Orphée Redux

for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and piano

Duration - approx. 12 minutes

Program Notes:

Orphée Redux is a bit of an esoteric chamber opera. It is a full-length work that is written by the fictional composer Pascal Baur and performed in 1985 by the Hartford Opera Company. The rehearsals and its performance comprises the first act of my full-length opera, Songs from Behind the Curtain. In Songs, Orphée Redux is a metaphor for the loss of Pascal Baur’s fiancée, Diane. So it is really an opera within an opera at least when coupled within the larger work.

But it is also meant to be a stand alone work. It is a reimagining of the Orpheus story set in the seedy underbelly of New York City in the early 1980’s. In this version there are no gods or even a literal hell, but rather a Hades created by sexually deviant behavior and the burgeoning AIDS crisis. It is a hell of addiction and self-destruction.

David Pindar (Orpheus) is a violinist with a prominent New York orchestra. He meets and falls in love with Pamela Smith (Eurydice). They are married and live a life of happiness. One day, an acquaintance invites them to a club. They arrive to find that it is one of New York’s underground group sex clubs and immediately leave. But unbeknownst to David, something about the place intrigues Pamela. She slowly develops the nerve to go back, and soon finds herself lost among the anonymous men and self-degradation. David does not know anything about this, but Pamela’s sister, Lydia, finds out and follows her to the club. It is also Lydia that discovers the letter Pamela has been hiding from David. It is from her doctor and informs Pamela that she has been diagnosed with HIV. The revelation sends Pamela into a downward spiral. This is where the opera begins. Lydia finds David at a rehearsal and tells him about the letter. David is worried and goes to the sex club to confront his wife. Once there he finds her lying on a bed in a room covered in a sheet. He begs her to come with him, and she agrees under one condition: that he not turn around as they leave, that she can’t bear for him to look upon her. He agrees and turns to go. She places her hand on his shoulder and he leads her out of the darkness. As they go down the hallway David suddenly gets the notion that he is curing her of the disease, that she is becoming healthy again. He turns to tell her this, breaking his promise. He turns to find Pamela naked, covered with lesions and filth. He steps back in shock and she understands that things will never be the same. In a fit of self-destruction, she screams at him, yelling all the hateful things she can muster. Unable to control himself, David slaps her across the face. She screams for help and a bouncer appears, grabbing David by the neck, and drags him away. David is left in an alleyway. He reaches for his violin, hoping music will bring Pamela back to him, but the violin is broken, and any chance at reconciliation is over.

In this stand alone version, Orphée Redux is a complete character portrait of a modern Orpheus. The short scene has been condensed to a single location and any metaphoric intentions toward the overarching opera can be ignored. I have allowed the scene to play out completely (In the larger opera it will be further truncated) and all mention of the fictional characters in the overarching opera have been eliminated. Hopefully that will take care of any confusion... Enjoy!

–Ryan Jesperson
8/26/2010, West Hartford, CT.