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- Gunther Schuller
The Fisherman and His Wife (1970)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
- 1(pic,afl)1(ca)1(Ebcl,bcl).asx+barsx.1(cbn)/2111/2perc/egtr.hp.cel(pf).eorg/str
- Soprano, Tenor, Bass
- 1 hr
- Libretto by John Updike after the Grimm fairytale.
- English
Programme Note
Synopsis:
A simple fisherman’s wife induces him to ask for more favours from a great fish he has caught and thrown back into the sea. When the wife demands to play God, the couple loses everything but is happy anyway.
A simple fisherman’s wife induces him to ask for more favours from a great fish he has caught and thrown back into the sea. When the wife demands to play God, the couple loses everything but is happy anyway.
Media
Excerpt
Scores
piano/vocal score
full score
Reviews
A 12-tone opera for children?
Yet Schuller was on to something. The story is full of darkness, strangeness, magic, evocations of a threatening sea and cloudy skies, bitter confrontations between the wife and husband. Why not convey it through flinty, atonal music? The voice lines are written with skill to make the words come through clearly. Updike introduced the character of a cat that both meowed and talked, a charming role that Schuller assigned to a high soprano. The orchestration, for a smaller ensemble, is alive with myriad sonorities and captivating colors.
9th April 2021
There is hardly a moment at which one is not aware of [Schuller’s] immense skill in producing orchestral effects that are striking in their sheer sensual appeal.
9th May 1970
Discography
Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife
- LabelBMOP Sound
- Catalogue Number1070
- ConductorGil Rose
- EnsembleBoston Modern Orchestra Project
- SoloistSondra Kelly, mezzo-soprano; Steven Goldstein, tenor; David Kravitz, baritone; Katrina Galka, soprano; Ethan DePuy, tenor
- ReleasedMarch 2020
