Madame White Snake (opera): Difference between revisions

'''''Madame White Snake''''' is an [[opera]] with music by [[Zhou Long]] and [[libretto]] by [[Cerise Lim Jacobs]], published by [[Oxford University Press]]. Awarded the 2011 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]], it was premiered on Feb. 26, 2010, by Opera Boston at the [[Cutler Majestic Theatre]]. It is based on the [[Legend of the White Snake]] and was created by Jacobs as a gift to her now late husband. The Pulitzer Committee described the opera as, "a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West."<ref name="Boston">Brown, Joel (April 19, 2011). "[http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-19/ae/29448025_1_chinese-composer-xu-xian-composer-zhou-long Opera Boston production wins Pulitzer]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", ''Boston.com''.</ref> Zhou stated, "I have been working very hard to blend the East and the West for years."<ref name="Boston"/> The opera was performed, in English, in Beijing in October 2010.<ref>[http://ent.people.com.cn/GB/1085/13029900.html 歌剧<白蛇传>将在京上演 美国男声女高音演小青] 2010年10月23日14:03 （记者赵纲）以白娘子的传说为蓝本的歌剧《白蛇传》将于10月27日在北京国际音乐节上演，演出地点为世纪剧院。</ref> In China Zhou's 2010 English-language opera shares the same title as the traditional [[Beijing opera]] version, ''[[Legend of the White Snake]]'', ''Báishézhuàn'', but is distinguished by the term "''[[geju]]''" (Western opera) rather than "''[[jingju]]''" (Beijing opera).

Jacobs' first libretto and Zhou's first opera, it was the first opera commissioned by Opera Boston, co-commissioned by the [[Beijing Music Festival]] Arts Foundation. Jacobs isa Chinese-American retired lawyer and Zhou is a Chinese-American composer.<ref>Eichler, Jeremy (May 14, 2008). "Boston gets new opera from old legend", ''The Boston Globe''. [http://madamewhitesnake.org/press.html]</ref> "Giving voice to sweeping [[melody|melodies]] worthy of [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] without sounding imitative, and employing such vocal effects as [[bent pitch]]es, [[glissando|slides]] and [[Sprechstimme]] to suggest the unique idiom of [[Peking opera|Peking Opera]], [Zhou] wove both aesthetics into a unique whole, creating a vivid and freestanding musical world of his own."<ref>(18 April 2011). "[http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=19626 Zhou Long's Madame White Snake Awarded 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music]", ''OperaNews.com''.</ref>

*[[Xiaoqing (character)|Xiao Ching]]: [[Michael Maniaci]]

*[[Bai Suzhen|Madame White Snake]]: [[Ying Huang (soprano)|Ying Huang]]

*[[Fahai (character)|Abbot Fahai]]: [[Dong-Jian Gong]]

*[[Xu Xian]]: [[Peter Tantsits]]

{{Reflist}}

*"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU7-AM3AF2c The Birth of Madame White Snake]", ''YouTube.com''.

*"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwuB-AjYbVw&feature=player_embedded Ying Huang Ken Noda - Long Madame White Snake - Awakening Aria]", ''YouTube.com''.

{{Legend of the White Snake}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Operas]]

[[Category:Works based on the Legend of the White Snake]]