Andris Dzenītis is one of the most talented, multi-faceted and internationally successful new Latvian composers. The main character of his new opera is an archetypal hero forever searching for the end of the horizon, walking a path that forever runs through ecstasy and catastrophe. In this take on the story, Dauka is no longer a naive child, but an adult, who leaves materialistic society behind only to be met with unsurpassable resistance in his challenging adventures in the vast spirit world. Poet Kārlis Vērdiņš’ libreto is based on the classic children’s tale by Sudrabu Edžus, interweaving modern timbral and textural discoveries with a viscerally Latvian feeling.
Synopsis
Act I
Dauka questions his mother, a widow of a fisherman, about the point in the sea where the land meets the sky. He doesn’t receive clear answers and decides to look for himself.
He secretly takes the boat of his neighbour, Zvīnis, and heads out to sea, but it’s already getting dark. Dauka is saved by the old fisherman Andža. On their way back, Andža tells a story about a king’s son who once learned the truth and, unable to stand it, jumped from a tower. Back on shore, Dauka’s guardian and Zvīnis are waiting for him and accuse the boy of stealing the boat. They give him a beating.
Dauka has started to attend the local school under instruction of a lame teacher and interrupts an alphabet lesson with his questions about the world. The angry teacher gives him a beating with a goat leg. Ridiculed by other students, Dauka is sent to the kitchen to peel potatoes.
Before the service at the local church, Dauka goes to the pastor’s vestry to learn about the origins of Earth. The pastor says that God created Earth and everything on it. Dauka is enraptured by the power of God.
Act II
In summer, Dauka is catching crayfish by the river when he meets the daughter of a German baron. He wants to befriend her. However, the girl’s governess does not allow them to speak because it’s inappropriate for a future baroness to associate with a serf.
Dauka arrives at the local German school. He wants the teacher to show him how the Earth revolves around the Sun. The teacher asks about the existence of God. The students tell Dauka about black holes, which are so strong that they can absorb the land and sky. Dauka wants to go to study at the great schools to fight with the black holes.
The following year, in early spring, Dauka returns home to his mother after months spent as a tailor’s apprentice. He brings an entire bag with underpants he’s sewn. His guardian and Zvīnis are pleased that he learned a trade, and predict a great future for him as a tailor of undergarments. But Dauka rejects this idea, and wants to go to study in the great schools. His guardian and Zvīnis make fun of him, and Dauka leaves the house.
After leaving home, Dauka runs across the ice into the sea and goes forth, hoping to finally see the place where the land meets the sky – after all his searching, he’s wholly determined to finally learn the truth.
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