Jenny Lind's last opera performance
highlighted in new Stockholm play
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A new play about Jenny Lind to open in Stockholm September
11, 2002, by Mathias Clason
Featuring the music of Meyerbeer
Mathias Clason, playwright, writes:
I am rather scooping into Meyerbeer in my new
one-act play about Jenny Lind that opens at the Stocckholm City Theatre on
September 11 ( I DID protest on the date chosen!)
The setting is the hour before her last
operatic performance ever, which was Robert le Diable in London May 10, 1849.
She decides to quit opera altogether. She gets the offer from P.T.
Barnum at the end just before she goes on stage for the last time as Alice (in
a replica costume of the 1831 Paris original). Her companion/dresser is played
by an actress, Jenny is a singer and sings aria excerpts as well as Swedish
lieder, 10 music pieces in all, among which are Robert and Feldlager/Vielka. So,
at least portions of Robert will be sung again in Stockholm after sleeping
since 1895....
The whole thing is just one hour and if it is a
succes I have thought on translation to English. Main themes are:
1:Why should one sing? Can it help the world or
one self?
2: How long can one stand the theatre?