VOCAL AND ORCHESTRAL FORCES
Vocal forces:
Death: soprano
Life: soprano
Putzi (young Franz Liszt): tenor
Devil (Nicollò Paganini): baritone
Orchestral forces:
2 flutes (2nd. also piccolo)
2 oboes
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
1 trombone
timpani
percussion (1 player)
harp
strings
Approximate duration: 72 minutes
Choreographic forces (optional):
Companions of Life and Death:
Death's Chevaliers Servants (2 dancers)
Life's Aide de chambre : (1 dancer)
Maria: dancer
Optional detail:
If production costs allow, a small "court" of assistants can be added to both Life and Death. This allows including a choreography for both "courts" during the appearances of those characters. In the case of the production for the premiere, two “chevaliers servants” were included to accompany Death and an “aide de chambre” to accompany Life.
About the stage setting
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The work requires only three tableaux. The first must hint at an old country road with certain surrealist overtones (Scene 1). The second must recreate Franz Liszt's Parisian apartment, with more or less realism according to the criteria of the set designer, but always with somewhat ghostly nuances (Scenes 2, 3 and 4). The third a similar apartment, this time in Rome (Scene 5). In case production limitations require it, the two apartments can be identical. The production budget of each case will dictate different solutions. The old country road, for example, can be represented in a curtain that covers the Parisian apartment in front, to lift it up and discover the room before starting Scene 2 and leaving this scenery until the end.
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Life's and Death's entrances to the premises of Franz Liszt's apartment must be accompanied by stage or lighting effects that make it possible to delimit the real world (Putzi and Paganini) from the fantastic (Life and Death).
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As far as possible, Life should be tall and slim, with an exaggerated naïve air close to stupidity, while Death should be short and plump, with an almost ridiculous malicious air.