In 1980, Michel Tournier published a sixth novel which puzzled many a critic: in The Four Wise Men [titled Gaspard, Melchior et Balthazar in French], the travelling writer revisited the Biblical episode of the Nativity by making the Magi the main protagonists of the story. Besides, Tournier flanked them with a fourth companion of his own invention, the Hindu prince Taor, a notable food lover – on a quest for… Turkish delight! – who is also perpetually late. This humorous addition is not the most surprising element of a composite novel that takes various forms (children’s story, philosophical fable, dramatic monologue, metaphysical reflection, etc.) and multiplies into a number of different points of view: those of the Three Wise Men, of course, that of Herod, but also that of the donkey standing in the manger in Bethlehem alongside the ox.
In 2017, responding to a commission from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Spanish-Argentinian composer Fabián Panisello and librettist Gilles Rico took this rich literary material and turned it into a unique musical theatre piece for mezzo-soprano, a six-piece instrumental ensemble, and multimedia. Following Michel Tournier’s own initiative of shortening his novel into an adaptation for young readers, titled Les Rois Mages (The Magi), Rico and Panisello designed their score for an audience of both adults and young children, focusing primarily on making the narrative more accessible.
The libretto therefore closely follows the form of the novel, with clearly defined chapters, and assigns the plot to a solo singer whose task is to adopt sometimes the voice of one of the characters, sometimes the role of a narrator who links the stories together. Panisello gives the mezzo-soprano narrator a wide expressive range, from declamation to lyrical singing, including whispers and sprechgesang (speech-singing). While the dramatic form plays with the timeline of the story through flashbacks and other ellipses, the musical writing is no less inventive. Its playful language, syntax, pulse, and meter, sometimes stopping time in lyrical flights or disturbing it with contrapuntal effects, rhythmic loops, and repeated cells are all typical of the composer’s research. This way of escaping earthly time is perfectly attuned to Tournier’s literary message: for as soon as they follow the comet that has appeared in the sky above them, the Three Wise Men undergo an experience that transcends their human condition and the duration of their existence on Earth. As the donkey said after the newborn arrived in his stable: “Time seemed to have turned into eternity”.
In Tournier’s novel, the comet plays a central role and gives the characters’ quests unexpected dimensions. In Panisello and Rico’s play, the set remains extremely spare, but multimedia technology is integrated to push the boundaries of the stage space and give it the dimensions of the universe. The use of electroacoustics (played in real time or with pre-recorded elements) adds supernatural echoes and unfathomable depth to the sound effects. As for the video system, it projects the viewer’s head into the stars: all of the images that serve as immersive backdrops come from the ESO (European Southern Observatory) Supernova planetarium and have been carefully selected in collaboration with astronomer Mathias Jäger. On these photographs of constellations, galaxies, novae, and supernovae, which give the impression of literally following the comet, animations occasionally show the Three Wise Men, like illustrations straight out of a book of tales and legends. The viewer is invited to journey weightlessly with the characters and musicians, “walking in unison toward the comet that glows brightly in the frosty air”.
Tristan Labouret
