Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason
ChaplinOperas
© Photo : Collection Les Cahiers du cinéma ©
Benedict Mason
ChaplinOperas (1988-1990)
Libretto by Benedict Mason
for three silent Charlie Chaplin films from 1917
Easy Street, The Immigrant, The Adventurer
Della Jones, mezzo-soprano
Richard Suart, baryton
Ensemble intercontemporain
Conductor, Johannes Kalitzke
Coproduction Cité de la musique, Ensemble intercontemporain
Festival d’Automne à Paris
With the Sacem support
Asked by the Ensemble Modern to compose a score for the 100th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s birth in 1989, Benedict Mason came up with an « invisible » opera. His challenge was to combine music and cinema in a way that would make three of Chaplin’s silent films from 1917 compelling to modern audiences. His recipe calls for sung (or musically rendered) snippets of text from the films, proverbs, and a creative use of percussion instruments.