Three Tales (opera)

Three Tales is a video-opera in three acts (titled

Hindenburg, Bikini and Dolly) with music by American Three Tales
composer Steve Reich and visuals by Beryl Korot, his wife. Video-opera by Steve Reich
It is scored for two sopranos, three tenors, string quartet,
percussion, keyboards, and pre-recorded audio. Its
premiere was at the Vienna Festival on May 12, 2002; the
BBC had commissioned a version for television broadcast
four months later. The 12-minute tale Hindenburg had
been written (and recorded) in 1998, while the remaining
tales were completed (and recorded) in the year of the
premiere.

The musical narrative of Three Tales follows "speech

melodies" of pre-recorded interviews, and in many ways
resembles Reich's works The Cave (1990–1993), City Life
The composer in 2008
(1995) and Different Trains (1988). The libretto of Three
Tales can be found on the website of the composer (see Language English
bottom of page). Based on Hindenburg disaster

Three Tales is a response to nearly a hundred years of Bikini Atoll nuclear

modern technology, concerning the explosion of the testings
Hindenburg, nuclear testings on Bikini Atoll, and the Dolly the sheep
cloning of Dolly the sheep (drawing connections between
genetic engineering and artificial intelligence). The different Premiere May 12, 2002
stories are told from various perspectives, with speech Vienna Festival
culled from interviews with eyewitnesses, audiovisual
documentary material of both the Hindenburg and Bikini tragedies, and experts in computer
science (e.g. Marvin Minsky and Kevin Warwick), artificial intelligence (Rodney Brooks), Rabbi
Adin Steinsaltz, and genetic engineering (Richard Dawkins).

Contents
Synopsis
Performers
Reception
Recordings
References
External links

Synopsis
The three tales (acts) divide into various sub-sections:

Act I – Hindenburg

It could not have been a technical matter – Nibelung Zeppelin – A very impressive thing to
see – I couldn't understand It

Act II – Bikini

In the air I – The atoll I – On the ships I – In the air II – The atoll II – On the ships II – In
the air III – The atoll III - On the ships III - Coda

Act III – Dolly

Cloning - Dolly - Human body machine - Darwin - Interlude - Robots/Cyborgs/Immortality

Performers
vocal quintet: 2 sopranos, 3 tenors
4 percussionists: 2 vibraphones, 2 snare drums, 2 pedal bass drums, suspended cymbal,
large gong
2 pianos
string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello)
pre-recorded tape or hard disk recorder[1]

Reception
Andrew McGregor wrote a positive review for BBC Music, stating that the video for the third act
(“Dolly”) was the most effective and arguing that “Reich and Korot can't give you the answer [to
where the human race is headed], but they frame the questions more memorably and insistently
than most.”[2] Kila Packett also gave the opera a positive review in PopMatters; she argued that
the first act (“Hindenburg”) is the most musically satisfying and the third act the most thought-
provoking, and interpreted the work as a “a bittersweet love letter romanticizing the tragic
beauty of destruction and the inevitable folly of human achievement”, but she found Korot’s
work on the first act to “lack visual imagination”.[3] Andrew Clements of The Guardian awarded
Three Tales a full five stars, writing “The three movements get progressively weightier, more
discursive, more visually inventive [...] this piece represents a quantum leap in complexity and
technological achievement.”[4]

K Smith wrote an unfavorable review in Gramophone, stating that Reich and Korot seem
oblivious to “how the Faustian pact with technology that they decry in society has also affected
their own work.” Smith argued, “In both its emotional evocations as well as its compositional
process, Three Tales is highly manipulative. [...] For artists so quick to criticise others for
playing God, they prove vulnerable to the same temptation themselves.”[5]

In 2016, Clements ranked the piece as one of Reich’s 10 greatest.[6]

Recordings
Steve Reich Ensemble. Three Tales. Rec. June 2002. Judith Sherman, 2003 (audio)
 Three Tales. Dir. Nick Mangano. Perf. Steve Reich Ensemble, Synergy Vocals.
Videocassette. Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2002 (visual).

References
1. Information on boosey.com (http://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Steve-Reich-Three-Tales/1515
3)
2. Andrew McGregor. "BBC - Music - Review of Steve Reich - Three Tales" (https://www.bbc.c
o.uk/music/reviews/r4f9/). www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
3. "Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot" (https://www.popmatters.com/reich-steve-021
019-2496081499.html). PopMatters. 2002-10-23. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
4. Clements, Andrew (2003-10-17). "CD & DVD: Reich/Korot: Three Tales" (https://www.thegu
ardian.com/music/2003/oct/17/classicalmusicandopera.shopping). The Guardian.
ISSN 0261-3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2019-10-12.
5. Smith, K. (2013-01-09). "Reich Three Tales" (http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/reich-thr
ee-tales). www.gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
6. Clements, Andrew (2016-10-03). "Steve Reich – 10 of the best" (https://www.theguardian.co
m/music/2016/oct/03/steve-reich-80-birthday-best-works-pieces). The Guardian.
ISSN 0261-3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2019-10-12.

External links
SteveReich.com - Three Tales - opera libretto (https://www.stevereich.com/threetales_lib.ht
ml)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Three_Tales_(opera)&oldid=1048765329"

This page was last edited on 7 October 2021, at 20:45 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.