Björfors’s staging, text is projected onto various surfaces of the set. At one end of the spectrum of possible “Satyagraha” productions is biopic at the other, abstract ritual.
This stylization extends to the naming of the three acts, each for a figure who could be called a practitioner of satyagraha but none of whom have roles in the work: Tolstoy, Rabindranath Tagore and Martin Luther King Jr.īecause the libretto comprises only words from the Bhagavad Gita, it is up to the director how much, if any, of the biographical material to reveal to the audience - and how. During this time, the young lawyer formed his guiding philosophy - satyagraha, an untranslatable portmanteau that roughly means “truth force” - and fought for the civil rights of Indians.Įvents like the founding of the activist newspaper Indian Opinion, the leading of a peaceful protest march, and a confrontation between Gandhi and his opponents, are presented, but the libretto gives no indication of specific stage action for these episodes. Ostensibly, “Satyagraha” is about Gandhi’s years in South Africa, from 1893 to 1914.
Where the two productions differed most - and where one foundered while the other excelled - was in presenting the story of Gandhi’s life. Björfors’s vocabulary is the circus, just as Mr. In this performance, tenor Richard Croft gives a moving performance as Gandhi, leading a remarkable ensemble cast conducted by Dante Anzolini.Ms. In 2011, his staging returned, this time recorded live in HD. Satyagraha arrived at the Met during the 2007–08 season, when director Phelim McDermott made his debut with a production that employed everyday materials like newspaper and corrugated tin to create towering puppets and striking tableaus.
The opera became the second installment of Glass’s Portrait Trilogy, which also includes Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten and focuses on innovators from across history. Set to lines from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, Satyagraha depicts scenes (arranged thematically rather than chronologically) from the life of Gandhi as he developed his philosophy of non-violent resistance in South Africa between 18. Following the success of his first foray into opera, Einstein on the Beach, revolutionary American composer and musician Philip Glass soon turned to another great figure of the 20th century for inspiration.
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