BETWEEN TWO WORLD (THE DYBBUK) An Opera in Two Acts (1994-97)

Composer’s Note (as printed in the program book of the premiere performances by the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago on June 20, 22, 1997):

I first encountered S. Ansky’s great play BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (subtitled THE DYBBUK) as a child in Israel. The play left an indelible impression. In particular, the moment when beautiful, young Leya, dressed in her white wedding gown, possessed by her beloved’s dead soul (played by Israel’s then-leading lady of the theater, Hanna Rovina) emitted the Dybbuk’s first words—a woman speaking in the unmistakable voice of a man—has remained with me to this day in all of its spine-tingling, bloodcurdling power.

High theater, no doubt, and a moment that helps shape a play’s immortality. But the countless hours I have spent with THE DYBBUK have convinced me that the greatness of the play, and what makes it so suitable for opera, goes far beyond the thrill of that extraordinary, almost shocking, moment. It is the human drama, played in broad strokes but also with intimacy and detail, that elevates this play above a titillating tale of the occult, dressed in Eastern-European, Hassidic-Jewish garb. It is passion propelled by predetermination, as inevitable as a force of nature. And at the core of it all: a moral statement on commitment and justice, issues I associate with the very essence of Judaism. A vow taken, a promise made, cannot be eradicated—not even by death.

I found in Charles Kondek the ideal partner to transform Ansky’s play into the leaner, distilled version that makes opera, with its vastly different time-frame, possible. Neither of us found it particularly difficult to resist the temptation of “modernizing” the play into another time or place. Unquestionably, much of the play’s core transcends boundaries such as time-period and ethnicity. Its Romeo/Juliet love tale, and its way of handling the age-old human need to penetrate the mysteries of death’s aftermath, are only two of the essential currents that give THE DYBBUK universal power and appeal. Yet, to me, the play’s most profound riches are inextricably bound to its specific setting—a world no longer in existence: a Jewish town or village (Shtetl) in late 19th century Eastern Europe, where life’s physical hardships are mitigated by a fervent quest for a higher existence and a life of moral rightness and spiritual exaltation.

With this as a background, it is young Khonnon’s immersion in the Kabbalah—the mystical, ecstatic branch of Jewish thought—which also provides the key to understanding the paroxysmal fit which leads to his death. [In this context it is most revealing to read the incredible tale told by the great Jewish writer Ellie Wiesel in his Memoirs of his own youthful preoccupation with the Kabbalah. It is Wiesel’s conclusion, in fact, that had his life not been violently interrupted by the war, this intense preoccupation would have driven him to madness, as it did two other childhood friends.] Bound by the moral codes of the society of which they are a part, Khonnon and Leya’s passion is sublimated through the erotic passages of The Song of Songs. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS as a title implies many “two worlds”; most obviously those of the living and the dead, but also the accepted and the forbidden, with all the different layers of meaning embedded in such terms.

The first act, which lays the foundations of the story and acquaints us with most of the major characters, is filled with shifts of action and oppositions of mood. In contrast, I felt the need to build a starkly different second act that would feel like a single utterance as it moves to its ultimate goal both musically and dramatically. This differentiation between the two acts was, in my view, necessary for the formation of the broader structure of the whole.

* * *

Some musical guide-posts: Near the beginning, a doom-impending trombone solo associated with Khonnon’s death, and a ghostly theme played by the strings that follows closely; the latter returns in an expanded form, associated in both acts with the Dybbuk. An ornamental figure in the oboe is accompanied by light percussion and harp twirls, adding up to what I call “Leya’s chord.” This chord becomes part of the harmonic backbone of both acts. The ecstatic singing style unique to many passages sung by Khonnon, developing eventually into the “wild chant” indicated in the libretto, leads up to Khonnon’s death. Elements of this singing style are later incorporated in certain sections of “Leya as Dybbuk”; this forms one important aspect of my solution to the quandary of how to create a context where a female singer (not actress) can effectively recall what was previously a man’s singing voice. An ascending-fourth unison idea in the winds is associated with “carrying out the law” while an obsessive little chordal spurt signifies the “ritual” aspects of the trial in the second act. A crucial chorale-like theme appears several times in the second act, always at key points, symbolizing the opera’s tragic essence as well as its inexorable forward thrust. Gradually the music transforms itself into a state allowing for the protagonists’ transcendence of spirit at the opera’s conclusion.

Finally, I do believe even the first-time listener will detect a whole-tone-based theme, mostly occurring in the cello; from the moment I conceived it, I nicknamed my “lust motif.” Because, when all is said and done, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is, first and foremost, the story of a great and unusual love.

The score carried this dedications: “To my parents, my sons, and all the generations.”

—Shulamit Ran

CAST

Lead roles:
Leya, soprano (lyric)
Khonnon, tenor

Reb Azriel, bass
Sender, baritone (high)
Freyde, mezzo soprano

Supporting roles:
Reb Shimshon (doubling Meyer), baritone
Gittel, soprano
Hennakh, mezzo soprano (pants role)
Asher (doubling Menashe), tenor
Reb Mendel, bass
Bassia, soprano
Nakhman, tenor

6 Wandering Souls

Chorus
Orchestra (25 players)

Please note: a more compact vocal version, with a minimum of 12 singers, is also possible. In such a version, in addition to the above-listed dual roles, singers—with the exception of the lead roles of Khonnon and Leya—also participate in the ensemble (instead of a chorus), and some double also as the six Wandering Souls in Act I.

By voice types, for minimum casting: 3 sopranos, 2 mezzo sopranos, 3 tenors, 2 baritones, 2 basses.

For both the full and the reduced vocal version, the following doublings of Wandering Souls parts (W.S. 1, etc.) are possible:

Gittel / W.S. 1 (high soprano)
Bassia / W.S. 2 (soprano)
Freyde / W.S. 3 (mezzo)
Nakhman / W.S. 4 (tenor)
Sender / W.S. 5 (baritone)
Reb Mendel / W.S. 6 (bass)

INSTRUMENTATION

Flute in C/Alto Flute/Piccolo, Flute in C/Piccolo, Oboe/English Horn, Clarinet in A and Bb/Clarinet in Eb, Clarinet in A/Bass Clarinet, Bassoon/Contrabassoon, Horn, 2 Trumpets in C, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Percussion (3 players), Harp, Piano, 4 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos, 1 Contrabass.

Recorded Shofars (Ram’s Horn, used for ceremonial occasions in Jewish celebrations), on DAT, to be supplied as part of performance materials. Playback system will be needed, as well as a set-up for the amplification, and some simple electronic digital tape delay equipment, for Dybbuk’s voice (Leya and Khonnon at end of Act I and parts of Act II). All technical specifications will be supplied as needed.

(total number of players—25, plus sound technician)

FOLLOWING THE OPERA’S WORLD PREMIERE IN CHICAGO

“Shulamit Ran’s Between Two Worlds, given its world premiere in Chicago in June, may be the first Dybbuk opera to gain a foothold in the repertory. (Headline) …Ran’s Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk) … …is the most powerful new music-theater piece to emerge from Lyric’s composer-in-residence program and just might be the one that will last. …Ran’s sophisticated music drives the drama rather than merely illustrating it… “

Opera News, December 1997 issue, lead article of “In Review: From Around the World”

“Between Two Worlds” Powerful (Headline) Between Two Worlds [The Dybbuk]… …is strong stuff… …Ran drew upon everything from faux-Hassidic lament to creepy Bartokian slithers, conventional arioso and spoken word, fusing these diverse elements with her usual craft and sophistication… …she writes with remarkable assurance for voices. …Charles Kondek worked minor miracles in pruning, reworking and distilling a talky four-act play into a libretto that clearly fired Ran’s musical imagination. …With amplified and prerecorded voices echoing through the theater, and prayer-shawl-clad Wandering Spirits haunting the spooky recesses of Korogodsky’s semi-abstract stage, the opera’s two worlds–the spiritual and the profane–merged in a rather wonderful way…”

Chicago Tribune

“Ran’s Vision fulfilled in premiere at Lyric (Headline). Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk), Shulamit Ran’s first opera… …is an impressive piece on several levels. …it has the vivid orchestral color and highly charged vocal writing so typical of Ran, winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for music. …Ran’s score ranged easily from cheery klezmer-shaded tunes to austere but compelling love duets. …With its mythic characters and theatrical sweep, Ansky’s tale of lovers separated in life but united in death belongs to the 19th century’s grandly classical opera and ballet tradition. Khonnon, sung with satin-voiced ardor by Matthew Polenzani, was as love-obsessed as any Swan Lake prince or bel-canto hero. Mary Jane Kania’s Leya, chilling in her mad scene, was a kindred spirit to ballet’s Giselle and Donizetti’s Lucia. But Ran’s opera is unmistakably a 20th century work, though anyone expecting unrelenting dissonance or constantly high decibel levels would be disappointed. Between Two Worlds is above all a compelling story, not a polemic for a given musical style…”

Chicago Sun-Times (Mary Jane Kania has since adapted the stage name Maria Kanyova. SR)

“…her orchestra writing is the real glory of this opera. …Wonderful colors emerge from the pit. There are conventional set pieces, spoken words. and amplified voice (for the Dybbuk). Leitmotifs and musical themes are assembled with great sophistication…”

New Music Connoisseur

“…This was Ran’s first opera, but her writing for voice is every bit as colorful as her orchestral works heard here in Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances. …Under the conductor Arthur Fagen, the orchestra… … easily negotiated Ran’s brilliantly virtuosic score without overwhelming the singers. …Both singers brought beautiful sound and astonishing vocal facility to Ran’s ecstatic, florid music for the two lovers. …Jonathan Eaton… Danila Korogodsky… and… Christine A. Solger produced a commendable production for this effective new work.”

Opera, January 1998 (England)

“…Ran’s score is formidable. Resisting the soft, meditative trends of the 90s, she sticks with a language as mercurially free as atonality but uses dramatic gestures that ground the ear in the familiar…”

USA Today

FOLLOWING THE OPERA’S EUROPEAN PREMIERE at THEATER BIELEFELD in GERMANY, IN A GERMAN TRANSLATION by CHRISTIAN TAGGER:

“Spiritual Love in Opera (Headline). …The opera delivers. …the music lends itself extraordinarily well to dramatic interpretation. It is cleverly orchestrated, generally with a free-tonality, though with appropriate references to Klezmer and liturgical music. Shulamit Ran has succeeded in writing an impressive synthesis in which she gives full vocal lines to the singers – in contrast to the philosophy of so many contemporary German composers. …this opera received long ovations, with cheering. New Productions of Between Two Worlds – The Dybbuk are strongly recommended as Ms. Ran and her librettist have given something rare to contemporary music theater: a work of substance at the highest musical level, which shuns banalities yet speaks to the ear of the audience. This happy combination is rare in contemporary music theater…”

Neue Westfalische (Bielefeld, Germany)

“Shulamit Ran’s opera The Dybbuk successful in Bielefeld: Absorbing culture of mystical Eastern Judaism (Headline). …extremely successful premiere of the opera The Dybbuk by Shulamit Ran… …Her opera is a great musical achievement… the new music of this ‘cultural theatrical testament’ was excellently played by the Philharmonic Orchestra under Geoffrey Moull’s engaging and rhythmical direction. A CD recording would be highly desirable…”

Westfalen-Blatt

“…The music of Shulamit Ran, for many years Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony, is alive with a subtle mixture of melodic material, both dancing and lamenting Klezmer-motives, iridescent clusters and folklore – but this is also a score that always allows the soloists to sing effortlessly. She works tonally and atonally and expertly illuminates the story with leitmotives. Geoffrey Moull conducts this wonderful music with rhythmic precision, enjoying the ‘foreign’ sounds, but with the orchestral transparency necessary to always allow the voices to shine through…”

Opernwelt, Germany

“…The music under the baton of Geoffrey Moull, with tonal, atonal and spiritual elements, impresses with its strength of expression. …The orchestral accompaniment plays ecstatic accents and at the same time sets the rhythm for the impressive vocal lines. On top of this, there are elements of folklore and musical passages of the Jewish liturgy. Between Two Worlds is an inspiring opera… A moving experience!”

Stadtblatt

“…Shulamit Ran has composed a remarkable opera…”

Westfalische Rundschau

“…Shulamit Ran has composed this love story with strong expressive sounds that equally impress with both the horror of possession and great emotions…”

Munstersche Zeitung

“…A fascinating opera evening…”

Westfalischer Anzeiger