Face Powder

Powder Her Face is a chamber opera in two acts, Op. 14 (1995) by the British composer Thomas Adès (b. 1971). The English libretto is by Philip Hensher. It was commissioned by the Almeida Opera, a part of London's Almeida Theatre, for performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival. more...

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The subject of the opera is the \"Dirty Duchess\", Margaret, Duchess of Argyll whose sexual exploits were the stuff of scandal and gossip in Britain in 1963 during her divorce proceedings. The opera is explicit in its language and detail.

It was given its premiere performance on July 1, 1995 in Cheltenham, with Jill Gomez in the leading role. It won both good reviews as well as notoriety for its musical depiction of fellatio and it was subsequently banned by British radio station ClassicFM for being too raunchy.

Style

The music of the opera combines influences ranging from Alban Berg, Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten to Kurt Weill and the tangos of Ástor Piazzolla in a witty and highly individual manner. There is not even a hint of the 'minimalism' of Thomas Adès' later works.

Describing the overall impact of the libretto and the theatricality of the entire production, Alex Ross notes:

\"Hensher seized the opportunity to create the first onstage blow job in opera history, but he also twisted the story into something more generalized and expressionistic: Margaret becomes a half-comic, half-tragic figure, a nitwit outlaw. There were clear parallels with Alban Berg’s epic of degradation, Lulu The libretto reads like a nasty farce, but it takes on emotional breadth when the music is added. With a few incredibly seductive stretches of thirties-era popular melody, Adès shows the giddy world that the Duchess lost, and when her bright harmony lurches down to a terrifying B-flat minor he exposes the male cruelty that quickened her fall. Adès’s harmonic tricks have a powerful theatrical impact: there’s a repeated sense of a beautiful mirage shattering into cold, alienated fragments\".

Performance history

The premiere was followed by five London performances at the Almeida Theatre. It received a concert performance at the Barbican, London on June 8, 2006 with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer.

Roles and premiere cast

Four singers and an ensemble of 15 players (clarinet, saxophones, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, harp, piano, accordion, string quintet).;

Plot synopsis

Scene 1 – 1990 (The hotel). An electrician and a maid are discovered by the Duchess in her suite, ridiculing her. The scene closes with the entrance of a male figure.; Scene 2 – 1934 (A country House). The Duchess’s confidante and a lounge lizard discuss her recent divorce. The Duke makes an impressive entrance.; Scene 3 – 1936. The Duke and Duchess’s wedding is described in a fancy aria by a waitress.; Scene 4 – 1953. The Duchess stays at the hotel and seduces a waiter. The waiter accepts a tip and reveals the recurrence of the Duchess’s deeds.; Scene 5 – 1953. The Duke visits his mistress. They flirt and she suggests that the Duchess’s serial seductions are the talk of London.; Scene 6 – 1955. Two rubberneckers comment extravagantly on the divorce case.;

Read more at Wikipedia.org