Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Philip Glass
The Fall of the House of Usher (1988)
- Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc (World)
Commissioned by the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA and the Kentucky Opera
Opera in two acts.
Libretto (English) by Arthur Yorinks based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.
- 1(pic).0.1.1/1.0.0.0/egtr/perc/syn/str(2.1.1.1.1)
- Soprano, 2 Tenors, Baritone, Bass
- 1 hr 30 min
- Arthur Yorinks based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe
- English, German
Programme Note
CAST
Madeleine Usher - lyric soprano
Roderick Usher - tenor
William, a visitor - baritone
Physician - tenor
Servant - bass
SYNOPSIS
Poe's famous horror story has fascinated poets, dramatists and composers for over a century. Poe hints at much, but states hardly anything at all. Is the story real, or is it a hallucination? What are the relationships between the narrator (William), his friend Roderick Usher, and Roderick's dying sister, Madeleine? Has she been buried alive, or is it a demon from hell who takes such spectacular revenge at the end? And is the vast house in which they live a living, malignant entity? Incest, homosexuality, murder and supernatural hang in the air, but, then again, such things may exist only in the imagination of the audience.
Madeleine Usher - lyric soprano
Roderick Usher - tenor
William, a visitor - baritone
Physician - tenor
Servant - bass
SYNOPSIS
Poe's famous horror story has fascinated poets, dramatists and composers for over a century. Poe hints at much, but states hardly anything at all. Is the story real, or is it a hallucination? What are the relationships between the narrator (William), his friend Roderick Usher, and Roderick's dying sister, Madeleine? Has she been buried alive, or is it a demon from hell who takes such spectacular revenge at the end? And is the vast house in which they live a living, malignant entity? Incest, homosexuality, murder and supernatural hang in the air, but, then again, such things may exist only in the imagination of the audience.