The Happy Prince Malcolm Williamson

Transcription

1 The Happy Prince Malcolm Williamson Recorded by Queen s Park Junior Singers

2 The Happy Prince An opera by Malcolm Williamson based on the story by Oscar Wilde The Happy Prince was commissioned for the Farnham Festival in This Festival, founded in 1963, involved about a thousand children and young people in a venture which commissioned works from contemporary composers, with the aim of introducing young people to the music of their time and reducing the gap between composer and audience. Malcolm Williamson was first asked to write a short choral work for the Farnham Girls Choir, but, unhappy at the thought of writing a purely choral work for just one group, suggested an opera for children, based on Oscar Wilde s short story, The Happy Prince. Williamson wrote the opera, including his own libretto, in just six weeks. The one-act opera lasts for 45 minutes and is characterised as melodious, with generally conventional harmonies and some mildly contemporary idioms, especially singable by children. The composer has used recurring melodic intervals for individual characters. The first performance took place in Farnham Parish Church. The action was placed in different parts of the church, suitably lit at appropriate moments. This performance received much national publicity and favourable critical reports. The opera has been performed many times since. Malcolm Williamson was born in 1931 Sydney, Australia and settled in England in As his birthday was November 21st, this production of The Happy Prince celebrates his anniversary. He was a prolific composer but controversial: his appointment in 1975 as Master of the Queen s Music was not universally approved and his works are not regularly performed. He was, however, particularly interested in music for children and wrote several works for them, of which The Happy Prince is perhaps the best known. He also wrote several cassations miniature works for audience participation, inspired by a desire to teach his own children about opera. He died in 2003 at the age of 71. Performances and recording by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited The recording is approximately 47 minutes long Happy Prince cover image painted by Mary Phillips

3 Synopsis The Happy Prince is set in a public square in a legendary city, where a magnificent golden statue, richly ornamented with jewels, has been erected in memory of a rich and happy prince. A swallow, on her way to Egypt to hibernate, stops for a night at the foot of the statue and feels tears on her head. Looking up, she sees that the statue of the prince is weeping over the misery and poverty in the world, which he never saw when he was alive. He implores the swallow to pluck off some of his jewels and to take them to the poor and needy citizens, then to strip the gold from his body and throw it to the starving children in the street below. This she does. The night grows colder and the statue now naked and blind has been stripped of its material value. The swallow is now too weak to continue her flight into Egypt, and stays with the statue. She reaches up to kiss him, and dies in the attempt and the statue s leaden heart cracks. The mayor and citizens who erected the statue come and take it down: it is no longer beautiful and now has no value. They take the swallow s body away and prepare to burn it all. However, as the flames rise, alarmed voices exclaim that the broken, leaden heart will not burn. An angelic choir above the flames sings, telling the citizens that the leaden heart and the dead bird are the most precious things in the city. Featured roles in the opera are: the Swallow, the Prince, the Mayor, the Seamstress, her son, the Author, the Match Girl and the Rich Girl, with choruses of children and citizens and four angels. The orchestra consists of a piano duet, percussion players and tubular bells.

4 Musical Director: Mary Philips Pianists: Nico de Villiers Marco Fatichenti Percusionists: Rebecca Macristel Craig Apps Assistant percussionists: Daniel Phillips Oliver Till Sound engineer: Denise Mangiardi Alice s Loft Music Mayor Swallow Prince Seamstress Sick Boy Rich Girl Author Match Girl Cast Roger Bloomfield Tara Shutes Owen Davies Sophie Timms Jibran Okorefe Michaela Bibby Maxim Uys Nancy Randle

5 CHILDREN S CHORUS Natsuki Adam-Kojo Michaela Bibby Millie Chaluisan Jiannoula Couling-Dini Millie Cowell Lucy Davis Imogen Fox Mary Garnett Hisham Ghani Farrah Hamoudi Misty Hellier-Watts Willow Hellier-Watts Janina Haggard Ivo Lawson Natalie Lawson Raffi Melkonian-Payne Natalie Mitchell Molly Moody Anaia Mulinda Jaad Okorefe Jibran Okorefe Anousha Parmar Arabella Parmar Adeline Pengilley Giulietta Pizzaballa Nancy Randle Asai Safari Celeste Salvucci de Oliveira Arjan Seth Samara Seth Shayla Warner-Bailey Lottie Wells Margherita Zaita