A WATER BIRD TALK and
Four hundred years ago the Florentine Camerata attempted to raise ancient Greek drama from the dead. They gathered the items that had belonged to Greek drama–music, drama, verse, chorus–and reassembled them. But when they connected the dead parts, what they got was not exactly what they expected; instead of reviving an old creature, they gave birth to a new. But between 50 and 150 years after its birth, opera seemed headed toward extinction as an art form. Drama faded under the pressure for vocal beauty and embellishments, and opera often became merely a kind of musical divertissement–until Christoph Gluck reemphasized its dramatic elements.
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Chicago Opera Theater concluded its 1992 season with a double bill of 20th-century opera: a small opera in the tradition of 19th-century verismo and an even smaller work typical of the late 20th century.
The plot of The Medium concerns Madame Flora, who, assisted by her daughter Monica and the street urchin Toby, bilks people through her phony seances. When she is startled by what she thinks is a genuinely supernatural manifestation, she drops out of the racket. Obsessed by the cold hand she felt on her throat, she tries to get the mute Toby to admit that he was somehow responsible, and her descent into insanity ultimately leads her to murder the child.
