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Act I,1 – Symposium Yama & the Shrink; Symposium The Mystes & The Dakini. [Upon request]
Act I,2 – El Duende & La Quintina. The Polarities. [Upon request]
Act I,3 – The Hermaphrodite & the Robot. Gender & Artificial Intelligence. [Upon request]
Theoretical and methodological annotations
Arie of Death & Rebirth
∞
As one of the structural elements of the Libretto, this group of 12 Aria/e are articulated along a thematic crescendo towards “Death & Rebirth,” personifying the gradual transmutation from a state of consciousness into the next, heading to Light, out of the Cave. They overlap some nodal points at the Intersection of the diverse planes of the narrative when this passage occurs, and more than one of them could be present in a scene, functional to the unfolding dramatic plot structure. Light is here represented by Death, Darkens by Life, in antinomic tragic fashion.
On the sub-narrative, the Soprano and the Tenor voice parts embody the two main energetic patterns, the polarities, co-protagonists in the enfolding narration. The other 5 voices (mezzo, alto, counter-tenor, baritone, and bass.), articulate their distinctive frequencies in recitativo. The whole range of the 7 audible human voices makes up a textured pattern in the discursive mode within the music field, each correlated to the corresponding 7 tiers of the evolution of consciousness with their relevant consonant chakra fields[1]. The Tenor[2] and Soprano[3] voices are respectively at the Heart (4th chakra, Act IV) and at the Creative centres (7th chakra), in mimesis, ‘miming’ the kundalini[4] structure.
Recitativo and Parlato disclose Comedia: humoristic, irreverent, impertinent and impious: licentious gopi[5] in iconic stance, Semar and the punokawan in wayang cloths, kyôgen in Noh attire, Commedia masks, and all other homologues prototypes in their traditional theatrical renderings. Logoi[6]. The Chorus, the third integral part of the telling, intones the Hologram’s character in overtones, the subtle aspect of reality, responsive, modulating the higher spectrum above the soprano.
Here Tragedy and Comedy hinge in needlepoint across the diverse planes of manifestation on the Matrix in which the operatic action takes place. As the tragic-comedy narrative of life unfolds to culminate and meet at the epitome of the Royal Couple, Cavatina & Cabaletta in fast and slow pace, move the visual-acoustic interaction beyond the established diachronic relations, while, in diegetic-mimetic function, Recitativo & Aria transmute into a bright new whole.
The multimodal experience of the nonlinear orientation of the meta-narrative embraces myth, symbol and metaphor, and all other axial references in a holistic manner. Breaking ground in the formal operatic language, it advances theory & praxis of both stage aesthetic discourse and its fruition into a fresh noetic-experiential level.
Upon request.
[1] In Hindustani and Carnatic music notation [equivalent to the Western Ionian mode or major scale] each note (swear, Skt: स्वर, from the root sir, “to sound”) stimulates by resonance a specific energetic field (chakra) located along the spine of the human subtle body. The sounds/notes/swears — at times also used in meditation and in healing practices — are related to the 7 corresponding phases/stages of the evolution of consciousness typified as the ascending of the kundalini [4] and, to this effect, to the 7 stage of consciousness, civilisations, stage of the Self, to the seven cultural-thematic areas and to the operatic voices (basso > soprano).
In ascending order, the 7 swaras, their related chakras, the operatic voices, the stages of evolutionary consciousness / Self / realms, and the concentric colours of the floor of the venue Dome, starting at the ‘red’ a entrance and ending at ‘violet’ at the centre, where sits the golden Cube, are:
SA [C/do], shadja (षड्ज), 65.41Hz 1st ~ Muladhara (root) – yin [-]; red Bass (male) Material
RE [D/re], rishabh (ऋषभ), 73.42Hz 2nd ~ Swadhishthana (pelvis) – yin [-]; orange Baritone (male) Vegetal
GA [E/mi], gandhar (गान्धार), 82.41Hz 3rd ~ Manipura (solar plexus) – yang [+]; yellow Tenor (male) Animal
MA [F/fa], madhyam (मध्यम), 87.31Hz 4th ~ Anahata (heart) – yang [+]; green Countertenor (male/female) Human
PA [G/sol], pancham (पञ्चम), 98.00Hz 5th ~ Vishuddhi (throat) – yang [+]; blue Contralto (female) Collective
DHA [A/la], dhaivat (धैवत), 110.00Hz 6th ~ Ajna (third eye). yin [-]; indigo Mezzo-soprano (female) Compassionate
NI [B/si], niched (निषाद), 123.47Hz 7th ~ Sahasrara (back of head) – yin [-]; violet Soprano (female) Creative
Within this context, yet out of the scope of these brief notes, a particular attention should be drawn on the harmonics/overtones deep influence upon chakras’ functionality.
[2] Human hearing ranges nominally from 20Hz to 20KHz. The base of the American Standard Pitch sets the note A4 at 440Hz as a base, or tuning frequency. In scientific pitch notation, the tenor voice ranges from one octave below middle C to one octave above middle C, (C3-C5; 131-523Hz, with the main tessitura in middle C (C4– 261Hz); and with its low extreme roughly at B♭2, the second B-flat below middle C.
[3] The Soprano voice ranges from middle C to high A (C4– A5; 261-880Hz in choral music, and to C6, two octaves above middle C, at 1046Hz, or higher in operatic music. The other voice ranges are: Mezzo-soprano A3 – A5 (110-880 Hz); Contralto: F3 – E5 (175-698 Hz); Countertenor: Contralto or Mezzo-Soprano range; Baritone: F2 – F4 (87-349 Hz); Bass: F2 – E4 (87-330 Hz) with harmonics to 12KHz.
[4] The kundalini (Skt: कुण्डलिनी, “coiled one”) is a form of primal life force energy (shakti, pranic energy, chi, bio-energy) that identifies the arising of consciousness and that has been coiled at the base of the spine since birth. Different spiritual traditions maintain methods of “awakening” kundalini for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment, but it may unravel and arise also due to aesthetical experience (rasa), or in response to life events, uncoiling gradually like a snake, or quickly and explosively into the chakras.
[5] Gopika (fem. of gopi, Skt. गोपी, from gopala, a person in charge of a herd of cows) is the most common name used in Hindu Vaishnava theology to refer to the unconditional devotion (bhakti) to Krishna of a group of cow herding girls as described in Puranic literatures. One gopika known as Radha holds a place of high reverence and importance in a number of such traditions.
[6] According to Maximum the Confessor’s cosmology (c. 580 AD), the logoi are the divine acts of Will eternally conceived by Logos, the centre of all the logoi, but only expressed at the moment of creation, and by which the cosmos is manifested. The logoi are the principles behind procession (creation; expansion) and conversion (destruction; contraction), the metaphysical ontological binary structure of created being, especially of rational nature, i.e. humans. The concept is analogous to the cabalistic emanation from Ein Sof of the 22 sacred letters of the Aleph-Bet; it is found in Thales’ Metaphysics (c. 624 BC), and in both Ibn Sina [Avicenna] (980 AD) and Suhrawardi (1154 AD) angelology, to name a few.
