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Facing Goya

Facing Goya is a 2000 opera in four acts by Michael Nyman on a libretto by Victoria Hardie. It is an expansion of their one-act opera called Vital Statistics from 1987, dealing with such subjects as physiognomy and its practitioners, and also incorporates a musical motif from Nyman's art song, "The Kiss", inspired by a Paul Richards painting. Nyman also considers the work thematically tied to his other works, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, The Ogre, and Gattaca, though he does not quote any of these musically, save a very brief passage of the latter. It premiered at the Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain on August 3, 2000. The revision with the cast heard on the album premirered at the Badisches Straatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany, on October 19, 2002. Vital Statistics has been withdrawn. The Santiago version included more material from Vital Statistics.

The new opera deals with the elitism and prejudice of various movements in pseudosciences and art criticism, wrapped around a thread of a desire to make a clone of Francisco Goya through use of his long-lost skull, which he hid from the likes of Paul Broca, and which the Art Banker finds under a floorboard in a "degenerate art" gallery in Act II. This skull is the object of numerous fights in the second and third acts, often with one character snatching it from another. The opera is non-realistic in its presentation, with only one through-character, the Art Banker. Indeed, when Goya does appear, it is not the result of cloning, but a purely fantastical device. Four other performers play different roles in each section who are thematically connected. In addition, two actors are called for in non-speaking roles. The Art Banker also speaks narration into a dictaphone, but this was omitted from the studio recording, though the lines are reprinted in the booklet.

Roles

Art Banker, a widow (contralto), loves Goya, but is corrupted by money. She foolishly wants to patent Goya's talent gene. Despite this, she is the most charismatic and sympathetic figure of the satire. She is a time tripper. An art banker is a person who deals in exchange of famous artworks among museums. This character is currently a specialist in the work of Goya.
Soprano 1 (coloratura), obsessed with science, she lives in her head, and is the one who ultimately cracks the human genome. (Craniometrist 1, Eugenicist/Art Critic 1, Microbiologist). At one point she nearly chokes herself with a tape measure, but continues to sing.
Soprano 2 (lyric), unhappy indvidualist who sees the dangers of racism in gene control. She is opposed to cloning and State ownership of genetic readouts. She does not believe that recreating a person recreates that person's talent. (Craniometery Assistant 2, Art Critic 2, Genetic Research Doctor)
Tenor, a shallow opportunist who believes eugenic theories are reflected in art. His greed leads him to want to make the first laboratory cloned human. A product of genetic engineering himself, he expresses his arrogance in the arietta, "I am an oil painting". (Craniometry Assistant 1, Eugenicist/Art Critic 3, Chief Executive of a Bio-Tech Company)
Baritone, he doesn't agree with anyone, and they don't like him. He is humorous and self-deprecating, fatalistic, and thinks little of the uniqueness in humankind. (Craniometrist 2, Art Critic 4, Genetic Academic, Francisco Goya)

Soldiers, apparition of Goya, craniometry interns, porters, lab technicians.

Setting

The play moves through three times and places (act 3 and 4 are the same location weeks apart, and all but the baritone remain the same character). The libretto calls for "a Goyaesque landscape of bare branches with bloody clothes hanging off them, and stones jutting out of the earth like gravestones, in the manner of a charcoal drawing." Projections of art and diagrams are used throughout the production.

Costumes

The Genetic Research Doctor (Soprano 2) "wears jeans and a sparkly T-shirt".

The Genetic Academic (Baritone) "wears bicycle clips and a helmet".

The Microbiologist (Soprano 1) "wears a thigh length zip top, leather miniskirt, and stud earrings."

Orchestration

This is the first opera Nyman has scored with his band in mind. The studio recording includes five violins, two violas, one cello, two double basses, two each soprano and alto saxes (doubled), baritone sax, flute, alto flute, piccolo, trumpet and flugelhorn (doubled), French horn, bass trombone (doubled), tuba (doubled), euphonium (doubled), and electric guitar.

Recording

A recording was released in 2002. It is Michael Nyman's 44th album. Alexander Balanescu left the band during the recording of this album, and his concertmaster seat awarded to Gabrielle Lester, who previously recorded with the band on La Sept (1989).