As a child, I attended my first Broadway performance of the Beauty and the Beast, which quickly became one of my favorites after seeing a couple of different shows. That’s why I was so interested in this article in the NY Times. I never could’ve imagined the innocent and sweet storyline of this beloved Disney tale being the basis for a dark opera.
Hannah Lash, a rising contemporary composer, has written a chamber opera (to be performed by a string quartet, countertenor and alto) by the name of “Blood Rose” that was performed on Friday night for the first time at Park Avenue Christian Church in Manhattan. Just from the title, it is clear that it doesn’t include the ending where Belle and the Prince live happily ever after. Apparently, there is a darker side to the traditional story of Beauty and the Beast, and these elements of hardship, distrust, great difficulty and conflict are the ones that Lash includes. Something important to note is that this opera was written by Lash directly after her laptop (with over ten years worth of her compositions and also personal diary saved on it) was stolen. Her countertenor, Mr. Brenner, even went so far as to call the writing of the opera “a grieving process” for her. Personally, I would love to attend a performance of this opera. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it on youtube but have included another piece of hers here. Enjoy!
Wow this is amazing. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite story of all times, and I have read several interpretations of it but this one is very interesting. There are some darker versions of the story, but every single one that I’ve read did have a happy ending. What this composer did was completely out of the box. The article really opened a new aspect of the story for me.
Glad you found the sound clip. the music sounds quite interesting. Notice how different it is from Michale Gordon. Here the music changes emotions, and directions with a wide variety of gestures and colors. It does not have a clear “melody” as one would expect from a very traditional piece, but is presents a variegated landscape of sound.
This is the first time that I’ve heard of “darker” versions of the children’s classic. I think that performing Beauty and the Beast as an opera is a great idea, because it can be watched by older or more sophisticated audience that may have outgrown the children’s fairytale genre. This would be a very interesting performance to see.