THE VOYAGE
An opera in 3 acts, prologue and epiloge, sung in English, Latin and Spanish
Libretto by David Henry Hwang based on a story by Philip Glass
First production: 12 October 1992 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of America
“The Voyage is an allegory about the spirit of exploration and the dislocation that must occur whenever different cultures clash. What drives people to travel, what are they looking for? Characters from the past and the future give different answers – also the scientist who travels across the universe without ever leaving his wheel chair. Christopher Columbus, stands for all those eternal travelers – Ulysses, Noah, Flaying Dutchman – doomed or destined, alone with his idea on a boat; he is a stand -in for all voyagers, for all those compelled to explore, to question.” – Philip Glass, 1992
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Prologue
A futuristic science laboratory where the heads of the greatest thinkers of all time have been preserved by cryogenesis. As these pose eternal questions about the nature of time and space, a Scientist ponders the idea of exploration. Despite faulty equipment, inadequate bodies, and finite minds, there have always been people who dared to follow where their vision leads.
Act I
Scene 1. A spaceship hurtles out of control toward a solar system. Inside, the Commander complains that nothing on her ship works properly—neither the lights, nor the engines, not even her training, which did not prepare her for this eventuality. As the spaceship plunges closer to Earth, the First Mate punches up an image of the rapidly approaching planet on his computer and describes its life-giving properties—water, oxygen, vegetation, and humanoid forms. Meanwhile, the Second Mate relives his wretched childhood, as the Ship’s Doctor remembers her garden and children at springtime. The spaceship crashes.
Scene 2. Landed on the planet Earth in its infant state of evolution, the spaceship crew witnesses the formation of the first organisms of life.
The Commander gives each crew member one of the ship’s pulsating directional crystals. The crew uses them to enter a trance in which they visualize how humanity will evolve over the centuries.
Scene 3. Alone, the Commander prepares to exit the spacecraft, wondering what fate awaits her: she would have died rather than be bound by boredom. As the gate of the spaceship opens and she steps out, she encounters ape-like hominids, at the transitional evolutionary stage between animal and human.
Thinking she is a fantastic creature, the hominids elect the Commander as their new queen and sweep her up in a ritual.
Interval
Act II
Scene 1. In 1492, Queen Isabella and the Spanish court bid farewell to Columbus as he sets out for the Indies. As the queen gives blessings to the navigator by quoting from Scripture, members of the court promise him titles, wealth, and power. This scene turns out to be…
Scene 2. …something remembered by Columbus on board the Santa María. The First Mate’s voice, calling out the dawn watch, jolts Columbus back to the sordid realities of life at sea. It is the thirty-second day into the voyage, and his men no longer have faith in him or his mission. The awesome solitude seems to crush in on him when he has a vision of Isabella, who reminds him that his dream, before he set out, was so real it could have come only from God.
But, argues Columbus, “As through the expanses of blue I see my own face, and it is old.” Isabella reminds him of Noah’s faithfulness. The explorer further expresses his doubts about “the order of God, and the Turks and Jews we kill in His name.” As the queen appears looking like the Madonna, she calls on the explorer to remember a virgin “who felt in her belly a stirring, and held fast to the faith this was God.”
When Columbus requires a promise that by this expedition he will further the kingdom of God, Isabella, swearing it is so and becoming more clearly a mortal woman, claims to be his queen, his love, his one true God. A bird sings, and the First and Second Mates cry out “Tierra!”.
Interval
Act III
Scene 1. In a space station in a solar system, the Second Mate and the Ship’s Doctor scan various sectors of the universe, searching for the origins of life. At the same time, amateur archaeologists Earth Twins 1 and 2, search for a laboratory on Earth. While hiking in the Andes, one of them heard a low-pitched tone; the other was digging near the Ganges when she heard a high-pitched tone.
As the Earth Twins try to connect with their antennas to follow these signals, the space station’s mega telescope detects them: life forms from distant worlds that have been searching for each other are now finally connected.
Scene 2. The Commander is now the president of a planet where she rules over the man-apes she met in Act I and gives a speech introducing her Crew’s new discovery: the Earth Twins. In a jubilant send-off, various dignitaries and politicians present themselves to the newcomers.
Scene 3. Ready for a new expedition, the Commander, First Mate, Second Mate, and Doctor bids farewell to his or her loved ones. Once again, mankind is off on a voyage of discovery, exploring the unknown.
Epilogue
As the space travellers fade away, Columbus appears on his deathbed. Isabella comes again as a vision to accompany the explorer to the realm, of which she already is a part.
As he accuses the queen of failing to keep her promises, she ridicules his assurance as being the child of pride, his actions in the New World as being guided by Lucifer.
Pondering questions raised by man’s eternal curiosity, Columbus is transported to the stars.
