Aston Magna Meets the Devil

The Mahaiwe Theater, June 26, 2022

Program:

Alessandro Scarlatti, Humanità e Lucifero (1704)

Igor Stravinsky, L’Histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) (1917)

Aston Magna, Dan Stepner, director

Two dramatic expressions of evil held the stage of the Mahaiwe on Saturday night in the form of musical dialogues, one from an age of belief, and another from a more skeptical

time. Alessandro Scarlatti’s miniature oratorio “Humanità e Lucifero” from 1704 pits Lucifer against Humanity at the moment of the birth of the Virgin Mary, while Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale” from 1917, created in the midst of a world war, portrays the Devil sealing a Faustian bargain with a naïve soldier who sells his soul, in the form of a violin, and succumbs to greed. The two works portray opposing outcomes for their infernal protagonist: defeat in Scarlatti, victory in Stravinsky.

An unusual combination of two contrasting dramatic works requiring radically different musical forces, the program’s concept depends on the fact that many of the musicians could participate in both, often playing different instruments in each one. Aston Magna is known for presenting baroque scores, many not well known, on early instruments and using period performance practices (HIP=Historically Informed Performance). Thus, the Scarlatti utilized a small baroque string ensemble augmented by recorder, baroque

trumpet, and harpsichord, all played very stylishly. Joining these forces were two singers, the soprano Kristen Watson in the role of Humanity, and tenor Frank Kelley as Lucifer. Less familiar is the skill of these Aston Magna musicians in modern repertory playing modern instruments; but the Stravinsky was performed with firm authority, appropriate attitude (a strong dose of sarcasm permeates both music and story), andthe crisp, springy rhythms that his music requires.

As director Dan Stepner observes in his program notes, Scarlatti’s “Humanità e Lucifero” is really a cantata for two vocalists, consisting of dramatic recitatives and solo arias, with one culminating duet, the dramatic high-point that marks the defeat of Lucifer when he comes to realize the significance of the birth of the Virgin. To help the audience follow

the story the recitatives were performed in Stepner’s English translations, while the arias remained in the original Italian. My companion at the performance asked about the reason for the two languages. The answer goes to the heart of what makes Alessandro Scarlatti and his Italian contemporaries the masters of baroque vocal music:

their command of the craft of bel canto, the art of providing melodies that optimize lyrical fluidity and dramatic vocalization in reference to the particular sounds and accentuation of the Italian language. This craft exploits the openness of Italian vowels unlike many other languages where vowels tend to alter while being sustained. The consistent quality of Italian vowels optimizes the ability of the singer to shape and color the tone, and also lends itself to the complex rapid runs and ornaments that form an integral expressive device in 18th and early 19th century opera (think of Rossini’s “Una voce poco fa”). All of these qualities were apparent, especially in Kristen Watson’s rendering of Humanity’s arias. Her light, flexible voice negotiated the shapely lines

while effectively conveying the drama of the words. She seemed happiest in her higher register; lower down the voice lacked heft that could have added dramatic color; but as the spokesperson for light in opposition to darkness, the voice suited Humanity’s character very aptly. Veteran tenor Frank Kelley made the most of the dramatic possibilities of his role as Lucifer, reminding us of Luther’s observation about the devil having all the good tunes. While his voice has lost some of its former brightness, he deployed it skillfully and managed to convey the elaborate runs and figures with an appropriately sinister edge.

Kelley also served as both the designer and narrator for the ingenious production of “A

Soldier’s Tale” in collaboration with Stepner, who came up with his own version of the

script, two generations removed from the original French version by C. F. Ramuz.

Stepner relocated the action to the American southwest (somewhere beyond “San

Antone”), incorporated some American vernacular, and morphed the princess of the

story into a governor’s daughter. Preserved were the rhymed couplets of the original

which provided humor and distance to the tongue-in-cheek presentation. As a

theatrical work, “A Soldier’s Tale” was designed from the start to mix its media. It is

partly narrated pantomime, partly drama with spoken dialogue (the conversations

between the Soldier and the Devil), and partly choreographic. Its history has included

puppet theater and animated cartoon among others forms of presentation. For this

staging, a theater-within-a-theater was assembled (in sight of the audience) with the

narrator (Kelley) seated at a table to its right and the instrumental ensemble to its left.

Periodically Kelley would rise and either close or open the curtain allowing scene

changes to take place behind the inner proscenium. These always produced delightful

surprises, manifestations of theatrical magic. As the Soldier, Jack Greenberg was

physically active, endlessly marching (including up and down the aisles) and even doing

some pushups at the Devil’s command. His character mixed mime with spoken dialogue.

David McFerrin’s Devil was more consistently verbal, with a slimy presence and

commanding voice, luring the Soldier into one bad bargain after another. The

governor’s daughter, portrayed energetically by dancer DeAnna Pellecchia, had no

dialogue of her own; it was a mixed mime and choreographic role. Her character

seemed unusually robust (for a “fairy tale princess,” though not for a Texas governor’s

daughter) and her final collusion with the Devil seemed to have been planned all along.

Igor Stravinsky

Stravinsky’s score, produced to meet practical needs in a time of war and scarcity, has turned out to be one of the most influential of modernist classics. The idea of condensing a wide range of color resources down to seven players has been widely imitated. The music anticipates the theatrical esthetic developed in the ‘20s and beyond by Bertholt Brecht which he called “the alienation effect” (Verfremdungseffekt) which means keeping the audience at an critical distance from the action instead of attempting to elicit emotional involvement. Rather than pulling at the heart-strings, the music keeps moving the story along with a compelling physical energy, catchy and offkilter rhythms, and brilliant instrumental writing. Since the violin plays a leading role in the story, Stravinsky crafted a style of playing that rejects romantic traditions and instead fuses folk and Klezmer styles with a Cubist sensibility to produce a genuinely new image of how it is played and sounds, one that Stepner conveyed with solid mastery. The same held true for the rest of the ensemble who performed without a conductor despite consistently tricky rhythms.

In forming his “miniature orchestra” Stravinsky selected one high and one low

instrument from each of the three main orchestral families: violin and double bass for

the strings, clarinet and bassoon for the winds, trumpet and trombone for the bass. He

added a drum-set for one player, including snare and cymbal, to represent percussion.

This plus the inclusion of a ragtime section (part of a set of three dances, along with a

tango and a waltz) has led some to believe that there was a jazz influence to the score;

but it is more likely that the catchy and complex rhythms were Stravinsky’s own

inventions; this was, after all, the composer who created “The Rite of Spring” four years

earlier. Stravinsky was fascinated by ragtime (and subsequently wrote two more pieces

of that name) but knew it only from sheet music, since in 1917, he had had no

opportunity to have heard live jazz performers. That said, there are striking parallels

between this and a contemporary New Orleans jazz combo.

That Aston Magna was able to present such an unusual double bill hinged on the ability

of the players to do double duty. It is fitting, I think, to acknowledge this level of skill by

being specific. Stepner himself performed leading roles on both baroque and modern

violin, two different instruments (especially the bows) and performing techniques.

Douglas Balliett’s double bass served for both ensembles, easily encompassing

Stravinsky’s innovative technical demands. William Hudgins’ clarinet was not called for

in the Scarlatti (basically the instrument had not yet been properly invented), but

displayed virtuosic flair for Stravinsky. (The composer later produced an even more

stripped down version of his score for concert use, retaining the clarinet and violin, and

adding a piano to take the place of all the other instruments.) Bassoonist David Wells

switched from a baroque instrument to the very different modern version. Most

impressive, perhaps, was the versatility of the brass players. Robinson Pyle played the

small but important trumpet part in Scarlatti (associated with the arrogance of Lucifer)

on a baroque instrument without pistons or valves—the technique of which is so

difficult that this instrument basically disappeared for two hundred years before being

revived, in part through the efforts of Aston Magna. Pyle then performed the Stravinsky

on a “cornet à pistons,” a relative of the trumpet that was used in village and marching

bands from the late 19th century through the 1920’s; again the part was presented with

great authority. Even more versatility was displayed by Mack Ramsey, who played the

colorful alto recorder solos in Scarlatti, and then switched to modern trombone for the

Stravinsky.

To have mastered multiple instruments at such a high level is already a major

accomplishment, but to be able to switch and perform on several during the same

concert seems mind-boggling. That Stepner had the confidence in his performers to pull

this off was essential to the concept of this highly imaginative and unique program.