The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds
The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds is a multimedia chamber opera in three acts composed by Ofer Ben-Amots featuring visual projections by Sherri Wills. The libretto by the composer is in Hebrew and English and based on S. Ansky's classic Yiddish play The Dybbuk. The opera premiered in Montreal, Canada, at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in January 2008 in a production directed by Thomas Lindblade.
| The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds | |
|---|---|
| Chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots | |
 Ofer Ben-Amots, the opera's composer | |
| Librettist | Ofer Ben-Amots |
| Based on | The Dybbuk by S. Ansky |
| Premiere | |
Composition
Just as S. Ansky's play incorporates Jewish folklore into the story, Ben-Amots' opera utilizes Jewish folk melodies combined with modern textures and sonorities.[1] Critic John Demers noted that, "Ben-Amots' music is modern, sometimes atonal and, by definition, minimalist."[2] The chamber opera is scored for soprano, baritone, piano, violin, cello and percussion.
Synopsis
Act 1
Scene 1
Leah lies on the floor as if in a slumber, hanging between life and death. She hears the sighing voice of the late Hannan and recalls their great, unrequited love.
Scene 2
The everlasting question is presented: Oh Why and wherefore the soul descends from the highest highs to the deepest depths? From the depth it will rise much higher.
Scene 3
There is a tombstone in the center of town called the Holy Grave. Leah describes the great pogrom of 1648-9 in which the Cossacks massacred a young couple under the canopy at their wedding.
Scene 4
Leah, lost in thought, fondly remembers Hannan's love and affection for her. She remembers him singing to her-words of love from the book of Solomon.
Scene 5
A mysterious Messenger appears and begins to recount a tale of two friends who wished to strengthen their friendship. They make a pact: if one has a daughter and the other a son, the two children are to be married in their adulthood. Leah and Hannan were the subjects of just such a promise. However, the pact was forgotten after the death of Hannan's father and the success of Leah's father.
Scene 6
Hannan knows both that he is in love with Leah and that his poor social status wil never allow him to marry her. He turns to mysterious methods of magic and Kabbalah in an attempt to change the reality of the situation. He is met not with success but with death from exhaustion.
Act 2
Scene 1
The Messenger recounts a parable about glass to describe Leah's father; When one looks through plain glass one sees other people, but when silver (a symbol for money) is applied to the backside, one sees only oneself.
Scene 2
Leah contemplates early death, wondering what happens to the soul. She sings the aria, "When one dies before his time."
Scene 3
Leah's father announces that he has found her a new suitor, a man from a wealthy and respected family. Leah, distraught, runs to the Holy Grave to beg for asylum from this horrible fate.
Scene 4
The Messenger explains the nature of souls after death. Most are not bodiless but travel through many persons until they are wholly pure. However, sometimes, a lost soul can enter a living body like a Dybbuk and remain until it finds salvation.
Scene 5
Leah is walking down the aisle to the tune of Nigun of the Seven Circles, a traditional Jewish wedding song. As the union is about to be completed, the Dybbuk cries from within Leah's body, signaling her possession.
Act 3
Scene 1
This scene is an interlude featuring a parable called The Heart and the Fountain. The heart and fountain are in love but are separated by a great distance. However, they are unable to unite, for if either leaves their spot and loses sight of the other the heart will stop beating and the fountain will stop flowing. So, from a great distance they sing a song to each other, a magical song that is able to create time.
Scene 2
Rabbi Azriel Miropol takes Leah to his chamber. He speaks to the Dybbuk and asks who it is and why it has possessed Leah. The Dybbuk responds with the aria "I Am But an Ashen Wood."
Scene 3
The Rabbi and the Dybbuk argue. The Rabbi pleads for the departure of the ghost. The Dybbuk stubbornly and repeatedly refuses. The Dybbuk sings "I Won't Obey and I Won't Listen." The Rabbi conducts an exorcism. After a struggle the Rabbi is successful. The Rabbi announces that the wedding will resume.
Scene 4
Back on the floor, Leah is again between life and death. She has to make a choice between living and marrying a stranger or dying and joining her true love Hannan in the afterlife.
Scene 5
Leah sings two arias: "I Broke Through All the Barriers," and "Lullaby to the Babies Who Were Never Born." She chooses Hannan.
Scene 6
The two lovers sing the duet "We are Soaring and Climbing."
Scene 7
The eternal question is repeated.
References
- "The classic tale of love and mystical possession, in a new adaptation". The Dybbuk. 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- Demers, John (15 November 2009). "The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds". Huston Arts Week. Wordpress. Retrieved 2 June 2014.