Messiaen and Chinese opera ?

Messiaen and Chinese opera ? But yes ! These last few weeks I've been listening to Messiaen's St Francis of Assisi and to the Chinese Kunqu Opera The Peony Pavilion. Maybe that colours my impressions. But think about it.

Messiaen writes humongously long pieces comprising of many episodes. So does Mu Dan Ting (Chinese for Peony Pavilion). Both can be appreciated in smaller doses. Traditionally in Chinese opera you can walk in and out, go eat (we're Chinese !!!!), whatever because you "know" the wider picture and can pick up. Similarly, most people "know" the gist of Messiaen's religious beliefs. Like the Stations of the Cross, you can focus on any one aspect at a time because you know the context.

Yesterday i was in Amsterdam t0 see the new Audi production of Messiaen's opera Francis of Assisi. All 6 and 1/2 hours !!! The first act's about philosphy. No action, plot etc just guys talking until the leper appears, like light relief. Maybe that's designed to drive away those who can't cope with ideas and want action at all costs. The next two acts are livelier so if you've past the test of the first, you're part way there. I dozed off in the first act as there was no air conditioning in the crowded auditorium and I'd drunk a bit of wine. But that, too, tells something about the frame of mind you need to elate to St Francis. You've got to get out of "normal" mode.

To a monk, 6 1/2 hours of contemplation is no big deal at all. So to get St Francis you have to get away from the frantic stressed out crazy world outside and enter monk mode. It's not that difficult. People lived less hectic lives in the past, and took their time. Same with Chinese opera. You don't need to grab it all at once. Dim sum, so to speak, small doses that build up.... Messiaen restructures the idea of time. Slow down, he says, and savour my dim sum, don't wolf it down and rush out. Useful lesson in life.

And of course the plot line. In Mudan Ting the heroine dreams about a lover and gets her portrait painted so when she dies someone might see her picture and think of her. Teenage death obssession long before emo and goths. So she promptly dies. But amazingly, the guy in her dream turns up and falls in love and takes her out of her grave. Where have we come across death and resurrection before ? Or the idea that love overcomes all ? St Francis doesn't get resurrected like Christ or like Du Liniang (the heroine) but his soul pops up off the deathbed and sings because he's found eternal life on another plane.....

Then the orchestration ! All that percussion, yet also the idea of silence, of small, expressive details that build up to a whole. And the sense of fluidity. When i was a kid, we used to play Chinese opera. As long as you had an idea of the plot and mannerisms, like hand movements amnd singing conventions, there was a fantastic amount of freedom and improvisation. We kids used to sing "Ai, yah yah...." and flutter about, our arms held in expressive angles while other kids beat time on their lunch boxes. Kunqu opera may be 700 years old, but it's a living art, with lots of freedom within form. Similarly, Messiaen writes formal notational scores, but gives a lot of interpretative freedom. Very idiomatic, Metzmacher's conducting. Even the ondes martenot and wind machine sounded beautifully integrated - no horror movie connotations here.