Bordering on monodrama… Madame Curie by Elżbieta Sikora

Abstract

The subject of analysis is the contemporary opera Madame Curie (2010) by the Polish composer Elżbieta Sikora, premiered in 2011 in Paris. In an extremely emotional way, using innovative techniques for expression, the composer tells the story of the scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie in the form of a script for the opera, with anxiety as the main idea of the libretto. This dramatic work is an example of an intermedia work in which the composer uses electronic media alongside traditional instruments. The composition is an intermedia spectacle revealing the symbolic significance of the sound emission interacting with the libretto, choreography, lighting, ancient Greek theatre form and an electronic medium. Despite being divided into scenes, the piece was directed using a single set representing the laboratory of the Polish Nobel Prize winner. The director patterned the staging of this opera after Greek theatre: for action on stage, the whole proscenium was used, and the orchestra was seated at the back of the stage (not in the orchestra pit), the soloists at the front, next to the spectators, while the conductor led the ensemble with the help of a video camera, not seeing the soloists. The chorus was amphitheatrically seated on chairs on both sides of the stage to follow the action on stage with the eye of a censor. Every role required of its actor great craft, extraordinary skill and professionalism. The aim of the presentation will have been a multi-aspect analysis and interpretation of the score and the recording of the opera, as well as a discussion of the characteristics of voice projection in this complex work. The article presents a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the opera's score and recordng.

Keywords

• contemporary opera
• greek theatre
• polish music
• intermediality
• ekphrasis
• inphrasis