NRR Project: 'Four Saints in Three Acts' (1947)

 

“Four Saints in Three Acts”

Music by Virgil Thomson; lyrics by Gertrude Stein

Performed by Virgil Thomson et al

Premiered Feb. 7, 1934

Recorded June 1947

1 hour, 47 minutes

A whimsical piece of pure music – as its libretto makes no sense.

The author of the piece was the famous writer, American expatriate Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) She was known for her experimental, nonsensical, repetitive literary creations. She used language for its sound qualities only, meaning that her works have no plots and indeed no linearity. It consists of repeated phrases, as in the opera’s opening:

“To know to know to love her so. Four saints prepare for saints. It makes it well fish. Four saints it makes it well fish. Four saints prepare for saints it makes it well well fish it makes it well fish prepare for saints.”

And, later: “Saint Teresa seated and not standing half and half of it and not half and half of it seated and not standing surrounded and not seated and not seated and not standing and not surrounded not not surrounded and not not not seated not seated not seated not surrounded not seated and Saint Ignatius standing standing not seated Saint Teresa not standing not standing and Saint Ignatius not standing standing surrounded as if in once yesterday. In place of situations.”

She wrote the piece in 1927. In 1928, Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) set it to music. Thomson, originally from Kansas City, moved to Paris in 1925. There he studied and wrote music until 1940, when he returned to America.

Thomson set the piece for many voices, including various saints, two separate choruses, and a “Commere” and a “Compere.” The music is open and upbeat, in chords remindful of those found in hymns. Since the words make no sense, Thomson is free to create his own, quite beautiful chain of solos, duets, and choruses, liberated from the need to make sense.

The opera was first performed in 1934, utilizing a Black cast. Thirteen years later, many of the principals reunited with Thomson to record the work for posterity. It’s a pleasant if nonsensical exercise in tunefulness.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around.