I: marimba, hammer glockenspiel, 3 Chinese suspended cymbals, 3 tam-tams
(low, medium, high), tarole, 3 bongos, log drum, high maracas, jazzoflute II: vibraphone, set of tubular bells, metal block, 2 m’tumbas, 4 bongos (or Saharan drums), guiro, jazzoflute III: xylomarimba, cowbells, 2 tam-tams, 3 suspended cymbals, low tom, snare drum, 4 temple blocks, low maracas, rattle, jazzoflute IV: vibraphone, 3 gongs, 3 cymbals placed on felt, Berber crotales, 6 woodblocks, bass drum, maracas, rattle, jazzoflute V: cowbells, 3 gongs, 3 tom-toms, pedal kettledrum, 2 bongos (or Saharan drums), triangle, claves, jazzoflute ! Publisher: Jobert, 1972. ‘This title Autodafé suggests the fate in store for a series of “historic words”, ideological sentences or other, forming the text’s framework without chronological order. Their derision or the imposture of which they have sometimes become the expression, with the help of time, find their end in the fire of sound that threatens them and finally engulfs them, leaving nothing in conclusion but an enigmatic verse from Shakespeare: “Death once dead, there's no more dying then”.’ ‘Sounds, by their essence, are incapable of expressing anything. But they can direct the listener’s consciousness towards a certain aspect of things by forming in him a kind of imaginary theatre, simply with the title or a fragmentary text that is found in the music. This is what justifies, for example, opera as an essential genre of music. Because here, music fully plays its social role, i.e., it can act on the conscience of its contemporaries and awaken them to a certain way of thinking.’
TROIS CONTES DE L’HONORABLE FLEUR (no. 83)
Playing time: 58’ (Prologue: 4’30”; I: 18’; II: 17’; III: 18’30”) Chamber opera. Tales invented by Maurice Ohana, written up by Odile Marcel I-Ogre mangeant des jeunes femmes sous la lune; II-Le Vent d’est enfermé dans un sac; III-La Pluie remontée au ciel " Forces: soprano solo, instrumental ensemble 1.1.1.1, 0.1.1.0, percussion (1 or 2 performers), cithara in thirds of tones, piano, cello Percussion instruments: I (in the orchestra): vibraphone, xylomarimba, crotales, 1 sizzle cymbal (high), 3 Chinese suspended cymbals, 1 cymbal on felt, 2 Chinese gongs, 2 tam-tams (medium, low), 1 petite side drum (high), 2 Saharan drums (bongos if lacking), 2 m’tumbas, 3 tom-toms (low, medium, high), 1 double-bass tom (bass drum if lacking), 1 tambourine, 2 Japanese blocks struck together, 3 temple blocks, 3 woodblocks, 1 guiro, 3 pairs of maracas II (on stage): 2 Saharan drums or bongos (low, medium), 2 tom-toms, 2 m’tumbas, 1 medium pedal kettledrum (B flat), 1 posed low cymbal, 1 posed high cymbal, 1 medium tam-tam, 1 suspended Chinese gong ! Publisher: Jobert, 1978.