Jake Landau

Pietà

$120.00

Duration: 75'

Instrumentation: An opera in one act for chamber orchestra

Performance Materials: Full Performance Score
Delivery Method: Physical Copy

Pietà
Music by Jake Landau (2021) 75'
Libretto by Jake Landau and Andrea DelGiudice
an opera in one act for chamber orchestra

Against the dark, sinful city of 18th-century Venice, the Ospedale della Pietà (a real historical institution) glows with hope, humor, and music. The Pietà is an orphanage that takes girls off the street and trains them to sing and play instruments, forming one of Europe’s most elite orchestras of the day. Daughters of the Pietà (figlie) always perform from behind an impenetrable lattice, hidden from their audiences for propriety’s sake. Though they are cared for there, the figlie are kept under strict lock and key.

Outside the walls, the institution’s wealthy padroni, Ugo and Editta, have raised teenage Giorgio as their adopted grandson. When Giorgio falls in love with a figlia named Genovieffa and takes her home to meet his grandparents, long-repressed family secrets rush to the surface. Editta, revealed to be a former figlia who will eventually become Suor Angelica’s La Zia Principessa, sees in Genovieffa a chance to fight her way out from years of shame over what she once did to her young niece Angelica—Giorgio’s mother. But will Editta be able to face down the truth of her trauma and have mercy on herself, even as the past begins to repeat itself?

Commissioned by The Narnia Festival, as part of Landau's Composer-in-Residency

Instrumentation: Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn trumpet, timpani, percusison 1-2, piano, strings, cast

Performance parts are available via rental.

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139-008-FS
Performance Materials: Full Performance Score
Delivery Method: Physical Copy

About the Work

Duration: 75'

Instrumentation: An opera in one act for chamber orchestra

Commissioned by: Commissioned by The Narnia Festival, as part of Landau's Composer-in-Residency

Against the dark, sinful city of 18th-century Venice, the Ospedale della Pietà (a real historical institution) glows with hope, humor, and music. The Pietà is an orphanage that takes girls off the street and trains them to sing and play instruments, forming one of Europe’s most elite orchestras of the day. Daughters of the Pietà (figlie) always perform from behind an impenetrable lattice, hidden from their audiences for propriety’s sake. Though they are cared for there, the figlie are kept under strict lock and key. Outside the walls, the institution’s wealthy padroni, Ugo and Editta, have raised teenage Giorgio as their adopted grandson. When Giorgio falls in love with a figlia named Genovieffa and takes her home to meet his grandparents, long-repressed family secrets rush to the surface. Editta, revealed to be a former figlia who will eventually become Suor Angelica’s La Zia Principessa, sees in Genovieffa a chance to fight her way out from years of shame over what she once did to her young niece Angelica—Giorgio’s mother. But will Editta be able to face down the truth of her trauma and have mercy on herself, even as the past begins to repeat itself?

Pages: 307