![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij36UzjbH4gsdUGGY8ExvBuC7x1k_ZL4Pycc0AmgVo2IKHYA2QjUwGIvZLKnem_MZqEBjyUgIcgAn34XFz5q5oJueA0quwqPdCJs2MPmXScC5WhAA4M3Y-3iMKSBU-_LfvqgICZgyxshg/s800/HalloFame-EzraPound.jpg)
Ezra Pound’s one-act opera Le Testament de Villon is a setting of selected poems from a long poem of the same name by the french cursed poet François Villon (1431-?). Scene One opens on a square fronted by a brothel, a bar and a church in Paris, circa 1462. Condemned to death and with a warrant out for his arrest, Villon sits before the tavern writing his « last will and irrevocable testament.»
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBa0Jp16Ea-mX7B7NA6u5Lx1qXt2972ogALq6PpNNBSy_DIUiVv1XhU_UH5XA_ahMRILLEV3CgYruxc-yZObfTNisD7hiofFip4sq9Fijw-X5LSYgU0SPV21d6eGIckMj2IRvy_SGas-A/s800/01.jpg)
Pound began the writing of his opera in 1919, completed it in 1923, and it was first performed in 1924 in Paris. Virgil Thomson wrote about it : « The music was not quite a musician's music", he wrote, "though it may well be the finest poet's music since Thomas Campion... Its sound has remained in my memory. » and Robert Hughes remarked that (...) Le Testament explores a Webernesque pointillistic orchestration and derives its vitality from complex rhythms.
In the libretto, the list of instruments include this :
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi86BuBmRzmN4DbCZ3IloijqKhgAyB2P4G1uyL5eQwyTdj1u5gUgRkpiJDVGKKYVYQQYSonR-ut2SXxgecb7uYiqeBAxGRmR4jkLZf4nlDqrh7BGjBh5aCI29Dpafp9MC_MR0f_3jWstvo/s800/libretto.jpg)
Indeed, Pound's Le Testament is the first (and unique?) opera including a nose flute! And it was in 1919-23 ! OK, let's keep our calm : there are only 3 x 4 glissandi notes of nose flute in the whole piece. But they are the 12 first notes, after some rhythm played on small African drums. The opening scene takes place in a bordello, and is called Inside Brothel or Brothel Music.
The nose flutes notes are on the bottom part :
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEGmKwSxjulqtBfhUVvtc_xgE1scbltHb7tqxVKvjp1Qubm_pVo63nDTE4nqtz4aGE5-UwWwRL5IZdFdXdCL8k4gHn4bZCVyTLHU_AIke5nvTHu2Hk5PnIcHTNDxFddY0fPSmfO18efs/s800/02.jpg)
And here are they (the 12 notes:) [you can listen to the other pieces, buy this mp3 or the whole opera there]
Wonderful stuff from an amazing era in the arts!
ReplyDeleteHello Maikel,
ReplyDeleteYes, you're right... the ebullition of creation of the Avant-Gardes ...
All the best,
Antoine