Mirages in Pisa
for twelve musicians

Description

Mirages in Pisa (2016) – for piccolo, oboe (=cor), clarinet in A (=b.cl. in Bb), trumpet (=picc), horn, 1P, piano, 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos
Commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra through the Christopher Brooks Composition Prize, supported by the Rushworth Foundation
Completed July 2016 (Manchester)
First performance 26 October 2016 by Ensemble 10/10 & Clark Rundell, St. George’s Hall Liverpool
Dedicated to Raphael Schumacher, actor (1988-2016)
Duration ca. 12’

Percussion List

Cowbells (5)
Bowed Crotales
Xylophone
Tam-tam, small
Triangle, small
Tubular Bells

Programme Note

On 31 January 2016, Raphael Schumacher was acting in a new play – Mirages – at the Teatro Lux in Pisa, when he performed a hanging-scene that resulted in him losing his life. Raphael’s audience consisted of just one or two people, neither of whom realised what was happening until it was too late. Nobody knows if the actor’s gesture was intentional, or not. At the time of the incident, Raphael was outside in the courtyard reciting Moritz’s last monologue from Frank Wedekind’s (earlier) play, Spring Awakening (which had seemingly been incorporated into the newer play, Mirages). Moritz uses the monologue to vent his anger and frustrations before killing himself:

It’s the only way. – I don’t fit in.
Let them battle it out amongst themselves.
I’ll step outside and close the door behind me.
I’m fed up of being pushed around. –
I didn’t ask to be born, and I don’t owe God anything (…)
This world gave me the cold shoulder.
On the other side I can see friendly, sympathetic faces:
the headless queen, the headless queen – compassion waiting to embrace me…
Your commandments are for those who need telling what to do;
I have earned my ticket to freedom.
The chrysalis opens and the butterfly flutters away;
I’ll be troubled by no more phantoms. –
They can stop playing their mad game of deception.
The mist is clearing.
Life is a matter of taste.

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/bethanmorganwilliams/mirages-in-pisa