The Marriage of True Minds (Op.38)
1981/2010, 30 minutes, by the Tessitura partnership
This Shakespeare sequence is a mini-opera for soprano, baritone and piano.
There is dialogue between the seven musical items which takes a fresh look at the badinage between Beatrice and Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing). Hilary Spiers has freely compiled this hybrid libretto from a variety of Shakespearean sources.
Pragmatically, the piano accompanist acts as a third (seated) character for a total of just seven spoken lines to facilitate textual cohesion. The characters act out the scenario, which is interspersed with song settings using the following texts:
- Under the Greenwood Tree (As You Like It)
- Come Away, Come Away Death (Twelfth Night, II iv)
- O Mistress Mine (Twelfth Night)
- Sonnets XL (1-4) and CXX (1-8)
- It was a Lover and His Lass (As You Like It, V iii)
- Wedding is Great Juno's Crown (As You Like It, V iv)
- Sonnet X (13-14)
Listen
You can listen to The Marriage of True Minds on scoreexchange.com.