FULL EVARISTE (Helgi R. Ingvarsson) London 2015 Jonathan Hyde, Freya Jacklin

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: EVARISTE  
• Composer: Helgi R. Ingvarsson   
• Libretto: Lori Ann Stephens    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Regent Theatre, Regent High School, London, UK  
• Recorded: July 30 & 31, 2015
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Jonathan Hyde, Freya Jacklin, Callie Swarbrick, Claire Bournez, Christian Valle, Jack Holton
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Instrumental Ensemble  
• Stage Director: Shirley Keane   
• Stage Designer: Friðþjófur Þorsteinsson (Fiffi)  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: tete a tete  
• Date Published: 2015  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Genesis

  “In the fog of a Paris dawn in 1832, Évariste Galois, the 20-­‐year-­‐old founder of modern algebra, was shot and killed in a duel. That gunshot marked the end of one era in mathematics and the beginning of another. The eighteenth-­‐century mathematicians were idealized as child-­‐like, eternally curious, and uniquely suited to reveal the hidden harmonies of the world. But in the nineteenth century, brilliant mathematicians like Galois became Romantic heroes like poets, artists, and musicians. The ideal mathematician was now an alienated loner, driven to despondency by an uncomprehending world” – Duel at Dawn, Amir Alexander.

  “ÉVARISTE, commissioned by The Courtauld Gallery and Guildhall School of Music & Drama(GSMD) in September 2012, is based on the last three years of the life of French mathematician Évariste Galois, who died in 1832 at only twenty years of age – the same year that another great Frenchman was born, Édouard Manet. The influence of Manet, the combination of realism and impressionism, as displayed at the time in Courtauld´s Wolfson Room, can be found in the music. I set out to write sets of motifs; sets representing a real-­‐life sound transcribed into an inconspicuous musical context. I call these sets of motifs ´The Pen´ and ´The Clock´. They appear in ÉVARISTE where our protagonist is working/writing against the clock. They are composed of particular polyrhythms, varying string harmonics, tremolos and low flutter-­‐tongue flute/piccolo” – Helgi R. Ingvarsson.

  Synopsis

  MAY 10, 1832, 4AM – PARIS, FRANCE

  Évariste Galois, a hot-­‐headed twenty-­‐year-­‐old mathematical genius, is sitting at a desk in his room, feverishly writing. His great passion, maths, has been sabotaged by his first crushing experience of love. Now, he is more fervent than ever about being understood, being important, being accepted.

  Frustrated with an illogical world, Évariste will embrace early death by duel in fourteen hours, as long as he completes his ground-­‐breaking theorem, where the only remaining beauty resides.

  As he starts a goodbye letter to his friend, Auguste, explaining both his work and grave situation, memories of past events – his failed examination at the Polytechnique institute and his short time with Stéphanie du Motel– start to haunt him.

  The opera is based on real events.

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