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Abelard |
an opera
Historical drama has been the mainspring for opera since Monteverdi’s Orfeo in 1607. Harrison Birtwistle set the same subject, followed by Gawain, an Arthurian legend. Peter Maxwell Davies chose the sixteenth century composer Taverner. Mozart, Verdi, Moussorgsky and a host of other composers have subscribed to the format, some of Britten’s operas joining in the tradition. In choosing the medieval philosopher, Peter Abelard as my subject, I had in mind the timeless implications which his thinking and experiences project.He was a poet, a musician, a teacher and a philosopher who brough reason into philosophical enquiry. As a result he was declared a heretic, and his books were burned. It was the same authoritarian dogma of the Church which made it impossible for Copernicus to publish the scientific evidence of his heliocentric theory three hundred years later and for Galileo to escape a similar fate.
Abelard epitomises the role of creative thinkers throughout the ages who question authority. In our own time the misappropriation of political, scientific and religious concepts has become a global threat. It is such misappropriation in his own time which Abelard questioned. The reasoning he proclaimed is very much needed in today’s world. As a human being he had fallibilities which his enemies exploited; but his celebrated love affair with Heloise adds lustre to a turbulent life, making him a multi-dimensional character for an opera.
© Edwin Roxburgh