compositions
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.

Scores

The Voyage at Wise Music Classical
Mechanical Ballet from “The Voyage” at Wise Music Classical

Related

RECORDINGS:
Symphony No. 3 on Nonesuch
The Voyage on Orange Mountain Music