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- [00:27]
A
Welcome to another edition of Opera for Everyone. I'm your host, Pat Wright and I am thrilled to welcome back once again, Gerald Malone. Welcome back, Gerald.
- [00:36]
B
I'm particularly thrilled to be here for the Wreckers, Pat.
- [00:39]
A
The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. But before we tell you anything about the show, I'd like to just remind everyone about Gerald's wonderful involvement in the world of opera. Gerald is the treasurer of the Metropolitan Opera Club and he has a website called thereestisopera.com filled with scuttlebutt and reviews of operas around the world.
- [01:02]
B
Well, that's very kind of you to remind me about that as well, Pat.
- [01:08]
A
You spend a lot of time working on that. You do travel all over for opera.
- [01:12]
B
I do have a wonderful time doing that and getting across America and Europe. It's one of the great joys of opera. It takes you into everything. And in February, I was in Oman at the Muscat Royal Opera House where I had a show round of about what they're going to be doing there next season. And that was stunning.
- [01:31]
A
It's so interesting. Once you get into this world and you can travel as an opera goer, you could be like Gerald and actually jump on airplanes and stay in hotels. But I want to remind everyone there's a world of opera through your computer, through your streaming services. YouTube is filled with a lot of these wonderful productions, including the one we're going to be discussing today. And there's the free opera service Opera Vision and there are subscription services as well from opera companies and also places like Medici tv. Opera is for everyone and it is accessible even without getting on an airplane or even in your car.
- [02:06]
B
Indeed, you can travel all across the world from your armchair.
- [02:10]
A
It's magnificent. It's opened up so many operas to me that way and I'm just so grateful. Let's just briefly tell us about this opera you recommended to me, the Wreckers by Ethel Smyth.
- [02:22]
B
Well, I found it on the Bard Summer Scape School. A recording, just as you have just been saying, one travels the world on the Internet. And they did it, to my astonishment, and I watched it and I had heard nothing about it. It's about Cornwall in England and it's about a community which is racked with scandal and passion. And what they do is they wreck ships, they put the lights out on the lighthouses and they hope that the ships get driven onto the shore and then they kill the sailors and they steal the gold and whatever else is in the cargo. And it was a well known phenomenon in 18th century England. That that happened. And this opera was written at the turn of the 20th century by Dame Ethel Smyth. Wasn't a dame then, she was just plain Ethel Smyth. And it was a huge success at the time and was dropped out of the canon inexplicably, I think, and is now being revived. It was done again by Glyndebourne in first class production in 2022.
- [03:32]
A
Yes. In its original language, surprisingly enough, French. We'll get to all of that backstory later.
- [03:39]
B
That's a story of its own.
- [03:40]
A
Oh, there's so much. But let's listen to a little bit more of this prelude. And we're going to conclude with the beginning of the voices in this opera where the chorus will tell us, God's chosen people shall not pay the price of sin, but sink into this music and picture yourself on the desolate coast of Cornwall. That was from the Prelude to the Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smythe. And we've positioned ourselves in Cornwall. But let's take a moment before we launch into our characters in this story to talk about Ethel Smyth herself. She is an interesting character. I'm so grateful to you for introducing me to her. She was a very talented and motivated woman.
- [06:27]
B
The truth of the matter is that she's actually probably more interesting than any of the characters in the opera because Ethel Spyeth, who lived between 1858 and 1944, was first of all a composer. She came from a fairly rich military family and was one of the most ill disciplined children on the planet. She had to be locked in her room because she wanted to practice music and her father didn't like that. He thought it was going to be useless.
- [06:53]
A
Well, a little bit of ladylike piano playing was fine, but.
- [06:56]
B
Well, that's all right. But you couldn't make your mark. Ethel wanted to make her mark and she always did that from the start. And she eventually got him to be persuaded to allow her to go to Prague, believe it or not, where she met all sorts of interesting composers. She met Tchaikovsky, she met Brahms. She was very capable of shoehorning her way into the musical society there. And she became quite a well known composer in her day there. It was a fascinating story.
- [07:27]
A
Well, yes, and I had heard she just had to go after her father again and again and again because she wanted to go to Germany, to Leipzig to study there in the conservatory, where she met a lot of folks as well.
- [07:39]
B
Yeah. And she managed to do that. And she inveigled herself into somebody's home in Leipzig. Elizabeth von Herzogenberg. She stayed there with the family. And of course, they were well connected in the music world. And not only that, but she actually formed a relationship with Elizabeth von Herzogenberg. And there were many of these relationships, she called them passionettes throughout her life, ending up with Virginia Woolf when ethel Smyth was 71.
- [08:13]
A
Yes, and I believe Emmeline Pankhurst was one of her close friends. One of these relationships that she had. The nature of the relationship is sometimes in question, but she was somebody who could form these close relationships and made use of these relationships as well for her career.
- [08:31]
B
I think more than make use, she used it to expand her horizons. Because with Emmeline Pankhurst, the story was the suffragette movement. And Ethel became. She wasn't a committed politician, but she became a committed suffragette. And she wrote the suffragette song, March of the Women, which was very famous. And what was curious is that she managed, even through this rebellious nature, to convince society that she was doing the right thing. So the March of the Women was played regularly at the promenade concerts by Thomas Beauchamp. And gradually she got herself from a rebel into the establishment and then became a Dame in 1922, and even sat
- [09:19]
A
in the royal box with the Queen at one point during one of her concerts toward the end of her life.
- [09:24]
B
Well, very fortunate that she didn't attempt to do with the Queen what she did with Virginia Woolf. So be grateful for small. For small mercies, but, I mean, I
- [09:35]
A
think there are limits there.
- [09:36]
B
She was always on the go. I mean, I was amazed to discover old Nature Day that she was engaged to Oscar Wilde's brother, Willie Wilde.
- [09:46]
A
Oh, you have done research.
- [09:47]
B
When she was 18 years of age. And the way it happened was typical Ethel. She met him on an Irish ferry when she was going over to Ireland. She threw up all over him, being seasick. He proposed, they agreed to get engaged. He got a lovely ring for her, and she broke it off within three weeks and shoved off, saying that why should I be interested in him? I'm no more in love with him than I am with the engine driver. And the story is that she kept the ring. That's Ethel for you.
- [10:22]
A
Yes. Yes, it is. And she. I didn't know. Oscar Wilde's brother.
- [10:27]
B
Wow. Yeah. She maybe thought it was Oscar. I mean, who knows?
- [10:32]
A
Who knows? Probably she knew. I think she's. She was. She was on the ball. But she did make good friends. I mean, she was enough in society that she. She wasn't clawing her way into certain circles, but she made use of once she was in those circles. And I Don't mean this in a negative way at all. She had to work really hard for her music to be recognized and taken seriously. And the whole conversation of her being a woman composer, she was criticized all the time, oh, she's not feminine enough. And then when she was more feminine, she was dismissed as not being serious. And it was just. She had a rough time.
- [11:10]
B
She learned very early on that if she put her initials on a piece of music, E. Smythe, then she got a huge applause. But when she stood up to take a bow at the end of the piece, people were amazed to discover she was a woman. And I think she dealt with it in a highly practical way. And she was quite right because she was writing in as revolutionary a style as any of the men of the time. And she was followed by the leading composers of the 20th century, notably Benjamin Britten, who was a huge admirer of her. And in fact, this very opera that we're going to be talking about today in the records was on the shelf in Benjamin Britten's study, which he shared with Peter Pears. It was well thumbed and it was the basis for his famous 20th century opera, probably the best known one in British opera of the period. Peter Grimes.
- [12:09]
A
Yes. Also a community apart from the rest of the world, really.
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B
A community apart. And who were trying to get rid of somebody who was a part of that community and ostracizing them. Just the same way that we'll discover happens in the Wreckers.
- [12:24]
A
Yes. And I've even read that critics say she is the most important English composer between Purcell and Britain. That's quite a statement to make.
- [12:36]
B
I would say that's arguably true because Benjamin Britten didn't get performed at the Metropolitan Opera House, but Ethel Smyth did. She was the first woman composer to be performed at the Met in 1906. And the Met never had another woman composer until 2016.
- [12:59]
A
Yes. Over a century, which is just remarkable. Yes, yes.
- [13:03]
B
And it was a double bill with the old Trovatore. But the opera that she had there went down a bomb. There were seven curtain calls and she was fated all around New York, where Benjamin Britton would have given his eye teeth for that back in the 1930s.
- [13:18]
A
And that was not this opera, the records. That was Der Walt.
- [13:21]
B
No, that was Der Walt. Yeah. It was a very short opera. It was written in 1902. So it was amazing that it got to the Met at that time, so early on in her career. And she used her contacts and her relentlessness to persuade people of her talent. I don't think people did her any favours. They just recognized her talent and they were doing themselves favours, in my view, by taking her on and performing her.
- [13:48]
A
Absolutely. And I'd love to just tie together two of these ideas We've been talking about her passion that she discovered for supporting women in general and this opera, Dervald. I found a little clip of a letter that she wrote to Henry Brewster. You'll tell us about him in a moment. But she wrote to him and said, I feel I must fight for Dervald also because I want women to turn their minds to big and difficult jobs, not just go on hugging the shore, afraid to put out to sea. Now I'm neither afraid nor a pauper. And in my way I'm an explorer who believes supremely in the advantages of this hit of pioneering. She wanted to blaze a trail that would inspire other women. I found that very moving for something she's writing over a hundred years ago.
- [14:36]
B
Yes, it was. And she carried everybody along with her. You mentioned Harry Brewster. Yes, that was the only significant male relationship that she had, apart from. Apart from three weeks with the wild brother. But Harry Brewster, who was married when he met her, and she also had an affair with his wife, believe it or not.
- [14:59]
A
Believe it.
- [15:00]
B
So she was all for keeping it in the family, but that was a 24 year old, intense relationship and he was the love of her life. And it was intellectual as well as passionate and a very, very tender partnership. And he provided the librettos for several of Smyth's key works, the Wreckers and Der Walten, as you said. And we'll get onto him during the course of it. But he wrote fantastic librettos for her. They were hugely poetical, non repetitive, and he was highly talented. And it was a shame that he wrote only for her.
- [15:36]
A
Yes, he seems to have been a real inspiration to her. Interesting background of his. He's American born, but he grew up in France. And that's why this libretto was originally written in French. It was his preferred language for poetic expression. And so the fact that we keep calling it the Wreckers because it is
- [15:58]
B
more often than not, Les Neufragers. Les Neufragers, Yeah. I'm not sure I buy all that. I actually think that they decided to do it in French because they were trying to get it to the Paris Opera House and the director of Covent Garden happened to be a Frenchman at the time and they thought they would get it through. But it was as good in French as it was performed by Glyndebourne, as it was in English, as it was Performed by Bard.
- [16:26]
A
Well, yes, the 2022 Glyndebourne production was in French. And from all I've read, that was the first. The first professional production of this opera in its original language.
- [16:40]
B
It was. Yeah, yeah.
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A
It was also performed in Berlin, but my goodness, as far as I know, it's not available, free streaming, but it is available on some of the services, online services, and I was thrilled.
- [16:51]
B
Yeah, it can be dug out easily enough.
- [16:53]
A
Yeah, it's wonderful. And the French, we can talk about this when we get to the. The end of. Towards the end of the opera, but just briefly, the German premiere, it premieres in Leipzig in 1906. But it was a rocky road getting to that premiere. Maybe France, maybe, you know, different places, but finally Leipzig. She uses her connections, but a switch of the guy in charge changes things and the passion for her is not there. And her third act gets cut dramatically. And it seems to me that a lot of those cuts are maintained in the English version, that when you see the French version in contrast, there's more to the third act and it makes a lot more sense.
- [17:35]
B
But one of the reasons why the French one disappeared was that she hated the cuts that were being made and she went snuck in during the evening and took all the scores from the players roster and disappeared right after the premiere. Yeah, absolutely.
- [17:52]
A
Yeah. No, it's an amazing story that she tiptoed in in the dark of night and took all of the music.
- [17:58]
B
One of the amazing things that I really didn't know was how well established she was in Britain as a figure. She was the tweedy lady who was of dubious sexuality, who was the composer to start with, and then the suffragette and the intellectual. She was an author as well. She wrote her own life in nine volumes. I haven't got through most of them yet, but maybe we'll be tempted to do that at some stage. But I was amazed to discover that even 10 years after her death, she was still well known in England. And there was plays for radio in the mid-1950s that the BBC brought out. And they brought out a series based on Ethel called Hilda Tablet. Hilda Tablet was a woman composer, a composer esque. And she was somebody who had invented musique concrete reinforce in 12 tones.
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A
Reinforced concrete.
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B
Yes, absolutely. It was a comedy, Pat, a very amusing satire. And she was also meant to have written. Hilda Tablet wrote the opera Emily Butter, an all female cast set in a department store. And it ran on the BBC's third program, which was for music on a series of seven, and was hugely popular and very comical, fascinating.
- [19:20]
A
Well, do you think there's a little belittling going on there?
- [19:23]
B
No, I think it was affectionate and she was so well known that people could make fun of her, as all good satire has something of affection in it. If it's not, it's just vicious. If you listen, I've heard a part of one of them, and it really is hilarious because the music plays over the announcer, which is really what killed the tablet. And also, Ethel Smyth would probably have done. Absolutely. Very funny.
- [19:53]
A
Yes. Yeah, that sounds like it'd be worth looking into. But going back to what you said about her being an established figure in London even before this opera comes out, her Mass in D, I think, is what really put her on the map.
- [20:10]
B
I'm not surprised about that. Funnily enough, I actually listened to it in full on a recent plane journey, of which I have far too many, and I was amazed at how profound it was. And it brought to mind a comment that somebody had of it that it was a strange thing for Ethel Smyth, who was effectively an atheist, to write a Mass. And the comment was that if Ethel Smyth did not believe in God after that Mass, God had to believe in Ethel Smyth.
- [20:44]
A
Oh, what a good comment. Well, this was. It premiered at the Royal Albert hall in 1893, and I think that really got a lot of people's attention, but not enough for her to get her operas premiered in England. In fact, Covent Garden. I read a comment that said that they simply wouldn't take a chance on a new composer, which she would be in the opera world.
- [21:09]
B
But it was interesting that the Met did take a chance. I think that's, you know, one up for the Met in that. And Covent Garden's always been a bit snooty about bringing on the new. And that's something that sort of stays a little bit to this day. You know, the Met has just done the Sarajeo opera innocence. And it's still got that genetic characteristic of taking on the new and challenges that others avoid.
- [21:35]
A
I mean, it's a balance for these major opera houses, I think, to know whether it's worth all the money they have to sink into. Will they get the audience? And Kaya Sayjo, the Finnish composer, she was that second woman composer put on at the met over 100 years after Ethel Smythe and Der Walt. So, you know, yes, credit where credit is due, but with a little bit of limitation, because these are businesses as well.
- [22:04]
B
They are.
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A
Well, shall we start talking about the details of our story? The wreckers, the people who encourage these shipwrecks to occur.
- [22:15]
B
Let's do that.
- [22:16]
A
And in doing so, let's. Let's turn to our music again and let's hear a little bit more from the chorus, the villagers who will explain their way of life, starting with one of the characters singing of their desperation. Bring us food or we die.
- [22:34]
C
Bring us. Sam.
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A
Well, now that the villagers have explained what they do as wreckers, they've told us, the audience, that they lure these ships in, they crash, and that's how they survive. They are in desperate straits. But not everyone is part of the chorus. We have this man come in and make his presence known. His name is Pasco.
- [23:51]
B
Yes, Pasco is the pastor, and he's a very strange man. He is the one who has persuaded them that this way of life is actually something that has been ordained by God and that they're entitled to do this. The killing of sailors, the raiding of all their wealth, etc. And he winds them up in the Wesleyan Chapel, usually, but he's not going to be in chapel today for the first time. And when he appears, he discovers that they're drinking. And he is absolutely appalled.
- [24:25]
A
Yes, he's this very powerful religious character in the community, and he very much buys into this idea which Wesley himself. This is part of the Wesleyan revival. Wesley himself did not approve of this practice and he wanted it to stop, but he was not successful in that
- [24:41]
B
anybody approves of the practice, apart from Pasco and the people who were actually doing it on the Cornish wrecker coast. It was a very strange thing. Clearly badly outlawed, but they'd been wound up by Pasco. And they were justifying themselves because Pasco said it was the right thing to do. But what Pasco was also saying was that drinking in the Sabbath is exactly why you're not getting any wrecks anymore. You're not respecting God.
- [25:07]
A
Right. That these shipwrecks are a sign of God's favor and if you don't do other things to please God, he will not reward you with these shipwrecks. Fascinating way of thinking.
- [25:18]
B
Well, there are a number of political credos these days in the current world, that would be as inverted. All right, then I will say no more than that.
- [25:32]
A
Let's get a little flavor of Pasco from this next piece that he sings.
- [25:36]
B
Yeah.
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C
Heaven, Our nets are empty Param the
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A
land
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C
and the shaft with our hunger lands us no foundering ship casts wealth on our strand Neither calm nor storm be spared. This people have forgot the Lord and he who once badly ocean feed us now guides the Tall ships safely past the shore.
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A
That's a little flavor of Pasco, the head religious man, the leader of this community.
- [26:50]
B
Yes, and he is the teacher who's come back in and given the classroom a row for drinking and pat. You must know about that. You've dealt with troublesome classrooms before.
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A
Oh, the stories I could tell. Yes.
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B
And he explains that the nets are empty here. Then you've forgotten the Lord is what he's been singing. And that he claims God's directed the ships onto the shores and he's now guiding tall ships safely past the shores. Tis thus we pay the price of sin. So he's giving them a real row. The villagers understand that he is.
- [27:25]
A
But then the lighthouse keeper, who so dutifully puts out his light so that he can encourage these wrecks, explains that something's gone wrong. Somebody's messing with our system.
- [27:36]
B
Well, Lawrence, the lighthouse keeper, who is oxymoronic. Lawrence, because he puts them out and doesn't put them on. He's suspicious that somebody else is lighting beacons in place of the missing lights. And this arouses suspicion in the part of the crowd.
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A
And anyone who would be lighting a light is a traitor.
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B
Yes, they are a traitor. And they have a tradition of punishing traitors with death.
- [28:07]
A
And we have a new character appear here. Avis. A young woman.
- [28:12]
B
Well, Avis is extremely important. She is Lawrence's daughter. She's about 17 years of age and she. I'm trying to think of a kind way to describe her. Maybe the best way is the village trollope. Frankly, she's a difficult lady. And she is in love with somebody called Mark. Who? A fisherman who will come to in a moment. But she enters into this saying that you're all stupid. It's nothing to do with you not believing in God. You are clay formed to his hand. But let them be fooled no longer. Say your own eyes have seen there are beacons being lit on the beach.
- [28:52]
A
Yes. And she says, I can tell you who he is.
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C
The fire bearing a message to ships that should stay on the rocks. But for yonder beacon of war. In amidst a trait and a tide. While I poor fool my lighthouse tending Put out the lamp when storms are raging, risk my neck in doing my duty. Treacherous hands are firing be guns. Ram. This strange. Methinks my ears deceived me. Most strange. Did the knave leave a clue? No, I can tell. Will you his name. Most great is the charge. A life at stake at the end of that clip.
- [31:05]
A
Avis has said she knows who it is. But her father says, you must be careful. You cannot make accusations without proof. And she's like, I don't need proof. I'm a woman. I know what's going on.
- [31:18]
B
Mavis has a great line here, or three lines, where she says, speak thus to men. She said, saying to her father, we women ask no proof. We know instinctively.
- [31:31]
A
Yes. Well, here's a moment I might just point out. I don't think we said this earlier, originally written in French, but when it was translated into English, this libretto for production in London, it was Ethel Smythe herself who did the translation into English.
- [31:48]
B
Oh, how interesting. I was unaware of that. So maybe it's not down to Mr. Brewster, these fantastic lines that come in as down to Ethel. Everything's down to Ethel.
- [31:57]
A
Well, fascinatingly, you can't get your hands on a French libretto, so it's only the Glyndborn production that I had to go on, so I didn't have the opportunity to do side by side. But I think there was a lot of working together between Brewster and Smythe. In any rate, Glyndborm did so much work to bring that to stage. I'm so grateful to all the people involved in that. All right, so we have Avis. She says, I know who it is. But her father, the lighthouse keeper, says, no, no, we're not going to throw out accusations and rile up the crowd with no reason. But now we're going to meet some more characters in this community.
- [32:35]
B
So after Avis has endorsed the power of women, suddenly onto the scene comes Thirza. And Thirza is Pasco's wife. And it's a strange relationship because she is very young, some 25 years younger than he is, and they are having what one could only describe as a difficult relationship. And Thirza is at odds with him and at odds with the community. And when she's asked why she's not been to church, she says, your prayers and mine don't agree. She's insulting the community. And she gets Mary Hel for that.
- [33:14]
A
Well, she's not from that community. He met her elsewhere and brought her to this desolate place. And so she's not one of them. They don't accept her. And she. She doesn't buy into their way of thinking that shipwrecking is. I mean, she doesn't say it here, but it's pretty clear that that's what's going on.
- [33:32]
B
She will later on. Absolutely she will. And she's clearly regretting. She's having Beyer's remorse of this marriage with Pascoe. She doesn't love him. And as we'll discover, she's actually in love with somebody else. And she ranks them not with the godly.
- [33:49]
A
And speaking of the man that Thirza is actually in love with, that's Mark, our tenor.
- [33:55]
B
Yes. And he appears, and he thinks that he's not being observed. He thinks that Avis, who he's dumped, is in church, but she's not. She's watching him. And in his entrance, he throws a flower in at Thirza's window. And Avis leaps out and challenges him. Mark, you were to fetch me, but I waited in vain. And he's got the most pathetic answer one could ever have. I forgot.
- [34:21]
A
Yeah. Not convincing.
- [34:23]
B
It's not at all convincing.
- [34:25]
A
Not interested in anymore. Avis, I found someone better than you. He is so in love with this young wife of the pastor in his mid-50s, a generation older than she is. And she is more worldly. And he begins to appreciate her worldview. Thursa's worldview. He does.
- [34:43]
B
Yeah. She's a serious person, whereas Evis was not. And another character appears at this stage who wants to sit beside Avis in church. Young Jack, who is a young lad of Avis's age, who is the son of the landlord of the community. And there comes a great play of Jack and Avis later on.
- [35:09]
A
That will be later. But let's just get a little taste of Avis herself, because she will sing, basically, a little ditty where she's trying to make Mark feel bad about his behavior.
- [35:26]
C
Fleeting is a maiden's favor and her fancy harder to bind Hearts will often go astray. And there is a little saying Nagged love should bear in mind. Go. What is thine nest? The Lord feet I could tell you of a maiden Scarce a man but her food when she trips along the street See the fishermen around her Every heart is at her feet Sweet heart, have again. It is mine A but from the sting bridge broken it is thine
- [36:22]
B
sun,
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C
moon and star that. To all these. One there was on whom she smiled but come over there crossed her. Then another suitor came after the ma to change her name.
- [37:24]
A
You're listening to Opera for everyone. This is the Wreckers by Ethel Smythe. And that was young Avis singing to Mark, who no longer seems to care for her.
- [37:34]
B
Yes, she's infatuated with Mark. He's rejected her. He no longer loves her. And she sings. Fleeting is a maiden's favor. Well, so's also Mark's. Once I loved you, says Mark. But that lover's dead. And then she's a cunning lady, Ava. She's pretty smart. So she suspects. So when do the new love supplant me? And Mark pretends not to know anything about all that. And Avis guesses Thirza rightly. So she sings on her own. Ha ha ha. The rat's in sight. Because she sees Thirza and there's a mad dance as she goes around trying to kill a fictitious rat, which is really Thirza.
- [38:13]
A
Yeah, it's odd. It's. The whole thing is odd. But as you said, Thirza is a more serious person. And when we hear from Thirza, we understand that instantly.
- [38:25]
B
But Thirza is in the background here, and she comes out of her cottage and she's dragging and mending nets in full view of everybody. And she's wearing Mark's flower, which really is what wound Avis up.
- [38:39]
A
That's right. And then when Thirza has a little time to herself, we will get a look into her own heart as she's doing her own work.
- [38:58]
C
O thou shifted good bright ray from a dark loud he threw the court clinging mist and shining my soul love with so chop and gleaming bright timid hearts toward thy goal, Though sorrow thy guerdon and sh the world till I find me put in the darkness of light like shady portals close behind me. I strong heart, you might live. O Lord, I weeping wait and long for thee.
- [40:35]
A
That was Thursa. She weeps and she longs, and pretty soon her husband Pasco comes onto the scene and he scolds both women.
- [40:45]
B
Both women are there, and Pasco and Avis have a run in over a gaudy necklace, and Avis goads him when the good old man is working. A young wife prefers to play this, just as another development in Avis's character. She's turning out to be the smartest kid on the block. She knows exactly how to wind people up and to apply pressure. And then Thirza comes out of her cottage. So there's an implication immediately after Ivis has said that that Thirza is. Is the accusee.
- [41:19]
A
Absolutely. She does know how to poke at the tender spots and the vulnerable areas of the various people. But Pasco then turns his attention to his own wife, and he's not happy with her because she does not join them in their prayers.
- [41:35]
B
That's right. She refuses to do that.
- [41:37]
A
And the two of them argue. And let's hear a little bit of the interaction between Thirza and Pascal Thirza Amezzo and Pasco, a baritone. And she says to him, he's the religious leader. And she says to him, it would be better to be a heathen than the sort of Christian that you are. Those are pretty strong words for a wife.
- [41:58]
B
Yes, they are. This is the moment when she really calls Pasco out for hypocrisy. The chosen may plunder and steal. Would you? A heathen? That would be better for her than being religious, right?
- [42:11]
A
He says, but this is the custom of our land.
- [42:14]
B
Well, she doesn't give a fig for that. And she eventually blows up to a point where there's no return. And Thirza calls them murderers. There's no going back on that one.
- [42:24]
C
Though your deeds be writ in tears and my lord, ye be the saints, the chosen of God such may steal. Tis but taking time. If blood be shed, God's will be done. Lord quenches the Thessaly's treadmill. Your psalms and prayers my soul abhors. If it's us, the chosen. One hither at the Lord's command is ours by right as to ours our Father. Such is the custom of our land. Would I fly these crucibles, the dead fallen stalk beneath the waters, Come to me at nightfall and haunt my slumbers. My daybreak tastes of blood and night. The wh is red, Foolish to be. The hunter recks not of mercy, as he cheers his hounds on their prey. Thus eat with knight at night. To cease and face not landing back into the sea with them. Then out of your daggers. O the day came through. Thou whose eyes are glazing those who seal them, Men, women, children spake none, that no one is capable.
- [46:19]
A
That was Thursa, and she's just called him a murderer. All of them murderers. And condemned them for the the cruelty towards these people that they doom with their wrecking.
- [46:31]
B
Yes, and Pasco gives a whole rationale about why they should be doing this and how they're entitled to do it, and how foes were slaughtered beforehand. And it's all at the hand of God. And it's Cornish land. Breed a hard race and a brave race.
- [46:57]
C
Mid wild rocks dwelling when no man may sow nor reap. God made a harvest grow on the breast of the deep, Said he with grateful hearts. Take what the ocean ships your flocks shall be that its way slowly wandereth unto all the steaming cliffs, Shambles set on the flood. Many part mighty name we shed blood. By the fatal his force was slaughtered yet ill with rain of blood Smiling pain was watered, Blessed my sky beating Flag comrade of wind and wave where may our cordis land Breathe a heart race and brave strong in the spotless way of the women that.
- [48:46]
A
Well, now we know how Pasco is feeling.
- [48:49]
B
Yes. And the congregation says amen. And Pasco turns to Thirza and says, dry your foolish tears, my child. My love. This is almost the last chance you feel of them becoming reconciled. But she shudders and says, let me be. I loathe you. Now, Pat, I think she's not being very clear. Or do you get it?
- [49:14]
A
There's a bit of him that's paternal towards her and sees her as a rebellious child. And we forgive our children when they rebel. So it's an unequal relationship.
- [49:24]
B
I just think he's freaky. He's a strange man. He's a control freak.
- [49:27]
A
Well, that's true.
- [49:28]
B
And when he can't control her, he tries to intimidate her.
- [49:31]
A
That's right.
- [49:31]
B
But she's had enough of it. The surprising thing is, I think that she's put up with this for so long. Well, we don't know how long, but it's clearly a year or so, and she's just had enough. And Mark is the catalyst. When she has seen what the possibilities are of a proper relationship with somebody of more contemporaneous age. She's just doing everything she can to get rid of this horrible Pasco.
- [49:58]
A
Right. Because what hasn't yet been explained to us, but makes it all make sense to us as the viewers or the listeners, is that she has convinced Mark, who is a local, someone who was raised there among these methods. She has convinced him that this is not proper, this is not correct. This is not a sign of God's direction or his favor to kill these crews on the ships and plunder. So Mark, she's brought Mark over to her way of thinking, and that's part of what's giving her strength.
- [50:30]
B
She's the human who's gone along with this. He caught fish. The others caught wrecks, but he's been fairly passive as far as that's concerned. But what is clear is that he is being convinced by her that this is an entirely wrong way of life.
- [50:45]
A
Yes. So now we turn and we pay attention to the entire community. They are eager and ready to continue with their practice. And they want these ships to be wrecked.
- [50:57]
B
Yes, they do.
- [50:57]
A
So that they will prosper. They will not starve.
- [51:00]
B
They're coming out of the chapel and they're congratulating the preacher, who's not Pasco. You get the impression that it's A bit of relief that Pasco has had to go to deal with another sinner that morning. You just get an impression that they're fed up with his preaching.
- [51:13]
A
He says he's a bit of a self righteous man.
- [51:16]
B
Yes, well, he's a totally self righteous man. And the crowd then leaves and we're left on the scene with Lawrence who's the lighthouse keeper, Talon who is the innkeeper and Talon's son, Jack. And Avis is the last to come out. And it's body language time. Mark approaches her, she turns her back and then she pushes off. So there's going to be trouble ahead. Pasco's staring in front of him. There's a sound of thunder, it's a wrecker's sky. There's the prospect of there being more ships on the beach. And Pasco suddenly sings. Let by night a pillar of fire blazing before us lighten our darkness. Now that can be meant in a number of ways. He's lost in prayer, he's singing, he thinks on his own. But Talon, the innkeeper says, a pillar of fire. Could it be Pasco who is actually lighting these fires? And Pasco leaves as in a dream.
- [52:18]
A
Yeah, he's in a slightly different world from the rest of the community when they speak out. But he believes, as we've seen in this favor that God shows by causing the wrecks. They show him deference. But there are also these questions, particularly from Avis. There are questions about Pasco's loyalty.
- [52:39]
B
Avis is sown the seed and now it's got down through to Talon as well. And suspicion is beginning to brew and they become determined to keep an eye on Pasco and to see what he does.
- [52:53]
A
That's right, because Avis will say, not just by innuendo out loud and clearly, the traitor is Pasco. She will tell this small group here, yes, she will. But her father is very concerned that even so, we're not going to jump to conclusions. We need to have proof, we need to observe, we need to actually get evidence before we accuse him of such an enormous crime.
- [53:21]
B
Well, they want to find whoever it is. And so they resolve that the three of them are going to look out for whoever it is who's lighting the beacons. They're resolved to find the firelighter who breaks our law, must die. And they head off and patrol. And the places they're going to patrol are really very evocative. A witch's Byre, Silver Beach, Smuggler's Reach, Hall Point. I mean it's just something out of the pages of a thriller. And in Wagnerian style, they're going to take horns with them and blow if you see a beacon. And it's then that Avis blames Thirza for the whole thing. Tis the work of his wife.
- [54:02]
A
Right, the outsider. That's always a safe one to blame.
- [54:05]
B
It's the easy target. But outsider?
- [54:07]
A
Well, I mean, we know that she
- [54:08]
B
doesn't approve, but still happens to be true. But that's a separate matter.
- [54:14]
A
Yeah, but her jealousy as regards Vark is, we think, more motivating to her than anything else. But she's not a happy young woman.
- [54:24]
B
Well, she's not. So after Aevis is blamed, Thursa. It is the work of his wife. The villagers stage a wild dance, daggers rising and falling in time with the music. It's really terrifying. It's like a witch's Sabbath. This is not a good tripadvisor for Cornwall, incidentally. In Cornwall, thus we pay the piper's score. It's terrifying. And they head screaming for the shore.
- [54:49]
A
Yes, blood and seawater mingle gladly. And this is the big finish to act one.
- [55:35]
C
This night, we three must watch him, find the beacon and catch him. Lest he is guilty denied. Lest let my beats be the witches by likely spot for a beacon fire Mind the rocks on sailor heat I take for my beaks marvel's reach. Hellpoint needs a man whose nerve is high, steady. What about young Jack? Let us your plan be thus. Take horns with you and blow now and again to keep in touch. But if anyone catch sight of the beacon, let him blow his horn four times. Loud blasts and long he strove hardly
- [56:39]
A
be
- [56:42]
C
a lust of flesh. Bl he was tempted by. The sheep on the rocks is fl. Ra. Sam.
- [58:21]
A
You're listening to Opera for Everyone, a radio show and podcast that embraces drama and story through love of music. Opera for Everyone airs Sundays from 9 to 11am Mountain Time on 89.1 Khol, Jackson, Wyoming's only community radio station. I'm your host, Pat Wright, joined today by Gerald Malone. If you'd like to hear more conversations about opera, please join us on the Opera for Everyone podcast. And if you subscribe and rate us, you'll be helping with our mission to bring opera to everyone by helping others find this show. Stay with us. The second half of today's show is coming right up. Welcome back to the second half of Opera for Everyone. I'm your host, Pat Wright, and I am here with Gerald Malone. Welcome back, Gerald.
- [59:33]
B
Lovely to be here. This is a very exciting opera. Can't wait to see what happens next.
- [59:38]
A
Yes, yes.
- [59:40]
B
As if we didn't know as well
- [59:42]
A
we know, but we're going to let everyone else in on it as as we go along. But this coast of Cornwall, I would like to just make a shout out to one of the other regulars on Opera for everyone. Kathleen Vanderwyl, who records with me with some frequency, has her blog post Constructive Criticism. Listeners will recognize that. But one of her parts posts back in October, in fact it was called the Recommendations for the week of October 14th of 2024 was called the Cornish Gothic. And in it she talks about various pieces of literature. Also references the BBC series Poldark, but set in this same area. And this Cornish Gothic, this mysterious, somewhat nefarious goings on that happened there. Apparently it's treated in quite a number of novels and the one she particularly highlights, although she mentioned several, is Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. Du Maurier is is more well known for her novel Rebecca, which was made into a very popular film. But even Jamaica Inn was made into a film by the young, early in his career, Alfred Hitchcock. So I could guide you all to constructive criticism to this recommendations from October 14, 2024, if you're interested in reading more about this place and the feeling that it inspires in people.
- [61:09]
B
Well, as soon as we finish with the Wreckers, I'm heading to the substack.
- [61:13]
A
That's good, that's good. You always learn something interesting from her. She has such an eclectic interest in so many things. And I will remind people as well that you have a website which is therestisopera.com so much good information there as well. Well, I think it's time for us to say thank you to the folks who recorded this beautiful music that we've been listening to. This is a recording made in 1994 with the BBC Philharmonic, led by Odaline de La Martinez, and it includes the Huddersfield Choral Society. And I should note, this recording was made at the Henry Wood Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert hall in London in 1994.
- [61:57]
B
Yes, and it's very appropriate that this be done at the Henry Wood Promenade Concert, because Ethel Smyth featured there very regularly, almost every year, frankly, from the turn of the century through to the late 1920s. And Thomas Beauchamp, the conductor, was a great supporter of hers and she was a regular, which contributed to the fact that she was a British personality.
- [62:24]
A
Right. And probably all linked into the fact that she becomes Dame Ethel Smythe.
- [62:29]
B
Exactly. Part of that. And we're jolly lucky with the singers here. None of them really very familiar to me except one. Pascoe, who is the headman of the village. And the local preacher is sung by baritone Peter Sidholme. Lawrence, the keeper of the lighthouse, or indeed the one who puts them out is David Wilson Johnson who is a baritone. Harvey Lawrence's brother in law is Brian Bannatyne Scott, who is the bass. Talon, the landlord of the tavern. And an important character is sung by Anthony Rodden who is a tenor. Jack, the little boy who's Talon's son, aged 15. Anna Marie Sand, a mezzo soprano. So in every sense of the word it's a trouser roll. And Mark, the young fisherman, Justin Lavender, tenor. And the only singer familiar to me is the one who sings Thirza, who's Pasco's wife. That's Anne Marie Owens who's a mezzo soprano. And the really important gamine role of Avis, who's the daughter of Lawrence, age 17 is Judith Haworth, soprano. So thanks to all of them for doing such a great job.
- [63:47]
A
Yes, yes. This is an amazing piece and it demands a lot from these singers. These are powerful roles. A lot of passion involved with all of these people.
- [63:57]
B
Well, not so much just passion, but there's such a change of pace throughout this opera. You have one moment people are being accused, others they're being found to be justified. And there are people in relationships that change in the most rapid way.
- [64:14]
A
Yes, that's true. Well, you know what time it is?
- [64:18]
B
Oh heavens. I suspect that it is getting close to opera. Helmut, quiz time.
- [64:24]
A
Ah yes, you are right, you are right. Would you like to sum up what we have learned so far in the first half about this story? In fact it coincides with the first act of this three act opera.
- [64:36]
B
Right, here's the scene setter. We're in Cornwall, England in a hard up isolated coastal community. It's right in the toe of the southwest of England, so it's very distant from everything. The community there have got a very interesting business proposition, Pat. It's to extinguish the lights, to warn ships off the rocks so that they can plunder wrecks, kill sailors and take whatever the cargo was on the boats. I'm not sure it's going to catch on. There's a divided community. Hasco is the pastor, 55. He's the leader of the community and he's married to Thirza, age 22 in dubious circumstances. We've also got Lawrence, who's the lighthouse keeper and he has a wild daughter, avis, who's only 17 and in love with Mark, a fisherman who's dumped her and fallen in love with Thirza. You have to say about Lawrence that though he's a lighthouse keeper, he keeps putting them out and that is what causes the wrecks.
- [65:32]
A
Well, you know, I was thinking, unlike other communities with lighthouses, where the sailors are from, a lot of those communities, this is not the case with this impoverished community far away from everything.
- [65:43]
B
No, it's not. Because there were French who were coming through the streets of into the Channel. And I presume that that's why they were seen to be fair game. Probably caused resentment amongst the two nations for many centuries.
- [65:57]
A
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your train thought there.
- [66:02]
B
The train is a very loose description. So we've also got Talon, who is the landlord of the inn, who plays an important role. And he has got a son, Jack, who has the hots for Avis. So you can tell from the start that this is a pretty explosive combination of characters. The action that we have, bad wrecking, not good for them. They're in church singing, God's chosen people shall not pay the price of sin. Pasco tells them the lack of faith is to blame for bad business. They're not going to be able to IPO this wrecking business anytime soon, make some money. What's this? Thursday's not gone to church. We find out that she's mending her nets on a Sunday. And also the villagers are boozing. They should be in church then. That's probably why they're not doing well. But Avis laughs at them. She knows someone is lighting beacons as fast as Lauren switches off his lighthouse. And she shouts out that the traitor should be punished. Villagers all head to chapel. Avis hears Mark singing a love song. He's coming onto the scene. And as Thirza comes out of her house, she's singing the very same song. You will not be surprised that Avis notices this, because Thirza and Mark are sharing a playlist. Pasco rebukes. Thirza, strips Avis of gaudy jewelry. So the community comes out of the chapel, shaken by the worship. Pasco wanders off. Avis tells Lawrence that Pasco must be the traitor. And so we reach the point that the village assembles a posse and go hunting for. For the traitor.
- [67:46]
A
That's right. And when we begin Act 2, as the title of the prelude is called, we are on the cliffs of Cornwall. Pretty soon we're going to catch up with Avis and with Jack, the young lad who fancies Her. But this prelude on the cliffs of Cornwall I believe is the single most played piece from this opera. Often played in concert.
- [68:10]
B
Well, either that or the overture, they're sort of pretty well intermingled. But it's a wonderful piece of music and it's very moody and suggestive and rumbustuous to start. And it's like all these introductory things. It tells two stories. It tells the atmosphere of the storms that are going to happen and that are going to be threatening at the end of the day. Rumbustuous, stormy start. And then the. It has a second phase which is really rather sinister which points to the macabre finishing of the story. As we approach the end,
- [69:01]
C
It. Sam. Sa.
- [72:00]
B
Sa.
- [73:16]
A
Sa.
- [74:33]
C
Sa.
- [75:15]
A
Well, we're on those cliffs of Cornwall now and we are not in a town at all. We are in a desolate part of this sea coast and there's a nearly full moon. And these two characters, the young Jack and the young Avis are the people we see here. And their interaction is tense.
- [75:36]
B
Well, it's tense because Avis needs him. She's two timing Jack. Obviously she's in love with Mark, but she just understands that Jack's in the background and might be pretty useful to her. So she sings I must soothe him for I need him. And more from Avis. He is angry, so she's soft soaping him. And Jack is very angry because he's been sent on a wild goose chase.
- [76:03]
A
Yes, yes, your heart kind of goes out to him a bit because she does lead him on. She tries to make use of him, but of course she's not getting anywhere with Mark either. So she's a difficult young woman.
- [76:14]
B
Well, she is. And she offers Jack a kiss. And in some of the productions I've seen a little bit more than that, but I won't, for the sake of decency in Wyoming go into all that detail. But she eggs him on and she makes him a bit of an ally.
- [76:31]
A
Yeah. And just as a reminder before we play this clip, Jack, the young Jack is a trouser role. So it's sung by a mezzo soprano, Avis. A soprano. So let's hear a little bit of the interaction of these two young people. And at the end, that tenor voice you hear, that's Mark, he comes upon the two of them and suddenly he's not so concerned about the way he treated Avis.
- [76:56]
B
No, he's off the hook. He thought he'd broken her heart, but he's somehow semi regretting it. You know, even Mark has double standards. He's jealous. Frank.
- [77:11]
C
Come, forgive me. Come take me home. Behind the rocks is hiding. Oh, the sun is gliding. Jackham's throat Like a wicked giant heart. Never mind, Do not amuse me. All you do is amuse me. Running, jumping, climbing, sliding, falling. On my bed my story walks. Cause I'm hiding. That being so I'm forbidden. I must serve him, for I need him. You say I have not found you. Thus I replace.
- [79:19]
B
Of.
- [79:45]
C
Thus we come to know our worth. This maiden is but a child. Yet children's boughs are soon forgotten. Yet it hurt to see how weep. Little cry. Revealed. O vanity of man. The wound was slight and soon healed.
- [80:33]
A
While Mark, who's come upon the scene, honestly, he has more important things on his mind than Avis and Jack.
- [80:40]
B
Well, he's gathering up material to feed the beacon. Our warm flame shall blaze once more. He is going to set the world ablaze.
- [80:49]
A
Yeah. So we see him collecting the driftwood and anything that might burn to set a warning fire or a makeshift lighthouse for these ships. And he sings something.
- [81:02]
B
Well, Ballad of the Bones. It's a strange, iconic piece because he sets the scene for death. And I was very much reminded about Tristan and Isolde moment in this because there are frequent references to love being fulfilled in death throughout all of this area. And love would wake from death's long trance and Mark and Thirza dominate the rest of Act 2, as Tristan and Isolde do in the Wagner opera.
- [81:32]
A
That's an interesting observation. Yes, they do. These two who really should not be in love with one another because she's married to someone else, but they can't help themselves.
- [81:45]
B
Yes. And it goes a little bit further than that because they actually are seeking fulfillment in death, as are Tristan and Isolde. And I think that. Well, actually, it's rather a good thing that Ethel Smyth never met Wagner. God knows what would have happened. It would have been got a Dammerung all over again.
- [82:04]
A
Fireworks.
- [82:05]
B
But there is a reference to that. And she very much admired Tristan in Isolde.
- [82:11]
A
Yes. Well, Thursa will enter the stage by telling Mark, stop, stop. Not tonight. Don't light that fire.
- [82:18]
B
Yes.
- [82:18]
A
And the interaction between the two of them is fascina.
- [82:29]
C
Sa. Ha.
- [83:30]
B
And both of them talking to each other, say, at last, love, I clasp thee. And together they sing, live and die, but for love.
- [83:38]
A
Yeah.
- [83:39]
B
And then Thirza explains that they've been rumbled.
- [83:43]
A
Rumbled.
- [83:44]
B
Yep. Has a spy betrayed us? Mark says. And they both hear the horns drawing near. Mark's going to risk it. Light the torch. Thursa would thou light thy way then to death? No. It's Mark's farewell to Cornwall Shores. He's going to leave, and originally he's going to leave without Thirza. And she says, will you leave me with that awful man? And Mark contemplates a little bit more and says he will no longer share with Pasco, but rather slay thee. It's all getting pretty tough.
- [84:25]
A
It's pretty dark. And again, throughout this entire scene, there's this weaving together of love and death. In fact, Thursa will start a piece that she sings. To love is to die. And new to awaken is the second half of that. But it's very interesting that this love and death are so closely interwoven.
- [84:47]
B
As you've observed, Thirza realizes that she's at last abandoned the paths that she's taken already. And they come together. They are going to do this together. Then that's the conclusion.
- [85:33]
C
I was but a child My way ought to be through the paths I wandered are not forsaken and my heart's one bright new love to love my friend. When the lock awakes and climbs into heaven when the daylight fails and shadows descendants close in sweet dreams from dawn unto evening. Ambience with my fluster.
- [88:06]
B
And at this point, really Harry Brewster's power as a librettist and possibly also Ethel as a. As a translator, it becomes almost Shakespearean because just listen to the words that Thirza issues. To see thee I yearn yet falter and fly thee. That's just amazingly Shakespearean. It could come out of any of his dramas that I've ever studied. But, oops. The horn is calling time on them both. At this stage, they've heard it.
- [88:40]
A
Yes, and this horn is the signal of the rest of the community and their interest in finding a wreck or seeing a wreck happen.
- [88:48]
B
Yeah.
- [88:49]
A
It's also worth mentioning that when Mark says, fly with me, let's leave. Let's escape this place to a happier place. She's frightened. And he has to convince her. Yes, but convince her he does.
- [89:21]
C
Joy, O yonder sea to fly with my beloved. I. Listen to the horn. Your work has no ended. The hand that wrought for the doomed is chained to your side. No more shall thy flame through the night lost wondrous go. Moon is a sh. Or yonder sea. Sam,
- [91:43]
A
Mark and Thirza are two central lovers in this story. Are singing about their passion and their determination together. As you said, this act, really, other than starting off with Avis and Jack, this Act, Act 2, really belongs to Mark and Thirza.
- [92:00]
B
Yes, it does. And they dominate the whole thing. And it's an extremely compelling story, as they seem to change their minds. Don't light the beacon. Light the beacon. And then Thirza yields to him one last hurrah. And she holds out the torch to Mark and he lights it. And, I mean, I don't want to overplay it, but I do think that there are two things. It's a metaphor for their love. It's now irrevocable.
- [92:28]
A
Yes, yes, she's given in on all counts. She was frayed. And she has gathered her strength by being with him, but also interweaving it with these premonitions of death and love, meaning death. But there's a strong ending to this second act. And we will hear the two of them sing together in ecstasy, really, about this blazing beacon conquering the gloom of where they live.
- [93:00]
B
Shine thou and shew the lost their way.
- [93:09]
C
That sheep be of fate this whole way look not behind the stone is taken. What if we main point in scorn and ben derogatory may be. Shine away. Shine out. Shine, shine.
- [95:21]
A
Oh. But that's not the very end of the second act, because as the two of them embrace tenderly, Pasco appears.
- [95:31]
B
Well, there's always a bit of excitement here, isn't there? As soon as you think everything's settled and you're going to get a happy. Or a happy ending. Ish. Or a conclusion, somebody else appears to get the next episode down the line. And the balloon has got up. Hasko arrives and sees Thirza in embrace with Mark. Exactly. And his reaction is to fall senseless close to the beacon.
- [95:56]
A
Yeah, and that doesn't look good. When other members of the community show
- [96:00]
B
up, Lawrence, Harvey, Talon, Avis arrive as if on cue, and they find Pasco lying there. And he's alive. God. Tis Pascoe. He's banged to rights. Or is he? We're not going to know until Act 3.
- [96:15]
A
Yeah, he certainly looks guilty, though. Well, Act 3 is in a very interesting location.
- [96:24]
B
We're in a huge cave which is an opening to the sea. There's an iron grate which bars egress so you can't get out. It's a death cave and they use it for trials. The way in which it works is if you're guilty, they lock you in. The tide comes in and you're a goner.
- [96:45]
A
It's entirely creepy. And it is such a cave that, or a similar cave. That was part of what inspired Ethel Smyth's imagination. The fact that these Caves were used by smugglers, but they could also be used for pretty gruesome purposes. They were dangerous places.
- [97:03]
B
And also, Cornwall is redolent in old tin mines. It was a famous tin mining part of the country. And all the mines run under the English Channel out to sea, and they're often abandoned, but they're not flooded, and they're used for all sorts of nefarious purposes. And they're very creepy.
- [97:21]
A
Yeah, yeah. There's the description that Ethel Smyth gave of being in one of these caves, and she heard this sound, and then suddenly she realized she was under the water in this cave. It wasn't such that it. I mean, it's just. Yes, of course. That would inspire anyone who's inclined to creative thinking. Well, let's hear the villagers saying their feelings at this point and their concerns about the fact that there's a traitor among.
- [97:53]
C
Sam. Sa. Sam. The. When here assembled Bound by secret earth Here in this cold. Let justice be done. Tis dark like the torches.
- [100:31]
A
Well, the whole town seems to be down in this cave.
- [100:34]
B
Well, they've all come and they're sort of a unanimous jury. They form a semicircle and they do a trial. There's going to be a court here in this court. Let justice be done. Sings Lawrence.
- [100:47]
A
Mm. The one who was always concerned about making sure that Avis had proof.
- [100:52]
B
Well, he was more interested in proof.
- [100:54]
A
Yeah.
- [100:55]
B
So accused Pasco says nothing. He takes the fifth. I am not one to whom his fellows give orders. And the reason that he does that is that he has found on the shore beside the beacon a scarf of Thirza's. And he's still sufficiently attached to her not to condemn her. He knows that, that if he relates the fact that that scarf is there, she'll be a goner.
- [101:23]
A
He's protecting his wife, who he thinks
- [101:25]
B
has strayed, even although she is unfaithful, because he still, at that point, has some hope of winning her back.
- [101:32]
A
That's right. That's right. He does not want to see her pay the ultimate price for this, because he knows what the villagers would do. He knows that they will not tolerate this, no matter who the culprit is. And so he simply stays silent. And even at one point says, vengeance is mine, and we fill in the rest, says the Lord. But that's not the way the people of the village are thinking.
- [101:56]
B
Well, no. And they're encouraged by Avis, who gets stuck in again. She's quite a bit of work, and she ascribes all the problems to Thirza and She says of Pasco, whose humble slave, whose tool he is. So what she's saying is, listen, he's entirely manipulated by Thirza, who's a really guilty person in all this. But the scene ends with everybody singing, enough. This man is guilty. This man shall die. So we get to the point where it's not looking good for Pasco, and Pasco's very lucky that they go for a commercial break at this point.
- [102:35]
A
Yes, yes. And in fact, I just want to circle back and speak about Avis briefly. She really leans into this outsider status of Thirza. She hates us. He, Pasco, loves her more than he loves God. He's protecting her and she's an enchantress that's upping the ante even more. Yeah, that she's involved in the dark arts. It's so awful. But you're right, they do just say, well, if you're not guilty, Pasco, just deny your guilt. Silence. He remains silent.
- [103:08]
B
He's not prepared to do that because of the scarf.
- [103:10]
A
And all the while, one of the members of this community, of course, is Mark, and he's observing this and he sees that Pasco is going to be put to death for something he did not do.
- [103:23]
B
Right.
- [103:23]
A
And then something very shocking happens with Mark.
- [103:26]
B
No, it's not looking good for Pasco. But with one bound, Pasco was free because Mark sings. I, Mark, am the betrayer. Mark, after confessing from lo a fate unforeseen draws nigh to well, I foresaw the end, well counted the cost. He is fessing up that it's him.
- [103:48]
A
Yes. He says, you can't kill Pasco. He hasn't done anything wrong. I'm the one who did it. Mark doesn't want to see an innocent man killed. I mean, that's part of the motivation for his actions in the first place, when he decides that he has to light these beacons so innocent men will not be killed. The same is here. Mark doesn't believe Pasco should die for this. He doesn't agree with the punishment, but he will take it.
- [104:14]
B
And there's a confrontation between Pasco and Mark over the morality of wrecking. Mark needs to follow down a road that is strange to our feet because he's decided that even he may be a fisherman in the community, but he's no longer going to go along with the wrecking. And that's because he's been convinced by Thursday that it's an immoral thing to do. Mark glories in his crime.
- [104:52]
C
Us gently. Leads through Flynn Steel. What if the enemy shame Or a brief day close in glory Dream's final dream. Soon we shall all alike be Sleeping a last long sleep in the earth or beneath the water. Strike me down. Tis your desire like a dog a madame. But know this. I glory in my crime to the last where I foresaw the end. Welcome. Take the cr.
- [106:41]
A
That was Mark, who has confessed to lighting the beacon in the Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smyth. And we are working our way towards the end of Act 3, the end of our opera.
- [106:54]
B
And we're getting surprises all the time. There's one after another because Avis appears, and albeit she's not really part of the action just now, she knows that Mark is going to die and he doesn't want that to happen. And then the next thing that happens is Thirza confesses that she is guilty.
- [107:12]
A
Yes.
- [107:12]
B
And Avis bursts in with an alibi for Mark. She says, it can't be Mark. He was in her arms and stayed till dawn. And there's a cat fight between her and Thirza. His only love am I. And they duke it out. And then Pasco butts in and his love and honor are lost. I mean, where is this going?
- [107:34]
A
Because Avis. Avis is so relieved when Thirza confesses. She's like, great, we have a culprit. I will protect Mark so he will be grateful to me. And with Pasco, he realizes it's all come crumbling down. She's publicly confessed that she's in love with this other man here. I am the leader of the community, and my wife is betraying me in the most profound way in terms of the lifeblood of this community. And with another man, it's just dreadful.
- [108:05]
B
My reading is that he's really worried because his authority has effectively been destroyed and he's been shamed.
- [108:11]
A
Absolutely.
- [108:12]
B
And that brought him down more than a peg or two.
- [108:15]
A
Oh, yes. And Avis is just there in her high soprano voice, saying, kill them. Kill them.
- [108:21]
B
Well, she gives up on it eventually, and she wants them both gone. Kill them. The man and his whore. So, I mean, she's clearly got the categories. All right, Pat, do you think she's given up on Mark by this stage? Seems so, yes.
- [108:36]
A
It's hard to believe, but it does. I mean, when she sees the connection between the two of them. But we've got other problems at work here, because the villagers will alert us to the fact that the tide is rising and water is coming into this area.
- [108:50]
B
And just as that happens, Avis is disowned by her Father and banished. But she's got Jack, who goes with her, so she's not entirely without luck. And splash. Splash. The tide's coming in, and that means somebody's going to die. Lawrence explains. The cave is a place of execution. The villagers agree they should die, the pair of them. It is our will. Thus let them die.
- [109:16]
A
But Pasco is not on board with this. He's fine to blame Mark. Mark confessed. But he says to them, but Thursa, she's a child. Which is how he's always seen her, it seems. His wife, yes, but a generation younger. She is a child. And he begs them to forgive her, show her mercy. And Thirza's having none of it.
- [109:38]
B
No. And there's a wonderful insult in the pride of love's great wonder. I would yield to that love here today. Neath your eyes. So she's determined to. To stick to Mark and to make Pasco thoroughly realize that even the price of death is not sufficient to bring her back to him.
- [110:01]
A
That's right. And she goes even further. She says, my last dying curse, like a bolt of flame, shall strike this land and lay low you and your children. So she's had it with all of them. She knows she's going to die. She doesn't want to be saved by the man she doesn't respect. We are building and building, and the villagers remind us that the tide is rising.
- [110:25]
B
Yes. And Pascha tries to pull her out. The one thing that Thirza is determined to do is to be there with Mark at the end. You know, sorry to come back to the Tristan and Isolde thing, but it is much the same. There is a parallel here. And they both realize it would be terrible to be separated.
- [110:43]
A
It also reminded me a little bit of Aida at the end.
- [110:47]
B
Well, exactly. Down in the pyramid, when she sneaks in to die with the man she loves, she's determined to do that. And then she stops Pasco trying to pull her out by threatening to curse the village. And of course, the village are a bunch of superstitious idiots, and they are terrified by this. And they just say, no, no, no, no, no. Loose her. She's going to die anyway. And Pasco. And eventually the villagers all leave. And they leave, the pair of them together.
- [111:20]
A
And the waves break in. The waves break in. But the two lovers are left alone
- [111:26]
B
on stage, wherein death, undying love, will shine. A final wave breaks our last ecstasy. Thy embrace, O sea, and their love is fulfilled.
- [111:40]
A
Yeah. Oh, opera. Oh, opera. Well, thank you, Ethel Smyth, and thank you, Gerald, for recommending this and looking into it with me. What a show.
- [111:51]
B
Well, it's been a wonderful tour, Dorison, both of Ethel Smyth and this fantastic opera, and I think it's worth mentioning that the music was groundbreaking in its day and set the pace for a lot of what happened in the 20th century of British music. And Ethel Smyth is owed a great debt for all of that, and she and Harry brewster set the 20th century of British music off to a great start. It's just a shame that they were not in the canon of the opera, but I think that they will gradually get back in there and great efforts for everybody to bring them back to their proper place.
- [112:35]
A
Yes, yes indeed. And a final thank you to you, Gerald, for joining me once again on Opera for Everyone. I'm so grateful.
- [112:43]
B
Huge fun
- [112:47]
C
night. Solemn cadence Sing the song for the passing of souls and may God show them. On me Whose Lord it is thou sawest on him whose pitying hand sought mine on all sinners who have sinned through love Sh. When on me those eyes full of sky and sea where in death undying light shine. Now we two may die together. When I do this. Soon, mouth to mouth we too shall be singing our song Sa. The sweet voices of the wind whale agree the spirits that sing and dance as they song. Ham ra.
- [117:29]
A
Thanks for listening to this episode of Opera for Everyone. I've been your host today, Pat Wright, joined by opera critic Gerald Malone. Opera for Everyone airs every Sunday morning from 9 to 11am Mountain Time on 89.1khol in Jackson, Wyoming. If you've missed any of today's show, you can find this episode and many others on the Opera for Everyone podcast. And while you're there, please subscribe, rate and comment. By doing this, you'll be helping others to find us. I know opera can be unfamiliar and challenging, but everyone loves a good story, and a story set to music is even better. That's why the mission of this show is to make opera enjoyable for everyone. Opera for Everyone.