During this time, the young lawyer formed his guiding philosophy - satyagraha, an untranslatable portmanteau that roughly means “truth force” - and fought for the civil rights of Indians.Įvents like the founding of the activist newspaper Indian Opinion, the leading of a peaceful protest march, and a confrontation between Gandhi and his opponents, are presented, but the libretto gives no indication of specific stage action for these episodes. Ostensibly, “Satyagraha” is about Gandhi’s years in South Africa, from 1893 to 1914. Where the two productions differed most - and where one foundered while the other excelled - was in presenting the story of Gandhi’s life.

Björfors’s vocabulary is the circus, just as Mr. Now there is just Glass’ ensemble and four singers, with Michael Riesman conducting.Ms. Originally Glass added a chamber orchestra to his six-member ensemble of keyboards and winds, and six singers handled the nine characters. The touring version of the opera has significantly reduced forces. Wednesday’s performance was further proof.

There is no question of that working because the opera is a complete success on recording. The true test of Glass’ “Belle” would be to produce it as stand-alone opera. Glass changes the equation, transforming Cocteau’s work just as Belle transforms the beast. Although Auric had larger forces and was a master of instrumental color, he served the image on the screen. But what has remained radical is the rethinking of the nature of music and film through the lens of opera. Two eras are juxtaposed, with the music updated and the movie not, which was radical 20 years ago but now is not, what with new scores regularly created for silent movies and everyone and his brother making new soundtracks for found videos on YouTube.

La opera philip glass