'Gay 12-Tone Cowboys' - Composer Charles Wuorinen Plans Opera Version

[Phillip Dampier]

From PlaybillArts

'Gay 12-Tone Cowboys' - Composer Charles Wuorinen Plans Opera Version of Brokeback Mountain
By Matthew Westphal
27 Sep 2007

Yep, 12-tone gay cowboys ... It's not a hoax ...

When word emerged this week that an operatic version of Brokeback Mountain is in the works, with a score by Charles Wuorinen, a lot of people in the classical music world weren't sure what to think. For a start, the news appeared in the Rush and Molloy gossip column in New York's tabloid Daily News — not a place the industry thinks to look for breaking developments. And the combination of material, medium and music seemed wildly improbable: a spare short story by Annie Proulx about inarticulate Wyoming sheepherders — which, granted, had been made into a film that was very compelling but was far from histrionic — translated into the most histrionic of art forms? With a composer who's one of America's last major unrepentant modernists?

It was hard not to wonder if this was some sort of out-of-season April Fool's joke ...
 
"I think it's a marvelous idea," Wuorinen's manager, Howard Stokar, told Playbill Arts. "And so did Annie Proulx ... she liked the idea of it being an opera, and she liked the idea of Charles composing it."

There's no commission or opera house involved just yet — says Stokar, "Right now, it's really just under discussion. Who knows what's going to happen?" — but Proulx's approval means that one major hurdle that fells many worthwhile projects has been cleared. (Leonard Bernstein, for instance, is said to have worked on a treatment of Nabokov's Lolita but couldn't get rights to the story.)

The idea for a Brokeback opera was all Wuorinen's. "He wanted to work on a dramatic piece," said Stokar, "and this seemed like the perfect subject."

After Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the composer's adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel for children which premiered at New York City Opera in 2004, Wuorinen was eager to create another stage work. "He was very impressed with the movie adaptation of the short story," said Stokar, "and he thought it would be quite marvelous as an opera. In a way, it's a good old-fashioned love story."

Would Proulx's taciturn characters fit best in a chamber opera? "It would be a big piece," Stokar said, "something for an actual opera house."

Wuorinen is certainly aware of the problems involved in translating the story for the stage. "What's impressive about the film adaptation is that it really has an excellent screenplay," Stokar pointed out. "Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana did a terrific job of turning this little work of prose" — the original "Brokeback Mountain" is barely more than 10,000 words — "into a two-hour movie. Something similar would have to be done for an opera — for example, the language in the film is not language you can use in an opera. Who that's gonna be [to write the libretto], of course, it's much too early to say."

[Scott6373]

This isn't the first go around with this concept.  In Boston, several prominent composers have thought about persuing it, but the language problems, in conjunction with the nature of opera, seemed insurmountable.  It would require an extremely deft hand, and a willingness on the composer's part to sacrifice their own musical language in favor of the language of the story.

I can't think of any living composer who would be up to the task.  Several dead ones, yes, but I fear they are otherwise engaged.

[moremojo]

I can't think of any living composer who would be up to the task.  Several dead ones, yes, but I fear they are otherwise engaged.

Who are some of those composers, Scott? Would Britten be one of them? I do wonder what he might have done with this story.

[Scott6373]

Who are some of those composers, Scott? Would Britten be one of them? I do wonder what he might have done with this story.

I think Britten's music would be too fragile.  At first blush you would think Copland, but he would have to really stretch to not sound idiomatic.  My first choice would be Samuel Barber.  Neo-Romantic, not so easily pigeon holed in terms of his musical aesthetic and language.  He could use his music to tell the story, rather than just be a vehicle to transmit the words.

[moremojo]

My first choice would be Samuel Barber.  Neo-Romantic, not so easily pigeon holed in terms of his musical aesthetic and language.  He could use his music to tell the story, rather than just be a vehicle to transmit the words.

I think Barber is an excellent choice, and I agree with you about the importance of the story/theme being conveyed through music rather than the music merely acting as support for the lyrics. I think this may account for why so many recent operas (they keep churning them out, probably more often than new stage musicals are birthed) do not penetrate into the permanent repertoire.

I think Bernstein would also have been able to invest the work with a strong, resonating flavor. And what do you think of Michael Tippett? I think he was sufficiently variable and eclectic to approach the story from any number of musical angles.

[Scott6373]

I think Barber is an excellent choice, and I agree with you about the importance of the story/theme being conveyed through music rather than the music merely acting as support for the lyrics. I think this may account for why so many recent operas (they keep churning them out, probably more often than new stage musicals are birthed) do not penetrate into the permanent repertoire.

I think Bernstein would also have been able to invest the work with a strong, resonating flavor. And what do you think of Michael Tippett? I think he was sufficiently variable and eclectic to approach the story from any number of musical angles.

Bernstien would have suffered the same as Copland...meaning he would probably fall into idiomatic expression.  Michael Tippet is to restrained emotionally as a composer.  Like I said, it would require a very special talent to do this right.  Ah yes...that's the name that kept eluding me.  There is one living composer...Ned Rorem.

[moremojo]

Isn't it interesting how every single composer we've named here (with the possible exception of Wuorinen, about whom I am ignorant) has been gay? It's really fascinating to reflect on how many of the stellar names in twentieth-century classical music have been gay/bi men.

And along those lines, I'm having a lot of fun imagining Francis Poulenc having a go at Annie's story.

[Scott6373]

Isn't it interesting how every single composer we've named here (with the possible exception of Wuorinen, about whom I am ignorant) has been gay? It's really fascinating to reflect on how many of the stellar names in twentieth-century classical music have been gay/bi men.

And along those lines, I'm having a lot of fun imagining Francis Poulenc having a go at Annie's story.

How ignorant of me to limit my thoughts to "American" composers, though, I do have my doubts that a Euopean composer could understand some of the idiomatic musical expression.  Poulenc huh?  I have to think about that one.

[moremojo]

I had the thought last night of how sad it was that Heath will never (or may never) know how this opera turned out. Silly, perhaps, but that's what I thought.