P.D.Q. Bach - A Little Nightmare Music

Описание: P.D.Q. Bach - A Little Nightmare Music, an opera in one irrevocable act (S. 35)

0:00 - Aria: "What Sweet Music"
5:44 - Aria: "Nature Gave Us Eyes"
12:24 - Duet: "Uh Oh"
14:26 - Finale: "What Hutzpah"

James Billings as Antonio Salieri (a sucessful composer), baritone
Bruce Edwin Ford as Peter Schläfer (a mysterious writer), tenor
Gerald Tarack as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (a not succesful composer), violin
Peter Schickele as P.D.Q. Bach (a servant), wine pourer
The New York Pick Up Ensemble

The Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, known to his friends as "Chuckles," wrote a dream play, but A Little Nightmare Music is probably the only dream opera ever written. It is based on an actual dream that P.D.Q. Bach had on the night of December 4, 1791, the night that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died and Antonio Salieri didn't. Mozart is said to have said that Salieri had poisoned him, and that statement has led to a story by Pushkin, an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, a play by Peter Shaffer, and a firm denial by Salieri.
In his dream P.D.Q. saw himself as a clumsy servant in a Viennese palace, pouring wine for Mozart, who is leading the orchestra in a serenade, and various guests, including Mozart's arch-rival Salieri and a mysterious playwright, Peter Schläfer (German for sleeper), whose dress suggests that he has somehow come from another century, the twentieth, for instance. Although P.D.Q. does not utter a word in the entire opera, his actions, from the initial pouring of wine for Mozart and the smug Salieri to the final spilling of wine on Schläfer's coat, cause his role to be a pivotal one. P.D.Q. Bach started writing A Little Nightmare Music as soon as he woke up that fateful morning, and, in a fit of uncharacteristically concentrated energy, he managed to finish it before the bars closed that evening. When he found out several days later that Mozart had indeed died on the night of his dream, he exclaimed, "Weit weg!" ("Far out!") and, ordering a round for everyone in the tavern, offered the following toast: "Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that Mozart was the greatest billiards player known to me either in person or by name. He had a good eye and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of English." The opera was given its first performance at the castle on the outskirts of Wein-am-Rhein belonging to P.D.Q.'s friend and sometime patron, Prince Fred, with the composer playing himself. The fact that he gave himself a silent role tells us something, perhaps, about his singing ability. Was the composer's dream a clairvoyant vision? Is this how Mozart really died? We will probably never know, which leaves the field open for further books, plays, operas, movies and video games on the subject.


DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to this music/song. All rights belong to the owner. No Copyright Infringement Intended.