FULL King Midas’ Ears (Tüzün) Ankara 2021 Kiyici Ordu Yilmaz
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: King Midas' Ears or Turkish: Midas'ın Kulakları
- Composer: Ferit Tüzün
- Libretto: Güngör Dilmen Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Ankara Devlet Opera, Turkey
- Recorded: 2021
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Eralp Kiyici, Durukan Ordu, Mehmet Yilmaz, Baris Yanc, Esra Cetiner, Can Kocaay
- Conductor: Tolga Tavis
- Orchestra: Ankara Devlet Opera Balesi Orkestrasi
- Chorus: Ankara Devlet Opera Korosu
- Chorus Master: Orhan Öner Öczan
- Choreographer: Deniz Alp
- Stage Director: ZEYNEP CELEN TAMER
- Stage Designer: TALAT AYHAN
- Costume Designer: Gazal Erten
- Lighting Designer: FUAT GOK
Information about the Recording
- Published by: TRT2
- Date Published: 2021
- Format: Broadcast
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, othersubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
In the race between the Sun God Apollo and the Nature God Pan , Midas, the king of Phrygia , is determined as the referee. In the race, Apollo will play the lyre and Pan will play the flute.
Opera begins with the announcement of this competition by the choir. According to Apollon, Midas, who made the wrong decision, preferred a monophonic flute that everyone could easily understand, instead of music that ” understanding ears ” could hear, and declared Pan the winner. Enraged, Apollo turns Midas’ ears into donkey ears. Donkey-eared Midas has to share this secret with his barber. When he realized that he could not carry Midas’ secret any longer, he went and shouted into a well and relaxed.
Two citizens inform Midas that the reeds are calling strangely. Together with Midas, they walk to the countryside, to the place where the reeds are. As the wind begins to blow, the reeds on the water’s edge begin to call out , ” Midas’s ears are donkey’s ears. ” Reeds passed through the waters at the bottom of the well, which is the secret of Midas. Midas goes mad with anger. With the cutting of the reeds, the voices slowly subside with a groan.
Midas tries to make people forget the rumor about his ears by shouting, but his efforts are in vain. Meanwhile, he himself adopts his ears, and even with these ears he begins to see himself as a superhuman creature, a demigod. He decides to make the Phrygians watch his ears, and gathers the citizens. However, while he was showing his ears to the public, Apollo reappears. He says, ” I forgive you now, ” and restores Midas’ ears; that is, it makes the human ear again. By taking back the ears that Midas used to and now accepted by the public, he actually punishes him once again. Because the Phrygians find this sudden change strange and ridicule Midas. Value judgments are relative, based on habit.