• Philip Glass
  • the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down. ACT V - Rome Section (1984)
    (Act V - Rome Section)

  • Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc (World)

Commissioned by the Opera di Roma

Opera in four scenes. Part of Robert Wilson's multi-composer epic for the Olympic Games of 1984.
Libretto (Latin, Italian, English) by Maita di Nascemi and Robert Wilson.

  • 2(pic).2.2(bcl).2/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp/str
  • SATB
  • Soprano, Mezzo soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, 2 speaking parts (M&F)
  • 1 hr 20 min
  • Maita di Nascemi and Robert Wilson
  • English, Italian, Latin

Programme Note

CAST
General Lee - narrator (Robert Wilson)
Young Mrs. Lincoln - narrator (Laurie Anderson)
Garibaldi - tenor
Older Mrs. Lincoln and the Earth Mother - mezzo-soprano
Abraham Lincoln - baritone
The Snow Owl and Alcmene - soprano
Hercules - bass
Choir - SATB

SYNOPSIS
Part of Robert Wilson's multi-composer epic for the Olympic Games of 1984, the Rome Section of the "the CIVIL warS" is a unit all its own, non-narrative, and portrays the future, the present, the past (both near and distant), and the legendary - all existing simultaneously. The opera is symbolic, metaphysical, realistic, metaphorical, and its staging ranges from ancient Athens to the spaceship-filled future of the human race.

Discography