On the front LINES
In-demand librettist Mark Campbell’s new work tells a war story
In-demand librettist Mark Campbell’s new work tells a story about WWI.
Set on the front lines of battle during World War I, the opera “Silent Night,” which opens at the Glimmerglass Festival on Sunday, July 15, is sung in five different languages. The story involves soldiers, officers and civilians who are Scottish, French and German. Passages are also sung in Italian and Latin. Through the mix of tongues, the overriding message is peace.
Librettist Mark Campbell recalls that the first time he and composer Kevin Puts met to discuss the possible collaboration, it was important for them to have an understanding about the central theme.
“We talked politics and I needed to know he was not a hawk,” says Campbell. “The message of ‘Silent Night’ is a pacifist one. The story is that peace is possible.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning work debuted at the Minnesota Opera in 2011 and has received numerous productions across the U.S. and overseas. The original opera was conceived and realized on a grand scale. Audiences at Glimmerglass will see a reduced version that originated at the Wexford Festival in Ireland and is directed by Tomer Zvulun and conducted by Nicole Paiement.
“Silent Night” is based on the
2005 French film “Joyeux Noel,” which was written and directed by Christian Carion. It tells the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, when soldiers on both sides of the Western front ceased battle, shook hands, shared rations and even sang together.
“We’re telling a very human story with a great deal of humor, to connect the characters with the audience,” explains Campbell. “If it was a depressing angry story about World War I, we would not have the same success.”
But “Silent Night” is not all glad tidings. Not by a long shot. The reality of war is presented early on, as young men are conscripted and there’s a clash of patriotic songs from three different countries.
“Everyone was told this would be over within weeks and that England would prevail, that Germany would prevail, that the French would prevail and there would be no deaths,” says Campbell. “They learned that was not the case.”
A battle scene in the first act is violent and prolonged. Campbell says he didn’t want any twominute battle with one person shot. “At one of our first rehearsals,” he recalls, “my notes said ‘more corpses.’”
Against the backdrop of war, the common bond of humanity is all the more stark and touching.
“The German soldiers are no more villainous than the French or Scottish,” says Campbell. “All these soldiers, they’re just kids who got caught up in war. They’re all yearning for the same thing.”
Campbell admits that he is not fluent in French or German but was proficient enough to have a first go at those portions of the libretto. He then consulted translators.
“The bigger challenge is musical settings. What do these languages sound like and what makes them different?” says Campbell. “Kevin did them expertly and without cliches. There’s no Viennese waltz for the German but it does sound different than the French.”
Campbell has been writing opera librettos since 2004. His first endeavors were as a lyricist starting in the early ‘90s. “I’m a big fan of contemporary music, but not that big a fan of Broadway music,” he says. His first opera was a comedy with composer John Musto. A subsequent Musto/campbell, “Later That Same Evening,” is a one act that played at Glimmerglass in 2011.
But “Silent Night” was Puts’ first opera. He and Campbell were paired up by the administration of Minnesota Opera. They’ve continued to collaborate. Their third work, “Elizabeth Cree,” debuted at Opera Philadelphia last year.
“I think I led the way a little bit but with ‘Elizabeth Cree,’ we were on equal footing in understanding what can happen in theater. And he was always ahead of me on what music can do,” says Campbell. “I love working with Kevin. I love our friendship and how we think about theater. We both want music to reach an audience, not to alienate as so much contemporary opera does.”
There’s been an explosion of contemporary American operas over the last 10 years and it’s no exaggeration to say that Campbell is the librettist of the moment. He had five world premieres last year and will have four more next year. The most high profile was “The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs,” with a score by Mason Bates that included both electronics and orchestra. It was commissioned and debuted by the Sante Fe Opera, which had a sold-out run last summer. Next year the opera will be seen in San Francisco and Seattle.
“It was a daunting project and a tricky libretto to write,” says Campbell. “I wanted it darker and more sinister, but Mason kept pulling me back. I’ve never seen an audience respond so excitedly to a new opera. Critics had a different take on it but the audience just f lipped. I like when my operas sell tickets.”
At the other stylistic extreme was last year’s “Dinner at Eight,” a comedy of manners based on the 1933 film starring Lionel Barrymore. William Bolcom’s score blended elements of musical theater and traditional opera. It was Campbell’s fifth project for the Minnesota Opera.
“That was a very fun opera,” says Campbell. “A lot of critics were upset we didn’t write more torturous operatic music but Bill loves Broadway.”
Still another recent project of an entirely different sort is “The Shinning.” Yes, an operatic treatment of Stephen King’s tale of horror. Paul Moravec wrote the music, and the opera debuted in Minnesota two years ago.
Securing the rights for this one was an arduous process.
“It was really nerve-wracking but what happened is that less than 24 hours after King was given the libretto we received the OK,” says Campbell, who’s been through the process more than a few times now. “If you capture the essence of what they’ve done and help them realize opera is a different animal, they’re pretty agreeable,” he says of authors and screenwriters.
At this point, Campbell has worked with dozens of composers. At the start of a project he gives a thorough listen to the existing music of his collaborator. But from there the process is the same. He sets about writing and delivers a completed libretto with arias, ensembles and choruses clearly delineated.
“Music is the driving force and one of my jobs is to tell the story,” he says. “The second part of my job is to support the composer to deliver their best music and the most emotional music I’m thrilled that I get to work in this form, that I get to tell these stories, and thrilled that we’re increasing our audiences for opera and they understand it’s not an elitist European art form but is something relevant to our lives.”