Скачать или смотреть THE LETTERS OF MADEMOISELLE C. By Dalit Warshaw. II. "The Gates of Hell"

THE LETTERS OF MADEMOISELLE C. (2019)
A semi-staged dramatic song cycle based upon the life and letters of Camille Claudel
Text and music by Dalit Warshaw

Nancy Allen Lundy, soprano
Dalit Warshaw, piano
Beth Greenberg, director

A protégée of Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel (1864 –1943) was among the very few to blaze new pathways for women sculptors and gain recognition, flouting the bourgeois ideals that had determined the proper course of a woman’s life. Claudel was termed a “Woman of Genius,” yet her fall from grace was a disturbing and tragic ending to a young, brilliant career too soon cut short, as she fell into disrepute and ultimately into what her family characterized as madness. In this cycle, Camille Claudel's story is narrated through a series of five musical "letters," each addressed to a different significant figure in the artist’s life. The text is significantly inspired from the words of Camille, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and her brother, the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel.

I. "Ma Chere Amie" (to Jessie Lipscomb, sculptor and friend)
II. "The Gates of Hell" (to Paul Claudel, Camille's brother)
III. "To Rodin, From l'Islette" (to Auguste Rodin)
VI. "The Gorgon" (to Perseus)
V. "From the Ville-Evrard Asylum" (to Madame Claudel, Camille's mother)

Monday June 17, 2019 at & pm at Marc A. Scorca Hall, The National Opera Center.

TEXT:

Chiseling
Ch-chisel

They watch me
Leer at me
Eyes peering
Ogling

They inspect me
Jeer at me
Encircling
Have a look-see
Scrutinizing as they
Sneer
Their faces turning
Turning green
Their gazes, still.

(Chiseling)
They eye me
They spy on me
As they ogle
Ogle me
(Choking me!)
As I chisel, carve and shape
As I chisel, carve and cringe
And recoil from their
Steely, contemptuous stare
As they pray I’ll falter
Pray I’ll fail
As they gossip
As they smirk at me
Don’t acknowledge them
As I chisel, chisel
At the Gates of Hell
(Chiseling, chisel, chiseling)
The Gates of
Gates of
Hell
(Chiseling)

I know that
I disquiet them
Just ignore them as they
Whisper
(Chisel, chiseling)
I see that
I disturb them
That my presence isn’t
Sought, isn’t wanted
That to them I am a
Cipher, I’m
Nil, to be rid of
As I wince from their
Steely glare, as they
Say, “It cannot be a woman’s place to be here!
“This cannot be a woman’s space to strive here!
Never like us – no!
It is not just -- no!”
As they so want to
See me fail
To see me falter
See me flail
To ensure their own validation!
Validation…
(Chiseling, chiseling,
Chisel, chisel)

With innuendos
They tease me!
Leering, taunting
It’s hard, to erase the
Voices,
Voices, from my ears

Oh, why must they so constantly be watching?
How I wish they’d cease from always stalking!
As they eyeball,
As they gawk and goggle
As they so want to see me fail
To see me founder
See me break,
For they can’t stomach
Someone like me
One like me
As we chisel

(Chiseling)
As they are green
Green-eyed
With jealousy.
(Chiseling,
Chiseling
Chisel
Chisel)

[Copyright Dalit Warshaw 2019]