LA PASSION SELON SADE
Texts / Program
About La Passion selon Sade
First opus of a catalogue including eighteen operas and ballets, La Passion selon Sade is probably Bussotti’s most audacious, experimental and ground-breaking work of musical theatre. It’s not anecdotal to say that La Passion was composed at a time when, in Europe, avant-garde theatre and experimental music were making their first steps towards an anti-melodramatic structure, closer to the new languages.
The libretto – if the text can be so defined – is an arrangement, a puzzle susceptible to the musicality of words, to assonances and alliterations. It draws its inspiration from Sade’s books and a sonnet by Louise Labé. Its sentences almost always begin by the letter “O” that refers to the main character of the opera, Justine-Juliette, who has a double personality and is inspired by Sade’s two sisters. The first one, Justine, is a symbol of virtue – that leads her to a life of sorrows – the second sister is an example of debauchery – that leads her to a life of happiness. In Bussotti’s original score, “O” has two additional meanings : it stands for “Organ”, and explicitly refers to Pauline Réage’s erotic novel, Story of O.
As the subtitle suggests, the random structure of the work is built around a few main pieces of chamber music. Some of these pieces were composed for La Passion, others were taken from the composer’s own repertoire : Solo in a new version for organ ; the “mystical” Tableau vivant I ; the “libertine” Tableau vivant II ; Phrase for oboe, oboe d’amore and horn (a rewriting of a string trio whose notes B [A] C H – S [A] D E constitute the raw material for the intervals) and lastly Rara for solo flute. One could search in vain for some ethical or philosophical meaning hidden behind the Passion’s text or music.
This work is not merely a performance of “theatrical objects” (text, characters, author, conductor, music, set, light, colours, actions, images) that interact on different dramatic levels without communicating with one another. It’s a “total theatre” experience, refined and seducing. Composer and musicologist Armando Gentilucci wrote about La Passion : “the most striking novelty is the absolute ambivalence between actors and musicians that is accomplished through a series of actions : the scenic fiction caused by costumes, the technical interpretation of the music, even pure happenings”.
One of the oddest features of the score – with its sophisticated drawings – is the specification about the author being the only person who can really stage La Passion, as he is the one true artist who can connect the dots of its random score, where lines can go every direction, cross or uncross, and where pitch and tone must be chosen carefully.
It’s famous American soprano Cathy Berberian who premiered the role of Justine “O” Juliette in 1965, in Palermo,
(source : Opera Manager - Sylvano Bussotti Passion selon Sade, La, translation by Giulia Ricordi)
First opus of a catalogue including eighteen operas and ballets, La Passion selon Sade is probably Bussotti’s most audacious, experimental and ground-breaking work of musical theatre. It’s not anecdotal to say that La Passion was composed at a time when, in Europe, avant-garde theatre and experimental music were making their first steps towards an anti-melodramatic structure, closer to the new languages.
The libretto – if the text can be so defined – is an arrangement, a puzzle susceptible to the musicality of words, to assonances and alliterations. It draws its inspiration from Sade’s books and a sonnet by Louise Labé. Its sentences almost always begin by the letter “O” that refers to the main character of the opera, Justine-Juliette, who has a double personality and is inspired by Sade’s two sisters. The first one, Justine, is a symbol of virtue – that leads her to a life of sorrows – the second sister is an example of debauchery – that leads her to a life of happiness. In Bussotti’s original score, “O” has two additional meanings : it stands for “Organ”, and explicitly refers to Pauline Réage’s erotic novel, Story of O.
As the subtitle suggests, the random structure of the work is built around a few main pieces of chamber music. Some of these pieces were composed for La Passion, others were taken from the composer’s own repertoire : Solo in a new version for organ ; the “mystical” Tableau vivant I ; the “libertine” Tableau vivant II ; Phrase for oboe, oboe d’amore and horn (a rewriting of a string trio whose notes B [A] C H – S [A] D E constitute the raw material for the intervals) and lastly Rara for solo flute. One could search in vain for some ethical or philosophical meaning hidden behind the Passion’s text or music.
This work is not merely a performance of “theatrical objects” (text, characters, author, conductor, music, set, light, colours, actions, images) that interact on different dramatic levels without communicating with one another. It’s a “total theatre” experience, refined and seducing. Composer and musicologist Armando Gentilucci wrote about La Passion : “the most striking novelty is the absolute ambivalence between actors and musicians that is accomplished through a series of actions : the scenic fiction caused by costumes, the technical interpretation of the music, even pure happenings”.
One of the oddest features of the score – with its sophisticated drawings – is the specification about the author being the only person who can really stage La Passion, as he is the one true artist who can connect the dots of its random score, where lines can go every direction, cross or uncross, and where pitch and tone must be chosen carefully.
It’s famous American soprano Cathy Berberian who premiered the role of Justine “O” Juliette in 1965, in Palermo,
(source : Opera Manager - Sylvano Bussotti Passion selon Sade, La, translation by Giulia Ricordi)