MEDIATHEK

YousaidShesaidHesaid is a new operatic monodrama that juxtaposes modern perspectives with Schubert’s masterpiece song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin. Written to be performed in rep with the classic work, YousaidShesaidHesaid traces the same timeline as Schubert’s work, but from the experience of the other character in the story, who until now has historically had no voice – the “girl of the mill” herself. Composed for a single female voice and the same period instrument used in Die schöne Müllerin, the new work will also incorporate electro-acoustic elements and use sampling, live processing, and other digital technology. This modern score will similarly be reflected in the libretto through textual connections, distortions, and repeated echoes.

Composer Molly Joyce and librettist Christopher Oscar Peña will collaborate to create a parallel monodrama, tracing the same timeline as Schubert’s work, but from the experience of the other character in the story, who until now has historically had no voice – the “girl of the mill” herself. Written for a single female voice and the same period instrument used in Die schöne Müllerin, the new work will also incorporate electro-acoustic elements and use sampling, live processing, and other digital technology.

These reflections, distortions, and repeated echoes will similarly be reflected in the text by Mr. Peña, and will ask the dramatic question that has existed since Wilhelm Müller wrote the text of Schubert’s original: just how does this mill-girl feel about all this fuss, anyway? This new work will provide a dramatic and musical juxtaposition that will deepen our understanding of Schubert’s work and its relevance to our time, while remaining exciting and complete in its own right.