Voyage
Opera in three acts, prologue and epilogue for orchestra, chorus and soloists
1992
Info
155′
Music by Philip Glass.
Libretto by David Henry Hwang, based on a story by Philip Glass.
Published by Dunvagen Music Publishers.
Instrumentation
2S, 2Mz, T, B-Bar, 2B; SATB chorus 2.pic.2.2.bcl.2/ 4.3.2btbn.1/ timp. 4 perc (timp, SD, TD, BD, glsp, tgl, maracas, chimes, tpl.bl, wdbl, tamb, cym, finger cyms, cast, tam-t, cel)/ hp/ epf/ str
Premiere
October 12, 1992 at the Metropolitan Opera, in commemoration of the 500th Anniversary of the Discovery of America
Commission
Commissioned by the Metropoliatan Opera.
Notes
The Voyage is an allegory about the spirit of exploration and the dislocation that must occur whenever different cultures clash. What drives people to travel, what are they looking for? Characters from the past and the future give different answers – also the scientist who travels across the universe without ever leaving his wheel chair. Christopher Columbus, stands for all those eternal travelers – Ulysses, Noah, Flaying Dutchman – doomed or destined, alone with his idea on a boat; he is a stand-in for all voyagers, for all those compelled to explore, to question.