Above is a picture of myself, my mother Catherine Gayer and family friend Helga Krauss after the New York stage premiere of Beyond, the little night opera Helga and I wrote for my mother.

This is Part 3 of sharing both the German and English versions of Jenseits/Beyond on Notes for a Composer. Part 1 can be found here, Part 2 is here, and eventually the whole libretto and score can be found on the designated Jenseits/Beyond page.

In Section V the woman’s journey in the Beyond has its first extended reenactment of a scene from the past. And for the first time one of the angels takes on the role of an important figure in the opera singer’s life, the conductor. (Yes, that is me hamming it up as the angel/conductor in the English language concert recording).

The woman is rehearsing a wordless baroque aria under the direction of the conductor – and if the long held note at the beginning of the aria followed by a circuitous melodic line vaguely reminds you of other famous baroque or baroque adjacent pieces of music, let me as the composer just state that that is absolutely intended.

The conductor is blurring the lines between musical direction and seduction, which the woman finds both thrilling and alarming. Her responses are reflected purely musically through modification of the baroque melody and wordless musical interjections.

This blast from the past troubles the woman greatly as she grapples with how she sees herself now in the Beyond in Section VI. She is filled with doubt and fear over what is real and what is happening with her. She sees no light, only darkness.

V

German Language Studio Recording

English Language Live Concert Recording

The Woman and the Conductor rehearsing. Both are nervous. She sings a wordless baroque aria.

WOMAN

Ah-

CONDUCTOR (2. ANGEL)

Lovely, with sentiment

WOMAN

Ah-

CONDUCTOR
But no sentimentality please

Bellissimo, a whispering melody

A sensual, hovering tapestry

He comes closer. She eludes him. He exudes a strong erotic energy. She feels drawn to him, but also fears this sensuality.

CONDUCTOR
Pauses….most important are the pauses.

WOMAN Oh-

CONDUCTOR
Imagine how your mouth forms the tones, caresses them. Con bocca chiusa. (He hums seductively)

WOMAN

AAH –

The woman is enjoying being wooed.

CONDUCTOR
Yes, yes, even more luster in your chest tones

WOMAN
AAH – Ah, ah, ah –

CONDUCTOR
Please, Mary, don’t hold back.

(his intentions unmistakable)May I invite you, to dinner at my hotel?

WOMAN
Ah ah ah, ah ah ah

Uh uh, uh uh

Ah-

CONDUCTOR
We should get to know each other…much better…

The rehearsal continues.

WOMAN
Ah-

ah – ah- ah-

VI

German Language Studio Recording

English Language Live Concert Recording

WOMAN
Who am I but a stranger
Whom I still intimately know
I’m shattered in thousand pieces, and everyone’s me

Who am I – I’m neither here nor am I there
I’m floating – I’m falling

Illusions
Just an oasis in the desert for one who dies of thirst

Should I try to reach it I will grasp air, light delusions

Is death true, really, or is death only a mirage

1. ANGEL
Death is a true mirage

WOMAN
Like a ghost, like a water bubble

A shadow, stark lightning at night (fearful) ah-

He throws a rope around my neck and drags me off

He tears my heart apart
And bores into my deepest insides

Where is the light?
Where is the starshine?

Nothing here but the cold and dark

Ah- ah- ah-
(calming down) ah-

PS: Section VI reprises several of the more dramatic piano motifs that were introduced at the start of the opera with the woman’s violent arrival in the Beyond.

But there is also new music, including the fear motif, an unsettled rising and falling vocal melisma that reflects the woman’s terror of death or the unknown. At the end of Section VI she sings this fear motif three times in a row, while slowly calming down, and then again one last time but somewhat modified (see score excerpt below).

This modification is transforming the melisma into something new, the lullaby theme; which will be shared in the next installment of Beyond/Jenseits.

Stay tuned.