Poulenc Opera is Coming to PianoFight

PianoFight seems to be cultivating a culture of maximum diversity with minimum information. Thus, when the venue posted a Facebook Events Web page for “La Voix Humaine,” one could, with a little bit of searching, learn that this is a “1950s opera” that will be performed in French with subtitles. Either the organization assumes that everybody knows what “La Voix Humaine” is, or it figures that background knowledge is irrelevant.

For those of us that know the work, it is hard to avoid thinking that this is a deliberate slap in the face of the opera’s composer, Francis Poulenc. The same can be said of the libretto, which is based on a play of the same name (which translates as “The Human Voice”) by Jean Cocteau, making for another face to be slapped. Both the play and the opera explore an imaginative approach to narrative. 

There is only one character (soprano voice in the opera); and the only part of the set that matters is a telephone. Thus, the entire text accounts for one side of a conversation. When the work is performed as a play, one sees only the protagonist’s reaction to what she hears through the telephone, while, in the case of the opera, Poulenc can use the music to embody that side of the conversation. In both settings the text captures the protagonist’s reaction to a relationship that has deteriorated.

Presumably, PianoFight will present a performance by a soprano accompanied by a pianist. (The original score required the resources of a full symphony orchestra, deployed piecemeal when the soprano is singing.) Consistent with the absence of all other information, the names of the performers have not been announced.

All that is known for certain is the there will be three performances, all at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 14 (nothing like a breakup for celebrating Valentine’s Day), Saturday, February 15, and Tuesday, February 18. PianoFight is located near the southwest corner of Union Square at 144 Taylor Street. The venue provides both a restaurant and a bar; and the performance will take place in the Second Stage. All tickets are being sold for $20 and may be purchased online through a single Eventbrite event page. This may be a roll of the dice, but one cannot question the credentials of either the composer or his libretto source!