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That Time
von Samuel Beckett
Wolfgang Fortner’s score is based on Samuel Beckett’s play which was published in April 1976. The composer adheres to Beckett’s staging and only permits the ‘listener’, an old man, to appear on stage. He sits motionless on a chair and listens to three voices from offstage. Fortner divides these voices between two singers and an actress who are also linked with three instruments: piano, guitar and harpsichord. These three monologues merging continuously without interruption – with the exception of two precisely specified pauses of seven seconds – consist of spotlighted fragments recalling experiences which combine to create the image of an individual who since early childhood has always been plagued by isolation and compulsive self-reflection.
Edition: Performance material
Series:
That Time
Product Details
Description
An old man, the ‘listener’, sits motionless on a chair on stage: only his head is illuminated. He is listening to three voices coming from three unspecified directions. Voice A talks about adolescence, Voice B speaks of love and Voice C of old age. These three dialogues which merge continuously without interruption – with the exception of two exactly specified pauses of seven seconds – consist of spotlighted fragments recalling experiences, disappointments, vain hopes and failure and together create the image of an individual who since early childhood has never succeeded in escaping from isolation and compulsive self-reflection.
Beckett’s play was published in April 1976; the first performance took place in London on 20 May of the same year and Beckett himself directed the German premiere at the Schiller-Theater in Berlin on 1 October 1976. Fortner’s score is marked with the handwritten final date 28 December 1976. He adheres to Beckett’s staging and only permits the ‘listener’ to appear on stage while the voices come from offstage. Fortner divides these voices between two singers – Voice A is undertaken by a baritone and Voice B by a mezzo-soprano – and an actress who recites Voice C.
Three instruments are allocated to the three voices: the piano is assigned to Voice A and is the most elaborate instrumental part: clusters and a strong rhythmic accentuation express the development of the ‘listener’ from earliest childhood to a state of resignation. Voice B is reinforced by the guitar; the music is based on three five- to six-part chords from which chromatic sequences and clusters develop. The (spoken) Voice C is assigned to the harpsichord which plays music based on a twelve-tone row whose mutations become rhythmically and harmonically progressively more compressed.
Beckett’s play was published in April 1976; the first performance took place in London on 20 May of the same year and Beckett himself directed the German premiere at the Schiller-Theater in Berlin on 1 October 1976. Fortner’s score is marked with the handwritten final date 28 December 1976. He adheres to Beckett’s staging and only permits the ‘listener’ to appear on stage while the voices come from offstage. Fortner divides these voices between two singers – Voice A is undertaken by a baritone and Voice B by a mezzo-soprano – and an actress who recites Voice C.
Three instruments are allocated to the three voices: the piano is assigned to Voice A and is the most elaborate instrumental part: clusters and a strong rhythmic accentuation express the development of the ‘listener’ from earliest childhood to a state of resignation. Voice B is reinforced by the guitar; the music is based on three five- to six-part chords from which chromatic sequences and clusters develop. The (spoken) Voice C is assigned to the harpsichord which plays music based on a twelve-tone row whose mutations become rhythmically and harmonically progressively more compressed.
Orchestral Cast
Auf der Bühne: Git. · Cemb. · Klav. - Live-Elektronik (ad lib.)
Cast
Stummer Schauspieler - Sprecherin - Sängerin (Mezzosopran) - Sänger (Bariton)
More Information
Title:
That Time
von Samuel Beckett
Language:
English
Edition:
Performance material
Publisher/Label:
Schott Music
Year of composition:
1977
Duration:
45 ′
World Premiere:
June 4, 1931 · Bad Pyrmont (D)
Conductor: Wolfgang Fortner
Conductor: Wolfgang Fortner
Commissioned work :
Auftragswerk des Südwestfunks in Verbindung mit dem Goethe-Institut Paris
Series:
Technical Details
Product number:
LS 1624-01
Performances
That Time
Conductor: Michael Schwering
February 1, 2010 |
Konstanz (Germany) , Foyer der Wobak
19.00 h
That Time
Conductor: Sabine Wüsthoff
February 24, 2007 |
Berlin (Germany) , Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
19.00 Uhr - Wolfgang Fortner zum 100. Geburtstag
That Time
Conductor: Wolfgang Fortner
June 4, 1931 |
Bad Pyrmont (Germany) — World Premiere
Jahresfest der Deutschen Sektion der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM)
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That Time
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