Download Hypermusic Prologue

Hypermusic Prologue
A projective opera in seven planes
Commission of Ensemble intercontemporain, Ircam-centre Pompidou, with support of Cultural department of Catalan government
Hèctor Parra, music
Lisa Randall, libretto
Matthew Ritchie, design production
Paul Desveaux, staging
Laurent Schneegans, lights
Charlotte Ellett, soprano
James Bobby, baritone
Ensemble intercontemporain
Clement Power, conductor
Thomas Goepfer, Ircam music computer realisation
Produced by Ensemble intercontemporain, Ircam-Centre Pompidou, with support of
The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
Hypermusic Prologue is first and foremost a story of a meeting between a young Spanish
composer, Hèctor Parra, and an American physicist, Lisa Randall. He was fascinated by
scientific research in cosmological models and quantum physics. She was a veritable Opera
buff. Then she told him about her desire to write a libretto about the new theories in
astrophysics. And so it was that Hypermusic Prologue was spawned, a new type of Opera
bridging the worlds of art and science. Very soon, the English plastic artist Matthew Ritchie
joined this strikingly original artistic project.
And, to be sure, this « Projective Opera » does indeed project us beyond the known frontiers
of the universe. An exploration in the form of a dialog between a man and a -woman, two
soloist voices both feeling the tension between the finite and infinite (Hyperspace), between
the experience of the here and now and the temptation of new dimensions of being and time.
For it is indeed the human aspect which imparts measure and meaning to the infinitely large.
Hypermusic Prologue promises to be a musical voyage to the deepest parts of ourselves and
our own « hidden dimensions ».
A bit further
Hypermusic Prologue is a unique collaboration between science, music and art. We explore
the historic form of opera to generate a dramatic expression of 21st Century ideas and the
creative process, including recent developments in higher dimensional physics and their
parallels in music and art.
The soprano, a composer and scientist, experiences a deep tension between her human love
and her passion for knowledge. This tension is realized dramatically through the limited
spacetime experience she shares with her lover (baritone) and her belief that there is a larger
world to be explored.
Their interaction is disturbed and illuminated when the soprano embarks on a hypothetical trip
into a warped extra dimension, a space in which space and energy depend on location in a
new dimension of space. Their alternative views and experiences of reality take on
metaphorical meaning through this journey. They also understand differently the unification
of forces and how an extra dimension would be "observed" in the spacetime the baritone is
stuck in--one with only three spatial dimensions.
To dramatically illustrate operatically these ideas requires that music, a highly organized form
of acoustic energy, can approximate and illuminate the novel energetic fields and spaces we
find in the warped higher-dimensional spacetime that the soprano explores. In this opera the
public is led from the standard initial three-dimensional psychoacoustical space of the concert
room to sense the opening of unsuspected new spatial-acoustical dimensions. The musical and
vocal rhythms, pitches, and melodies, as well as usages of the non standard ways of playing
the instruments, electro-acoustic spatialization are precisely “sculpted” following structural
analogies with physical concepts and processes of the warped spacetime models.
In this process, new musical materials are born. They will be “unified” as a “hyper-expressive
sound matter” that we will find in the more dramatical –highly energetic key moments of the
plot of the concert-opera. The music itself and the contrasted rhythmical and emotional
tension of the dialogues between the soprano and the baritone are designed to warp and
deform the time perception of the public.
This opera is an opportunity to boost research into new and more expressive forms of drama
and musical possibilities. We aim to find aesthetically sound structural connections between
the most abstract of the arts –the music- with the highly inspiring physical models that Lisa
Randall and others have worked on. Hopefully a fascinating new and creative experience will
be the result.
Interview of Lisa Randall
How comes a physicist like you is asked by a young spanish composer to write the libretto
of a "projective opera" ?
This is a question really better directed to Hector! The story is that Hector contacted me by
email after reading
the book I had written
entitled Warped Passages: Unraveling the
Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions. Hector was fascinated by some of the ideas
about the physical universe and the geometry of spacetime that it described. He explained to
me his ideas about translating some of the concepts into a musical setting and asked if I
might be interested in such a project.
In fact a number of creative people had contacted me since my book came out--many with
interesting thoughts and ideas- but somehow Hector's idea intrigued me quite a lot. I found the
thought of using music to convey the many different strands of thought fascinating and truly
new. I had wondered all along if there were other ways to convey some of the ideas but
music had never entered my head. But once Hector suggested an opera, we began to discuss
the possibilities and realized how rich the opportunities could be. I listened to some of his
music, which I liked, and was excited about the idea that electronic treatment of music might
be an ideal way to convey something as exotic as new dimensions of space.
What is the subject of this libretto ?
The subject is the many contrasts between someone content with the world the way it is and
the way it is currently understood and someone who is dissatisfied and searches for more-what she thinks is missing in the world as they know it. In some sense it is about what
drivescreativity and exploration of the unknown.
The opera is relatively short--only one hour--and involves only two people who represent two
opposing views. The soprano is a creative person--a composer and a physicist. The baritone is
also someone who thinks about how the world works but he is more content with classical
theories and understanding. The two of them start off together but separate when the soprano
decides to explore an extra dimension and find the answers to her questions, and understand
why she and the world around her hadn't seemed to quite fit.
The theme is in some sense what drives explorations of the unknown--why we do it and
what it helps us understand. And the story is also about their communication with each other-which in some sense represents how musicians and scientists search for the "invisible" and try
to convey what they find to others.
Is this a way to make people more familiar with new theories in your field ?
An opera is not a book. One is not really explaining theories. On the other hand an opera is
an exciting way to introduce people to new ideas. And it seems that it could work. Even the
people who are producing the opera were not originally familiar with particle physics and
string theory but now speak fluently about some of the interesting ideas being explored!
The opera does center around some of the extra-dimensional ideas I and others have worked
on. I was a little uncomfortable with the opera centering so much around my work, but the
setting really appeared to be ideal for what we wanted to accomplish. An extra dimension is a
wonderful metaphor for exploration. The world she enters is in some sense bigger and richer.
It is also "warped"--that is a technical term having to do with the curvature of space. But with
Matthew we can also explore the rich visual opportunities that provides.
The science also affords rich opportunities to bring new ideas to music. It's been wonderful to
work with Hector and see him expand his music to
accommodate new ideas.
Had you some previous writing experience ?
I wrote the book that I mentioned above. Some of what I enjoyed the most when writing were
the creative opportunities afforded by metaphors or little stories that I introduced. Of course
writing a libretto is still very different and I was hesitant at first but I've loved learning th
constraints in writing a piece to be performed in this way and to think of it in the context of
the music and visuals in which it will be embedded. It has been a satisfying experience.
What is your relation with music ?
I enjoy music very much and opera in particular. But writing and creating something for a
musical setting is a very new experience for me. In fact Hector and I had been thinking about
constructing something for several years now but we both wanted to make sure it would work
and that we could come up with a concept that worked on a stage yet conveyed what we
wanted. Hector wanted the physics to be right as did I and I wanted it to be a good compelling
story. I had to adjust my writing style for Hector's music but that was actually a lot of fun. I
look forward to seeing all the pieces integrated into a whole!
Interview of Matthew Ritchie
How did you conceived your participation in this opera project ?
Every human brain is constantly processing physical information, sounds and visions received
directly from the same universe that is the subject of Lisa Randall's work. Nothing could be
more interesting than trying to picture that signal.
What do you intend to do ?
I will attempt to provide a visual analogy to the experience of discovering the presence of that
information all around us. Probably a kind of fever dream of physics.
How do you imagine the link between your work and the subject of this opera ?
How we choose to define the information inside and outside the perceivable universe is the
subject of my entire body of work. Both Lisa and Hector are engaged in examining the same
subject, from very different perspectives. Because this will be a very intense and complex
performance I am thinking less in terms of 'links' and more in terms of establishing layers that
will unpack themselves later in the mind of the audience.
Is this the first time you are doing something for the opera ?
Yes and this is not exactly a typical opera!
How is this challenging for you ?
The music, visuals and libretto will occupy three overlapping but highly experimental areas,
so I think it will be challenging for everyone. Our hope is to make that challenge absorbing,
exciting and legible.
What is your relation with music ?
I have worked with composers on various projects, most recently an effort to realize the
famous phrase, "architecture is frozen music", by creating a building that is a musical
instrument (The Morning Line).
Regarding this particular opera project do you think art and science can work together
and in what purpose ?
They are always working together in the largest sense. Art and science, like music,
architecture and philosophy, are expressions of a central human project whose chief aim is to
ask (as Liebniz put it), "why is there something instead of nothing?"
Subsequently
we ask; what is that something and how do we choose to describe and
experience it? Hopefully by bringing these very diverse activities into a close proximity
through collaboration we can take advantage of happy accidents and fundamental homologies
and encourage speculation without compromising the experimental strategies of each
discipline. But even if we fail, the experiment will surely have been worth trying!