Based on the story by Ray Bradbury
Despite the title of the work, this is really Maria Diaz's story. She carries the emotional weight of the drama, and is a strong-willed, loving, and yet somehow very passive and even world-weary woman.
There is a definite unreal, otherworldly tone to the action of the opera: there are many times when the characters seem to slip out of the real world into a more passive, detached one and then back again. This continual shifting is reflected in the music by the frequent halting rhythmic structure of the vocal lines, particularly in the case of the gravedigger. It is in the two major emotional "poles" of the story, the duet of Scene 3 and the final aria, that the opera's almost incessantly intense nature yields to a more sustained lyrical quality.
There is also a definite religious subtext text to the opera. The strange and fascinating mixture of Catholicism and native religion which is a prominent part of the Mexican culture pervades the opera in ways both obvious and more subliminal. The final scene is imbued with a sense of ceremony, of religious icons, roses, candlelight and gilt-edged shrines, of crowns and cloaks embroidered with stars.
Lawrence Rapchak
Synopsis
Juan Diaz, a poor peasant, dies after a lifetime of failing to provide for his wife Maria and their three children. On his deathbed, he promises to somehow help care for them from beyond the grave.
A year after the death, the malevolent gravedigger Alejandro cheats Maria and unearths the body of her late husband, placing it on display in the catacombs. The loyal and courageous Maria then manages to steal the body and evade the gravedigger's charges of theft. She then places the body on an altar in her home, thus creating a small museum of her own, and charges admission to the tourists who come to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Through her actions she has made it possible for Juan to keep his deathbed pledge by providing income for his family.
The Life Work of Juan Diaz - The Action Takes Place in Guanajuato, Mexico
Preface
Guanajuato, Mexico is located in a mountainous, rocky, very arid part of the country. The conditions are such that a.) the amount of useable ground for burial purposes is very limited and b.) bodies which have been buried and are then exhumed often are mummified.
These conditions result in amost unusual custom: families are required to pay rent on the graves of their loved ones, should the families default on the payments, the bodies are exhumed and, if sufficiently mummified, placed on display in the local catacombs. These "Mummies of Guanajuato" are a well-known tourist attraction, albeit not one for the faint of heart.
|
