MICRO-OPERA
Juliet
Music & Libretto by Philip Seward
Commissioned by Soprani Compagni
During the action of Romeo and Juliet,
this scene could have taken place between the characters of the Nurse and Lady Capulet. At rise the Nurse closes the doors to Juliet’s bedroom as she sleeps. Lady Capulet arrives to find her daughter and the two begin to talk about the girl’s future. Lady Capulet insists the girl honor her duty to her family and marry Paris, the man Lord Capulet has arranged for his only daughter to marry. The Nurse, having spoken with Juliet, knows that she is in love with the family’s mortal enemy — a Montague boy by the name of Romeo. As the Nurse delays Lady Capulet, she begins to realize what may be happening and pushes open the doors to the girl’s bedroom only to find the room empty. Fate has had its way.
Production Note:
This project, commissioned by Soprani Compagni under the theme “Portraits of Women,” explores the conflict between fulfilling expectations and following the desires of the heart. By looking at the past, we may ask ourselves if women are as able to respond to those desires today — or if they are still compelled by societal demands to make a choice to be dutiful?
The libretto is a mixture of language drawn from the play and the composer’s original text. A decision was made not to use contemporary language since these characters are so strongly associated with the language of late sixteenth-century Britain. References of the time are also retained, such as Lammas Day — named after a town in Norfolk. The holiday is on August 1 when the wheat harvest is celebrated usually marking the first harvest of the year.