The Antient Concert


The Antient Concert is a sixty-minute-long English language opera in one act by Daron Hagen with a libretto by Paul Muldoon. Hagen describes it as a "dramatic recital for four singers."

Background and performance history

Hagen and Muldoon developed the opera as part of the Princeton Atelier at Princeton University. The process culminated in Hagen conducting the Borromeo String Quartet and student performers at the McCarter Theatre in a fully staged workshop production directed by five student directors. After serving as the centerpiece of the 16 June 2007 "26th Annual Bloomsday on Broadway" at Symphony Space in New York City, it had its staged world premiere, directed by the composer, on 6 November 2007 in New York City. Hagen's fourth and final opera with Muldoon, Hagen has described it as "our slender Capriccio", and "a story about the collision of words, music, performance, sex, death, and nationalism."
Chronology

Synopsis

The Antient Concert revolves around the reputed showdown in the 1904 Feis Ceoil between John McCormack and James Joyce. "It took place on 27 August 1904 in the Antient Concert Rooms in Dublin, Ireland. Legend has it that they competed that night in the Tenor singing competition. There is no documentary evidence of this; however, Joyce did win the Bronze Medal that year. Many believe it was McCormack's 1903 win of the Gold Medal that launched his career." The musical score consists of variations on five traditional Irish ballads, the libretto of variations on the lyrics of those ballads. The five songs referenced are: "Salley Gardens", "The Harp That Once", "You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May", "Tho' the Last Glimpse of Erin", and "The Croppy Boy". "Consequently," wrote Hagen, "throughout the recital, the characters shift between "performance mode" and the expression of their internal thoughts."