Reactions to the opera Clemency

Reactions to the opera Clemency:  Mixed frankly.  As I wrote in the previous post, I am still pondering over it.  (Perhaps that’s the point?) 

The opera’s production updates the story to the twentieth century and gives it a vaguely Balkan setting.  The score and libretto also contain allusions to Islamic terrorists and the Sept. 11^th attacks (references to the “twin towns,” taped airplane noise, vocal lines and orchestral ornaments that mimic Islamic calls to prayer).  In the book of Genesis, the three visitors go onto destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham argues for clemency, hence the opera’s title.   

The opening is very effective.  The opera commences in silence.  Abraham arrives home from work.  Sarah cooks in the kitchen.   A plane passes overhead.  Then Abraham launches into an extended unaccompanied prayer.  It’s beautiful writing for the solo voice. 

The orchestra does not enter until several minutes later.  The Britten Sinfonia plays MacMillan’s sparse polyphonic music with clarity and conviction.  It’s a stellar performance.

A famous icon of this Biblical account inspired its creators, so the set is framed like an altarpiece in a medieval church. Its triptych echoes the 3-in-1 music for the angelic visitors.  They mostly sing homorhythmically in close harmony.  Occasionally their utterances are polyphonic and I wish that technique would be employed more.  And I think the staging and gestures should either heighten the icon-like quality of the set or ignore it.  Instead they choose to do a little of both. 

MacMillan and Symmons Roberts claim that the opera is about vengeance, mercy and “the idea of hospitality and what happens in its absence.”  But its music and text seem to indict Islamic culture, not the Christianized west.  How hospitable is that?   Are we supposed to see Abraham and Sarah as good, but ineffectual Muslims? 

On the other hand, the “twin towns” are about to be punished for not helping the poor.  When Abraham invites the three strangers in, they are dressed as day laborers.  He and Sarah are hospitable, and Christians, Muslims, and Jews all claim Abraham as an ancestor. 

Can you tell I’m still thinking?