Composing for the stage: The music theatre of Carles Santos

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Notes

1. A comment articulated by a BBC commentator responding to La Fura's presentation during the opening night ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games. See Miquel de Moragas and Nancy K. Rivernurgh, ‘Television and Olympic Ceremonies’, Paper presented at the I Simposium Internacional de Ceremonias Olímpicas (Barcelona-Lausanne, 13–18 November 1995), cited in Mercè Saumell, ‘Teatre contemporani de dramatúrgia visual a Catalunya (1960–1992)’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2001), p. 315.

2. Carles Santos, quoted in Albert Mallofré, ‘Carlos Santos hoy sólo toca el piano’, La Vanguardia (14 June 1988), p. 39.

3. John J. MacAloon, ‘Olympic Ceremonies as a Setting for Intercultural Exchange’, Paper presented at the I Simposium Internacional de Ceremonias Olímpicas, cited in Saumell, ‘Teatre contemporani de dramatúrgia visual a Catalunya (1960–1992)’, p. 305.

4. Ric Knowles, Reading the Material Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 181.

5. Dennis Kennedy, ‘Shakespeare and Cultural Tourism’, Theatre Journal, 50:2 (November 1998), 175–188 (p. 175).

6. For further details, see Maria M. Delgado, ‘Other’ Spanish Theatres: Erasure and Inscription on the Twentieth-Century Spanish Stage (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), pp. 182–200, and Miquel Martí i Pol, Emili Teixidor, Lluís Pasqual, Fabià Puigserver, and Francesc Burguet i Ardiaca, Teatre Lliure 1976–1987 (Barcelona: Institut del Teatre/Diputació de Barcelona, 1987).

7. For further details, see ‘Lluís Pasqual’, in Maria M. Delgado and Paul Heritage (eds), In Contact with the Gods?: Directors Talk Theatre (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996), pp. 206–219 (p. 214).

8. For more details, see Delgado, ‘Other’ Spanish Theatres, p. 199.

9. Carles Santos, quoted in Christopher Bowen, ‘Christopher Bowen Witnesses an Operatic Feast in Barcelona’, Scotsman[Magazine supplement] (9 May 1996), p. 18. Significantly, however, Valencia has been keen to ‘appropriate’ him with high profile commissions for the 2001 Biennale – a fanfarria (musical fanfare) composed for 2001 musicians – and the 2003 Biennale – a musical rendition of Aristophanes's Lysistrata (Lisístrata). For further details on these productions, see Empar Marco, ‘La Bienal de Valencia arranca con La Fura y la fanfarria de Carles Santos y 2.001 músicos’, La Vanguardia (12 June 2001), p. 42, and Javier Vallejo, ‘El amor y no la guerra’, El País[Babelia supplement] (7 June 2003), p. 20.

10. See, for example, Marc Lambert, ‘L'esplèndida vergonya del fet mal fet’, The List (23 August–5 September 1996), p. 41, and Mark Fisher, ‘The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner’, Guardian (31 August 2004), p. 18.

11. Lambert, ibid.

12. For further details on his early work, see Maryse Badiou, ‘Carles Santos, veinte años de riesgo’, El Público, 48 (September 1987), 15–17, and Manuel Guerrero (ed.) Carles Santos: Long Live the Piano!, Exhibition Catalogue (Barcelona: Fundació Joan Miró/Generalitat de Catalunya, 2006), pp. 73–160.

13. Carles Santos, quoted in Christopher Bowen, ‘Surrealism as a Way of Life’, Scotsman[Festival insert] (21 August 1996), p. 3.

14. See Ferran Bono, ‘Carles Santos da una vuelta de tuerca a Rossini en Torrent’, El País[Comunidad Valenciana supplement] (23 April 2004), p. 9.

15. See p. 281.

16. For English language introductions to Brossa, see David George, ‘Joan Brossa and the commedia dell'arte’, Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea, 20 (1995), 331–349, and Joan Brossa, Words are Things: Poems, Objects and Installations, Exhibition Catalogue (London: Riverside Studios, 1992). See also Jordi Coca's article, ‘Brossa and the Others’ in this issue of CTR, 446–452.

17. While the Companyia Carles Santos's first production was Arganchulla, Arganchulla Gallac (1987), Santos had been creating music theatre pieces since Minimalet-minimalot.

18. The four productions have toured extensively both within Spain and beyond. L'esplèndida vergonya opened at the Mercat de les Flors before going onto the Hebbel Theatre Berlin in 1995, the Edinburgh International Festival in 1996 and Strasbourg's Music Festival in 1999. La pantera imperial was first seen at Frankfurt's Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in 1997 before securing international performance dates at Berlin's Hebbel Theatre (1999), Milan's Teatro dell'Arte (1999), Lyon's Théâtre National Populaire (1999), the Buenos Aires Festival (1999), Brazil's Filo Londrina (2000), as well as a British tour encompassing the Brighton, Salisbury and Manchester Festivals and Warwick's Arts Centre (1999). Since opening at Barcelona's Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in March 2000, Ricardo i Elena's European engagements have included dates at Paris's Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe (2000), Berlin's Hebbel Theatre (2000), Belfast's Waterfront Hall (2000), Nice's Centre Dramatique National (2001) and Edinburgh's International Festival (2001). El compositor was first seen at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in November 2003, before touring to the Théâtre National de Toulouse (2003), the Edinburgh International Festival (2004), Perpignan's Salle Trenet-Palais des Congres (2005), Naples' Teatro Mercadante (2005) and five Dutch venues (2005).

19. Joyce McMillan, ‘Basque Drama’, Scotland on Sunday[Festival insert] (25 August, 1996), p. 3.

20. Carles Santos, quoted in Luis G. Iberni, ‘Carles Santos estrena el musical Ricardo y Elena. “Es una venganza contra mis padres”’, ABC[El Cultural section] (5 March 2000), 64–66 (p. 65).

25. Carles Santos, cited in Bowen, ‘Surrealism as a Way of Life’, p. 3.

21. McMillan, ‘Basque Drama’, p. 3.

22. Cover to programme for ‘Sama samaruck suck suck. Ópera-circo de Carles Santos en la Nave de Sagunto’, Generalitat Valenciana/Ciudad de las Artes Escénicas, 11–15 September 2002.

23. Marta Cureses, ‘Santos Index’, in Carles Santos, Exhibition Catalogue (Castelló: Espai D'Art Contemporani de Castelló, 1999), pp. 227–235 (p. 227).

24. Carles Santos, cited in Clémence Coconnier, ‘A propósito de Sama samaruck suck suck’, essay in the programme for Sama, samaruck suck suck, pp. 20–24 (p. 23).

26. Carles Santos, ‘In Conversation with Ruth Mackenzie at the Edinburgh International Festival’ (August 1996) [recording held at the Edinburgh International Festival Offices].

27. Carles Santos, quoted in Lambert, ‘L'esplèndida vergonya del fet mal fet’, p. 41.

28. Carles Santos, quoted in Neus Miró, ‘A Conversation with Carles Santos’, in Carles Santos, pp. 241–245 (p. 243).

29. Carles Santos, quoted in Josep Ruvira, ‘The Artistic Dimensions of Carles Santos’, in Carles Santos, pp. 217–226 (p. 227).

30. Carles Santos, ibid., p. 225.

31. Pablo Meléndez-Haddad, ‘Estéril y aplaudida provocación’, ABC (6 November 2003), p. 51.

32. For further details see p. 289.

33. See Miró, ‘A Conversation with Carles Santos', p. 248.

34. See Bowen, ‘Surrealism as a Way of Life’, p. 3.

35. Catherine Lockerbie, ‘Surrealism and Spoof’, Scotsman (24 August 1996), p. 17.

36. For further details on the dismemberment of the piano in Santos's installation art and photographs, see note 45.

37. Twelve of these were a compilation of Rossini's ‘greatest hits’ juxtaposed with lesser-known material from his youth, while six further pieces were compiled by Santos as a homage to the Italian composer.

38. ‘Edinburgh Theatre: The Composer, the Singer…’, The Times (30 August 2004) [unpaginated cutting from Edinburgh International Festival Press Office]. The idea of the drops as a minimalist overture is also tackled by Agustí Fancelli, ‘Una gota de agua’, El País (6 November 2003), p. 39.

39. The term inferno is also used by Joan-Anton Benach when commenting on the opening episode. See, Joan-Anton Benach, ‘Una filigrana desde el corazón de Rossini’, La Vanguardia (6 November 2003), p. 54.

42. Clémence Coconnier, ‘A Drop and Rossini’, essay in the programme for El compositor, la cantant, el cuiner i la pecadora, Edinburgh International Festival, 27–30 August 2004, n.p.

40. Anon., ‘Carles Santos recrea la música de Rossini a partir de una gota de agua’, El País[Comunidad Valenciana supplement] (16 December 2004), p. 6.

41. Bono, ‘Carles Santos da una vuelta de tuerca a Rossini en Torrent’, p. 9.

43. On the maritime imagery of L'esplèndida vergonya, see p. 290.

44. See p. 293 for examples of this in La pantera imperial and p. 297 for examples in L'esplendida vergonya and El compositor.

45. Carles Santos, quoted in Lynne Walker, ‘Bach to the Here and Now’, Herald (12 August 1998), p. 16. The piano was the point of origin for Santos's retrospective, ‘Visca el piano!’ (Long Live the Piano!) at the Fundació Joan Miró between 30 June and 5 November 2006, featuring dismembered, battered and reconfigured pianos collected under the title ‘Pianos intervinguts’ (Tampered Pianos), as well as celluloid prints and images of Santos practising, his Imperial Bösendofer grand piano transferred from his Vinaròs home, and the errant, wandering pianola from La pantera imperial. For further details, see Guerrero (ed.), Carles Santos: Long Live the Piano!, pp. 45–72.

46. See Walker, ‘Bach to the Here and Now’, p. 16.

47. Carles Santos, quoted in Walker, ibid.

48. See Walker, ibid.

49. See Mariaelena Roqué, ‘Going and Coming Back’, in Jaume Maymó (ed.), Mariaelena Roqué desvesteix Carles Santos, Exhibition Catalogue (Barcelona: Institut de Cultura, Museu Tèxtil i d'Indumentària/Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2006), pp. 271–305 (pp. 286–287).

50. Carles Santos, quoted in Bowen, ‘Surrealism as a Way of Life’, p. 3.

51. Mark Fisher, ‘The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner’, Guardian (31 August 2004), p. 18.

52. This is discussed further on p. 297 of this article.

53. Vicente Ponte, ‘The Sounding Body (Regarding Carles Santos)’, in Carles Santos, pp. 235–240 (p. 238).

54. Joan Clos, untitled foreword, in Mariaelena Roqué desvesteix Carles Santos, p. 267.

55. For further details, see Maria M. Delgado, ‘Barcelona's Grec: A Change of Name and a Change of Direction’, Western European Stages, 18:3 (Fall 2006), 85–96 (p. 96).

56. Cited in Richard Osborne, Rossini (London: J.M. Dent, 1993), p. 126. For Santos on the critical mistreatment of Rossini, see Bono, ‘Carles Santos da una vuelta de tuerca a Rossini en Torrent’, p. 9. For further details on this production, see pp. 285–286 of this article.

58. Carles Santos, quoted in Marta Cureses, ‘Santos Index’, in Carles Santos, pp. 227–235 (p. 232). For further details on the gastronomic references in Santos's work, see pp. 285 and 289 of this article.

57. John Peter and Adrian Turpin, ‘The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner’, Sunday Times, 5 September 2004 [unpaginated cutting from Edinburgh International Festival Press Office].

59. Michael Billington, ‘The Splendid Shame of the Deed Badly Done’, Guardian[G2 supplement] (28 August 1996), p. 11.

60. José Miguel G. Cortés, ‘Introduction: Carles Santos in the EACC’, in Carles Santos, pp. 215–217 (p. 216).

61. Quoted in Neus Miró, ‘A Conversation with Carles Santos’, in Carles Santos, pp. 241–245 (p. 241).

62. McMillan, ‘Rossini's Sensory Overload’, Scotsman[S2 supplement] (30 August 2004), p. 4.

63. See also Richard Morrison, ‘Flip your Wig to Crazy Dude Bach’, The Times (1 September 1998), p. 15.

64. See pp. 287–288 for examples of this in La pantera imperial.

65. Cited in Rodney Milne, ‘Variations on an Enigma’, essay in the programme for El compositor, la cantant, el cuiner i la pecadora, Edinburgh International Festival, 27–30 August 2005, n.p.

66. Fisher, ‘The Composer’, p. 18.

67. See Bono, ‘Carles Santos da una vuelta de tuerca a Rossini en Torrent’, p. 9.

68. See Dan Glaistor, ‘It's a Musical Knockout’, Guardian[G2 supplement] (10 August 1998), p. 14.

69. M. J., ‘Fidelidades e infidelidades’, El País (6 March 2005), p. 39.

70. Anon., ‘Carles Santos estrena en el TNC una ópera sentimental en latín sobre la posguerra’, La Vanguardia (11 March 2000), p. 47.

71. Ibid.

72. Carles Santos, quoted in Justo Barranco, ‘Carles Santos prepara para el Nacional Ricardo y Elena, una obra inspirada en su juventud’, La Vanguardia (20 August 1999), p. 42.

73. Santos, cited in Iberni, ‘Carles Santos estrena el musical Ricardo y Elena’, p. 65. It may also provide a link to his 1986 collaboration with Gelabert, Desfigurat, which juggled medieval Gregorian thematics.

74. See T. Monago, ‘El “latín macarrónico” de Carles Santos’, Diario de Sevilla (24 February 2001), p. 52.

75. For further details, see pp. 292–293, 297–299 of this article.

76. Cortés, ‘Introduction: Carles Santos in the EACC’, p. 216.

77. See Sara Sans, ‘Pulso ciudadano. Carles Santos’, La Vanguardia[Vivir en Tarragona supplement] (30 May 2000), p. 2.

78. See R. T., ‘Carles Santos concibe una pequeña ópera en latín y en blanco y negro’, El País (17 November 2000), p. 60.

79. Indeed Lachenmann's ‘thunderous musical style’ has been compared to Santos's. See Glenn Loney, ‘The Edinburgh Festival 2004: Cutting Edges and Dull Blades’, Western European Stages, 16:3 (Fall 2004), 65–70 (p. 69).

80. For further information on Goebbels and Marthaler, see Nicholas Till, ‘Street Fighting Mensch: Heiner Goebbels’, The Wire, 229 (March 2003), 46–60, and Nicholas Till, ‘On the Difficulty of Saying “We”: The unheimliche Heimat in the Music Theatre of Christoph Marthaler’, Contemporary Theatre Review, 15:2 (May 2005), 219–233.

81. This article is developed from an Edinburgh International Festival lecture delivered in 2001. A part of the article was published in an earlier form as ‘Making Music Visible: The Theatrical Work of Carles Santos’, TheatreForum, 20 (Winter/Spring 2002), 3–12. This article has benefited greatly from the feedback received from the anonymous readers who read it for CTR and from the suggestions of David Bradby. Thanks are due also to Aïda Farré and Cococho Abbatangelo at the Companyia Carles Santos and to Carles Santos and Mariaelena Roqué for speaking to me at length about their work in July 2006.