Tales of the henpecked husband and other such birds

How do you deal with a nagging wife? Some would say to there are only a few responses suitable to the situation, “Yes dear” and “I’m sorry dear.” Others would say to lavish her with praise and make her think you are listening. Yet others would say there really is no solution to the problem except perhaps to not get married in the first place. In “A Water Bird Talk” our male archetype finds another way to cope with his woes. He talks about birds! In a clever twist of phrase our darling lecturer takes advantage of his captive audience to recount the woes of his unlucky life, or perhaps his unlucky choice of wife. His lecture on birds soon turns in to the feverish soliloquy of the henpecked husband. As he describes the peculiar habits of the birds they become hilarious metaphors for his own life.

The composer Dominick Argento, now in his 80’s, is generally regarded as America’s preeminent living composer of lyric opera. He is particularly well-known for sensitive settings of complex, sophisticated texts as in his song cycle in “From the Diary of Virginia Woolf.” In “A Water Bird Talk” Argento incorporates material from the Russian author Anton Chekhov as well as passages from John James Audubon’s book The Birds of America. He calls this particular opera a monodrama as there is only one character singing.

Dominick Argento once said in a radio interview “My interest is people. I am committed to working with characters, feelings, and emotions.” Perhaps it is this commitment that allows us to relate so freely to the unlucky husband. Argento tells the story of real people in real situations. In fact, it is something many men can relate to today despite the time disparity.

Argento’s commitment to character, feeling, and emotion can also be felt in the instrumentation of the piece. Specific instruments are chosen to represent each of the birds and in turn the feeling our lecturer is trying to portray. For example the oboe and chimes are used to represent the pied-billed grebe that in turn represents the lowest form of bird life or the henpecked husband.

With the creative composition and light-hearted portrayal of the unfortunate husband this opera is sure to make you laugh.

A Water Bird Talk
Ardean Watts Contemporary Chamber Series at Westminster
September 24 & 25, 2008
Buy Tickets Online >>