend together somewhere.
In this opera, the technologies are the puppets in which are simply created with string and wood strips. Similarly, but more complicated the bird musts have been an impressive technology to the audience as it seems like there was nothing controlling it and it was flying on its own. From general knowledge, this bird was actually controlled and wasn’t real. It was held by either a very thin line in which the audience being too far would not realize or a string coming from the top of the opera again controlling it.
Video games in the 21st century extremely popular especially single player story modes. Therefore, if we were to create a video game out of this opera this will be adventures that include living four different life’s and playing with different characters stories. The first story will be one of the fishermen where the player will have to succeed different task involving fishing going through storms in the sea and the last task will be having to find the Rossignol. After finding the rossignol there will be a time lapse into the next story. The life of the cook which at first the player will simply have to make dishes and serve them at customers but then the player will get a challenge to find a rossignol as of a request given by the emperor. Depending on the way the cook finds the rossignol will change the attitude the emperor will be in when the rossignol will be singing to him. After the scene of the Rossignol singing to the emperor it will fast forward to two years later. There will be a text written and explaining how the emperor has chosen to ban the bird and take over a large number of mechanical birds to protect him.
Lastly, the last fight and the ending of the game will be a battle against a boss which will be the one that risks the death of the emperor. Therefore, the player must with the last character the Rossignol and must be able to dodge all the mechanical birds and attacks from the boss to finally succeed and save the emperor.
While watching this opera I have learned that an opera where no word has been spoken but only sang, is so beautiful as you still understand the story. Even though I know the story by reading the synapse, I believe that by just watching the opera I would have been able to realize the story. The intention of Stravinsky had for this opera, might have been different than mine. Although while watching the opera, an idea came to mind in which how art sometimes is not created with a specific intention. In the case of this opera obviously, there was a story for it but for the audiences that did not have a synapse they were able to create their own stories in their head and change things to their appreciation of their imagination. The color of the scene is so intense that it must have been a completely different feeling being there in person. End of World war I “Le Rossignol” was an uplift of joy for people in Paris and for all the rest of the spectators.
Citation
Perroquet Little, “Le Rossignol – Stravinski” , YouTube, Accessed 20th September 2018, Published on 29th September 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRMHcl0OZxk&feature=youtu.be
Boosey&Hawkes,“Stravinski,Igor”,Accessed20thSeptemberPublished, https://www.boosey.com/pages/opera/moreDetails?musicID=244
Thank you for sharing "The Nightingale," with the class. I will definitely look for the version you watched. Water theatre sounds so elaborate and intriguing. The fairy tale of this opera is such an endearing and timeless classic. I remember my mother used to read "The Emperor and the Nightingale" to me as a child.
ReplyDelete