captain walter arnold

Another of the Mallorcan plays, Captain Walter Arnold (1916) offers a brief conversation between intimates, beginning with “Do you mean to please me” and ending with “We dazzle altogether.” A number of names appear, including Polybe, explained in a letter from Stein to Carl Van Vechten: “Polybe was a Mallorcan hound who went crazy in the moonlight and I had to whisper in his ear and spell his name to him.” In the interpretation we developed for SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS, Daniel Thomas Davis’ chamber opera, ME returns home from a shopping expedition and shows V her purchases. A playful argument is followed by an erotic adventure. Meanwhile, THREE, busily sewing at a machine, looks on skeptically.

The recording is ten minutes.

listen read the play

credits:

Composer: Daniel Thomas Davis
Libretto: Adam Frank with the composer
Director/Designer: Doug Fitch
Musical Director: David Bloom
Sound Engineer: Ben Manley
Production Manager: Matt Grey
Photo courtesy of Steven Pisano Photography

Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek as V
Andrew Fuchs as ME
Ariadne Greif as THREE
Joseph Atkins as WE

Dimitri Dover, piano
Momenta Quartet:
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Alex Shiozaki, violin
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Michael Haas, cello

The performance was made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (File 435-2013-1684).
Co-produced by American Opera Projects and Symphony Space.

program notes

Read the program notes accompanying the performance of SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS.

video

Watch Captain Walter Arnold, Act Two of the performance of SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS (begins at 37′).