OPERA SEARCH
Eloise
(1997)Libretto by Carol Barratt; German version by Hanna Francesconi (E,G)
fl.cl-hn*.tpt-timp.perc(2):glsp/xyl/tgl/2 pairs of spoons/car horn/tamb/SD/BD/cyms/susp.cym/gong-pft-strings(min 1.1.1.1.1)
*alternatively, tenor saxophone can be used, for which a separate part is available
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
St James' Ch., Holland Park, London
Elaine Kidd, director
Conductor: Dominic McGonigal
Company: W11 Opera
| Children's voices: | |
| NURSE | |
| QUEEN | |
| SEVEN PRINCES, as young boys | |
| KING | |
| VOLHEK | |
| ELOISE, as a young girl | (Silent role) |
| ELOISE, grown up | |
| SEVEN PRINCES, grown up | |
| THREE SUITORS | |
| CHORUS OF MAIDS | |
| CHORUS OF COURTIERS | |
| CHORUS OF DROGMIRES, including at least two vamps | |
| CHORUS OF THISTLEDOWN SPINNERS |
Sometime, somewhere (Act 1: a palace; Act II: a dark forest)
During the christening of Eloise, the King and Queen's daughter, the witch Volhek and her band of Drogmires arrive to remind the Queen of her promise, if she ever had a girl, to give Volhek her sons. The Drogmires carry the sons off and Volhek turns them into wild ducks. Some years later, Eloise hears the story of her christening and sets off to free her brothers. She finds them in a dark forest but learns that they can only be rescued from their transformation if a shirt of thistledown is spun for each of them. To hinder her endeavours Volhek strikes Eloise dumb. The thistledown spinners nevertheless help her, and with her magic spoon Eloise conjures up three suitors to assist further. The shirts are completed and Volhek and the Drogmires confounded. The royal household arrives and the princes are freed. Eloise conjures the third suitor – her favourite – once more, and he promises to stay with her forever.
Comic, Poetic