The King Goes Forth to France 1986

Synopsis
Artists

England is revealed amidst the throes of a second Ice Age…

…in this stirring, allegorical epic. Sallinen’s lyric and majestic score is enthralling.

Music By

Aulis Sallinen

Libretto By

Paavo Haavikko

English Translation By

Stephen Oliver and Erkki Arni

Act I

Prologue. The English Court. A garden in May. The Guide and Chorus paint a picture of England overwhelmed by a new Ice Age. The Prime Minister feels that it is time for the Prince to choose himself a wife, and he has brought along four young ladies for the purpose – two Carolines and two Annes.

Scene 1: The Nice Caroline, The Caroline with the Thick Mane, The Anne Who Steals and The Anne Who Strips introduce themselves. They find themselves at the same place at the same time for the same duty: one of them is to become the wife of the Prince.

Scene 2: The Prince decides to assume power. He has decided to abandon England and to march across the Channel, followed by his people and army. He will take along all four ladies as well as Parliament which is a great cannon. He decrees that the Prime Minister’s office shall be hereditary.

Scene 3: The four ladies prepare to leave England. The Caroline with the Thick Mane thinks that the departure is solely in preparation for her wedding to the Prince. The Nice Caroline urges the others to humor The Caroline with the Thick Mane.

Scene 4: The English coast. The Guide announces the completion of a bridge; the Channel is girded by ice strong enough to carry an army. Sadly the ladies leave their country as it is being submerged in ice.

On the long march across the Channel the Prince and the Prime Minister become good friends, in the sense that the Prime Minister becomes the Prince’s friend; the Prince, the Prime Minister’s King.

Act II

Scene 5: The French coast. In the garden of her own imagination, The Caroline with the Thick Mane waits for the King to come to her for their wedding. She feels it is self-evident that she will be the new Queen. The other ladies sing to her; the songs contain ill-concealed sarcasm and erotic overtones. At that very moment, the King is being married elsewhere to a German princess. The Nice Caroline, The Anne Who Steals and The Anne Who Strips comfort The Caroline with the Thick Mane.

Scene 6: On the march through northern France, the Prime Minister deplores the King’s adventurist policy. He has also noticed that the army follows the route once taken by old King Edward six hundred years ago; he fears that the army will come to Crecy and that another war will last a hundred years. He also criticizes the King’s economic policy, for in order to finance his expedition, the King has pawned not only his own crown, but the Queen as well. The King tells the Prime Minister about the most peculiar creature roaming in the forest: an allied army, always blundering to destruction. And here they are, the French King’s allies: the blind King of Bohemia and an army of mercenary Genoese crossbowmen. They are marching towards Crecy, singing as they march.

Scene 7: The Battle of Crecy. The King is up in the windmill, looking out; the Prime Minister is down below, making notes. The battle is complex and confused. As it progresses, the French King orders the slaughter of the Genoese crossbowmen he himself had employed, because they are suddenly in his way. The French are struggling without result; their gunfire is answered by the great cannon Parliament, fired by the Prime Minister. The English win.

Scene 8: The King of Bohemia and the crossbowmen march away from the battle, all dead; now they want to get to Paris.

One English archer, drunk with wine and victory, brings in a French prisoner he has captured to show to the King. Hoping for a ransom, he tells the four ladies to look after the prisoner well.

The Prime Minister thinks that the army should march straight towards Paris. But the King orders instead to march north to the great fortress of Calais.

Act III

Scene 9: Encampment outside in the autumn. The siege has begun. The English Archer demands his discharge from the King; he wants to leave the army and go to Paris for the Winter. The King orders the man’s back to be flayed, so that his discharge can be written on his own skin. When the Archer wants to retract, the King orders his ears to be cut off and threatens that his tongue will be cut out if he still insists on retracting his demand for discharge.

Scene 10: The Caroline with the Thick Mane is tending the maimed Archer, but rejects his advances in disgust. The hard times have overwhelmed The Caroline with the Thick Mane’s mind; she has slid ever deeper into a dream world of her own fantasies.

Scene 11: Morning. The Nice Caroline has appeared in the King’s dream; it is a sign of the King’s increasing interest in her.

In the night, the Archer has been shackled to The Caroline with the Thick Mane on the King’s orders. Thus he has become the maimed guardian of the girl with a maimed mind.

The Anne Who Steals and The Anne Who Strips quarrel, and the King flies into a rage. Together the ladies try to placate the King.

The Nice Caroline explains about the woman’s role as the giver of birth and continuing life.

Scene 12: The Young Prime Minister introduces himself; he has inherited his office upon his father’s death. He presents his secretary Froissart who will chronicle the events of the time.

The Guide appeals to the King for mercy on the wretched people of Calais who have been driven out of the city into the moat, and are now starving there. The King promises to spare them and the town if six of its mightiest burghers plead for mercy.

Scene 13: The ladies dress themselves hurriedly for the Queen’s arrival. Just enough money has been collected to free her from pawn for this one day, the King’s birthday.

The Queen arrives. The Guide announces that the city of Calais wishes to surrender. Six Burghers of Calais beg mercy for themselves and accuse the peasantry of treachery and cruelty. As proof of this, they show the King the English Archer’s earless head.

The King orders the Burghers killed, then decides to spare their lives and orders them to become members of the War Tribunal. He explains that this war has three objectives: to conquer Paris, to capture and condemn the King of France, and finally to march south to meet the new wine. The King tells The Nice Caroline he loves her and wishes to go with her towards the Spring.

When asked the reasons for imprisoning the King of France, the King declares he has broken the laws of war since he attacked in the rain. The King orders the War Tribunal to decree that the skin be flayed off the French King’s back. The English Archer praises the King for his righteous judgement.

The order is given to begin the march towards Paris – man’s eternal journey. The travelers hear the wings of great birds – the sound of summer – as the cranes are flying towards the northern lands. A storm breaks. As the crowd sets off, the King orders Froissart to forget his – the King’s – part in History, for he had not made himself. He had been made by Time.

The King Goes Forth to France 1986

Synopsis

Act I

Act II

Act III

Artists

Mikael Melbye

Mikael Melbye

James Ramlet

James Ramlet

Jerold Norman

Jerold Norman

Stephanie Sundine

Stephanie Sundine

Emily Golden

Emily Golden

Melanie Helton

Melanie Helton

Joyce Castle

Joyce Castle

Sally Wolf

Sally Wolf

David Garrison

David Garrison

Robert Galbraith

Robert Galbraith

Chandler Cudlipp

Chandler Cudlipp

James Hay

James Hay

David Rice

David Rice

Mark E. Cummings

Mark E. Cummings

Henry Runey

Henry Runey

Robert Remington

Robert Remington

Richard Buckley

Richard Buckley

Alfred Kirchner

Alfred Kirchner

John Conklin

John Conklin

Craig Miller

Craig Miller

Gary Wedow

Gary Wedow

The King Goes Forth to France 1986