Margarita Zelenaia: "Despair", the Third Scene from Caligula's Favorite Play, 2-act opera

“Despair”, the Third Scene from
CALIGULA’S FAVORITE PLAY
Music: Margarita Zelenaia
https://www.margaritazelenaia.com
https://www.youtube.com/@mzelenaia1/videos
Libretto: Eric Nicolas & Igor Tsunsky

Two-act opera
freely inspired by Caligula by Albert Camus
(Copyright © Editions Gallimard)

The Roman emperor known by the nickname Caligula was said to have been a natural actor, having practiced as a youth pretending not to want to murder his housemate Tiberius. In our opera, he orders a theatre troupe to please him with a play about his life, on pain of death. He has cast a wonderful actor as himself— rather too wonderful, as it will turn out. But in this third scene, the Actor disgusts the Emperor on his first try with an emotional elegy for his late sister Drusilla. It’s a touchy subject, as rumor has it, she was also his lover, and assassinated by agents of the Senate for the good of Rome. The Emperor had gone missing for days after his sister’s death, presumably demented with grief. Caligula makes the Actor do it again, with less pathos. This colder interpretation is whom Senators meet when they rush in, exclaiming with obviously phony joy at the sight of him. The Actor/Emperor proceeds to toy with them all, ensnaring them in a Socratic discussion of the Royal Treasury and the relative values of goods, including, as it turns out, of human life— their lives, specifically, in an unwelcome twist.
The real Caligula is pleased. The show will go on.

Performers:
Caligula – Michael Pitocchi, bass-baritone
Actor/Emperor - Kreshnik Zhabjaku, baritone
Cherea – David Morgans Sanchez, tenor

Ensemble:
Roseanne Ackerley, soprano
Nicole Haslett, soprano
Ema Mitrovic, mezzo-soprano
Hilary Baboukis, mezzo-soprano
David Morgans Sanchez, tenor
Jack Cotterell, tenor
Kreshnik Zhabjaku, baritone
Michael Pitocchi, bass-baritone

Vladimir Nikolaev, orchestral mockup

Synopsis/Voiceover: Eric Nicolas
Recording: Teaneck Sound Studio
Sound engineer: David Kowalski
Video: Fedor Lukashuk

00:00 - 01:27 – SYNOPSIS/VOICEOVER of the Third Scene
01:28 – 04:24 – ARIA “How Dare I Describe Her’: ACTOR/EMPEROR
04:25 – 08:21 - MONOLOGUE “Quite Enough!”: CALIGULA
08:22 – 09:54 - ARIA “We’ve Dreamed of Evil Things”: ACTOR/EMPEROR
09:55 – 10:23 – ENSEMBLE: ACTOR/EMPEROR, CHEREA and SENATORS’ CHORUS
10:24 – 11:19 - DUET: ACTOR/EMPEROR with CHEREA with participation of SENATORS’ CHORUS
11:20 – 12:41 – TREASURY SONG “Sacks Full of Gold”: ACTOR/EMPEROR
12:42 – 13:34 - MONOLOGUE “You Agree that It Is the Most Important Things”: ACTOR/EMPEROR
with participation of SENATORS’ CHORUS
13:35 – 14:23 - RECITATIVE “Then Human Life Is Nothing”: CALIGULA
14:24 – 15:24 - MONOLOGUE “Let It Be Known”: ACTOR/EMPEROR with participation of ACTORS’ CHORUS
15:21 – 19:09 - MONOLOGUE “Life Has No Meaning”: CALIGULA with participation of ACTORS’ CHORUS

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