Brothers Grimm - Canadian Opera Company
TheBrothersGrimmDEAN BURRYSTUDY GUIDEcoc.ca/Explore
Table of ContentsWelcome. 3Opera 101. 3How a School Tour Opera is Created. 4Voice Types. 6Characters and Story. 7Meet the Composer and Librettist. 8The Real Brothers Grimm. 9A Glossary of Terms. 10Meet the Cast and Crew. 11What to Look for. 15Classroom Activities for Kindergarten to Grade 6. 17Classroom Activities for Kindergarten to Grade 2. 20Classroom Activities for Grades 3 and 4. 22Classroom Activities for Grades 5 and 6. 25Credits. 27Cover: Shannon Mercer and Andrea Ludwig in the Canadian Opera Company’s The Brothers Grimm (2002). Photo: John M. CurridBelow: A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s The Brothers Grimm (2012). Photo: Chris Hutcheson2Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014coc.caThe Brothers Grimm Study Guide
WelcomeOpera 101Dear Educators,WHAT IS OPERA?Opera is a living, breathing art form. It’s for anyone,anywhere.The term “opera” comes from the Italian word for “work”or “piece,” and it is usually applied to the Europeantradition of opera. Opera is a story told through music,drama and design. Musical equivalents to European operacan be found in Japan, at the Peking Opera in China, andin Africa where it is called Epic Storytelling. The COCpresents works in the western European tradition.So it’s a good thing the Canadian Opera Company’s 2013Glencore Ensemble Studio School Tour is once againbursting out of the opera house to bring incredible singing,gripping drama and magical sets and costumes to yourschools and communities. Every year over 15,000 studentsin southern Ontario and beyond are treated to some of thebest young singers, directors and musicians this countryhas to offer. It is our mandate to create opera of the highestquality and many of our school tour performers have goneon to grace the stages of the world’s major opera houses.The COC commissioned The Brothers Grimm in 1999,and it has proved to be our most successful touring opera.The fascinating real-life story of Grimm brothers Jacoband Wilhelm unfolds alongside the delightful, mysteriousfairy tales they collected, featuring the beautiful butsad Rapunzel, the spunky Little Red Cap and the impishRumpelstiltskin. Magical singing and acting is certainto enchant your audience from “once upon a time” to“happily ever after!”The COC has created this Study Guide to serve as thestarting point for your own operatic experience. A briefhistory of the opera, synopsis and what to look for in thevisual design elements of the production will deepenthe experience while teacher-created lesson plans willhelp connect the opera to the larger worlds of music,expression, literature and imagination.HISTORY OF OPERA – IN TWO MINUTESOR LESS!Opera started in the late 16th century in Florence, Italy,at the beginning of the Baroque period of music. The firstopera composers took many of their ideas from the ancientGreeks, who combined music and drama to tell a storymore effectively. The Greeks also used a chorus to furtherthe plot and comment on the action of the story.Early operas recreated Greek tragedies with mythologicalthemes. During the 17th and 18th centuries, opera usedmany different stories: some serious (called opera seria)and some light-hearted (called opera buffa). Since then,operas have been written on a wide variety of topics suchas cultural clashes (Madama Butterfly), comedic farce (TheBarber of Seville), politicians on foreign visits (Nixon inChina), the celebration of Canadian heroes (Louis Riel),and children’s stories (The Little Prince).You probably know more about opera than you realize, asmusic from Bizet’s Carmen, Rossini’s The Barber of Sevilleand Verdi’s Rigoletto (to name just a few) are featured incountless movies, cartoons and television commercials.Vanessa SmithSchool Programs ManagerCanadian Opera CompanyWondering how to explainwhat opera is to yourstudents? See Introductionto Opera activity onpage 17.Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014coc.caThe Brothers Grimm Study Guide3
How a School Tour Opera is CreatedSTORYSomeone(usually a librettistor composer) finds anexciting story they thinkwould make a good opera– the story can be fromhistory, myths, fairy talesor real life.Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm(Their stories inspired an opera!)LIBRETTISTTakes the basic storyand writes it into a scriptlike a play, known as a libretto,with characters, scenes and stagedirections.COMPOSERUsing the libretto, the composer writesthe music in a way that best tells thestory. The final combination ofmusic and libretto is calledthe score.Dean Burry(Composer/Librettist)STAGE DIRECTORReads and studies the scoreand creates a concept of how to putthe opera on stage. Asks the designer,actors and music director to help supportthat concept.Liza Balkan(Stage Director)4DESIGNERStudies the stage director’s concept andworks with the director on a look for theproduction. With the help of builders,the designer creates costumes, propsand a set. In big productionsthere will be more than onedesigner.Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014coc.caKevin McAllister(Set and Costume Designer)The Brothers Grimm Study Guide
MUSICDIRECTORTeaches the cast how to singthe music and plays the pianofor performances. In larger operas,the piano is replaced by a full orchestra,which is led by the conductor.Timothy Cheung(Music Director)STAGE MANAGERHelps the stage director manage therehearsals and performers. She or he writesdown where people and sets move in theopera. Manages all performances oncethe stage director is finished withthe rehearsal process.Michael Barrs(Stage Manager)CASTA group ofsingers act out theroles of the opera with thehelp of the music director,director and stage manager.The cast are the people yousee when enjoying anopera.CharlotteBurrage(Frau Viehmann)Owen McCausland(Wilhelm Grimm)DanielleMacMillan(Dortchen Wild)Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014Neil Craighead(Brentano/ColonelKrause)Cameron McPhail(Jacob Grimm)coc.caAviva Fortunata(Frau Viehmann)Andrew Haji(Wilhelm Grimm)AUDIENCEWhat would ashow be without anaudience? Performingin front of an audienceis what makes allthe hard workworth it!The Brothers Grimm Study Guide5
Voice TypesJustas eachperson’s speakingvoice has a certainrange and sound,each singer’s voice fallswithin a certain range andpossesses a unique tone orquality. In the same way thatno two people are physicallyidentical, no two voicessound the same. There isa tremendous varietywithin each vocalrange.FEMALE VOICESMALE VOICESSoprano: The soprano is thehighest of the female voices. Someare able to sing very high notesand skip through rapid passageswith ease (coloratura soprano).Others specialize in singingwith great intensity and power(dramatic soprano). Still othershave voices of exceptional beautythat can sustain long melodies(lyric soprano). Sopranos tendto play the heroines (lead femalecharacters) in opera. IsabelBayrakdarian is a well-knownCanadian soprano. Click here towatch her perform!Countertenor: A countertenor is afalsetto male voice with a very highregister, so much so, that at firsthearing he can sound similar to afemale operatic voice. Daniel Tayloris a famous Canadian countertenor.To listen to him perform, click here.Mezzo-soprano: These are lowerfemale voices. Mezzo-sopranoshave a darker sound and can reachlow notes beneath the range of asoprano. Mezzo-sopranos oftensing the roles of mothers, witches,confidantes, or even young malecharacters. Allyson McHardy is anotable Canadian mezzo-sopranoand you can watch her by clickinghere.Contralto: This is the lowestfemale voice. This voice type isoften written for a very strongcharacter, such as a goddess.Canadian Marie-Nicole Lemieux isa famous contralto. Click here tosee her in performance.6Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014coc.caTenor: The tenors are the highermale voices, and like the soprano,cover a wide variety of vocalcolours. Ramón Vargas is anexample of a “lyric tenor” with hisability to soar through melodies,while Canadian Ben Heppnerexemplifies the darker-huedintensity of the “dramatic tenor.”They often play the hero. MichaelSchade is a Canadian tenor, famousfor his mastery of many Mozartroles. Click here to hear him.Baritone: These are the middlemale voices. Composers onlybegan to write for this range inthe 19th century. As with all theranges, there are a number oftypes of baritones. Russell Braunis one of the world’s leading lyricbaritones. Click here to see him inperformance. Many baritones haveextremely flexible wide-rangingvoices. They play the villains, fools,friends, fathers and other characterparts.Bass: The lowest of all voicetypes, the bass has a rich soundparticularly suited to the wiser,older or evil characters in opera.Composers often challenge bassesby writing notes at the extreme lowend of their range. Robert Gleadowis a well-known Canadian bass.Click here to hear him.The Brothers Grimm Study Guide
Characters and StoryCHARACTERSCharacterWilhelm GrimmJacob GrimmBrentano/Colonel KrauseDortchen WildFrau oSopranoSYNOPSISOn a typical day in Kassel, Germany in the 1800s, thebrothers Grimm are working together researching wordsto include in a dictionary. Brentano, who is a poet andscholar himself, interrupts them and sets them a task.He would like them to write a book for him of commontales, like the ones that people tell around a fire. Sincethe Grimm brothers do not have a background in writingstories, they ask their friends if they know of any tales.Dortchen Wild, a friend of the brothers with a crush onWilhelm, suggests the first tale, one of love. She brieflydescribes a prince rescuing a long-haired princess from atower owned by a witch. This is too short for the brothersto use, so they adapt it, lengthen it and embellish it intowhat we know today as the story of Rapunzel. They arevery happy that they now have their very first story,but they realize that one story is not enough. Dortchensuggests that she find a lady from the market, FrauViehmann, who knows the greatest of stories and will beable to help them.Frau Viehmann tells them a tale of a girl named Little RedCap who pays a visit to see her lovely grandmother, wholives in the middle of the woods and is not very well. LittleRed Cap has been sent to take her some food. Along theway she meets a wolf who takes a shortcut and arrives atCanadian Opera Company 2013/2014the grandmother’s house long before Little Red Cap. Therehe eats both the grandmother and (when she arrives) LittleRed Cap. The brothers are horrified at this ending, and tryto come up with a new one.Colonel Krause, an old soldier who keeps falling asleep,tells them the third and final story, of a mysterious littleman named Rumpelstiltskin. This story is of the miller’sdaughter who is sent by her father to the king’s palaceto spin straw into gold something she cannot do (butmust, or else face death). A mysterious little man suddenlyappears and offers to do the spinning for her if she agreesto give him her first-born child. If she can guess his name,however, he will not take her child. Years later, when themiller’s daughter has a baby, Rumpelstiltskin comes toclaim his reward. When the time comes to guess his name,she draws a blank. With a little bit of help, she finallyguesses the right name, saving her baby, and they all livehappily ever after.Just as the brothers are putting the final touches onthese stories, Brentano comes in to tell them that he nolonger wants a book of folk tales. But so many peoplehave already heard about the book and want copies thatthe brothers decide to go ahead and publish the bookthemselves as The Brothers Grimm Fairytales.coc.caThe Brothers Grimm Study Guide7
Meet the Composer and LibrettistDEAN BURRY(b. 1972)Dean Burry was born inSt. John’s, Newfoundlandin 1972, but grew up in thesmall town of Gander. Asboth his parents’ familiescame from small outportcommunities, he spent agreat deal of time by theocean and out in his father’sboat. Music is in the bloodof Newfoundlanders, andit was in this environmentthat Burry began his ownartistic journey. Early piano lessons were not completelysatisfying, and it wasn’t until a teacher encouraged hisdesire for composition, at age 10, that music became apassion. Theatre was another great interest and soon hewas writing plays and music for the school drama club.His first produced script, Good Gods, won first place in thelocal drama festival in 1987.Following high school, Burry enrolled in the bachelor ofmusic program as a saxophone major at Mount AllisonUniversity in Sackville, New Brunswick. In seekingways to combine his love of theatre and music, he begancomposing operas and musicals. In his first three years atuniversity, he wrote, produced and conducted three majordramatic musical works: The Resurrection, Joe and MaryHad a Baby and Unto the Earth: Vignettes of a War.His studies in music continued, and Burry completedhis master of music in composition at the University ofToronto in 1996. Shortly after completing his studies atthe University of Toronto, Burry began working in ticketservices at the Canadian Opera Company while composingincidental music for small theatrical productions. Workingfor the COC enabled Burry to immerse himself in theCanadian opera world. His own curiosity and interestin opera drove him to spend a lot of time at the operacompany outside of working hours, observing rehearsalsand learning a great deal about the ways to createsuccessful opera. In 1997, Burry was hired to develop andrun the COC’s After School Opera Program, a communityprogram designed to introduce children to all the elementsof opera. The program is still vibrant today and celebratedits 15th anniversary this past season.In 1999, while working as an educator with the COC, Burrywas commissioned to write The Brothers Grimm, a newopera for the annual school tour. The opera premiered in2001 and received rave reviews from teachers and studentsalike, putting the composer on a national stage. Since 2001,The Brothers Grimm has been seen by over 140,000 schoolchildren across Canada, the United States and Europe. InDecember 2012, The Brothers Grimm celebrated its 500thperformance, making it the most performed Canadianopera in history.Other major operatic works by Dean BurryIsis and the Seven Scorpions, an opera for children commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company in 2006.Click here to watch!The Vinland Traveler, for Memorial University’s Opera Road Show. Click here to learn more.Pandora’s Locker for The Glenn Gould School. Click here to watch a clip.The Bremen Town Musicians for Opera Lyra.The Mummers’ Masque for Toronto Masque Theatre. Click here to watch a clip.Works for children’s chorus including an adaptation of Pierre Berton’s book The Secret World of OG and J. R. R. Tolkien’sThe Hobbit (click here for more information), both commissioned by the Canadian Children’s Opera Company.8Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014coc.caThe Brothers Grimm Study Guide
The Real Brothers GrimmAlthough fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, SnowWhite and Rumpelstiltskin are read the world over, fewpeople know of the two German scholars who collectedand published them. Jacob (1785 – 1863) and Wilhelm(1786 – 1859) Grimm were born in the German city ofHanau and were the oldest in a family of nine children.Their father Philipp was employed as a local magistrate,a position which came with a large house, servants and ahigh social standing. All this changed upon Philipp’s deathin 1796 and the family was forced to move to more modestaccommodations and rely on the charity of relatives.Despite financial challenges, Jacob and Wilhelm excelledin school, studying law, philology (the study of wordsand language) and medieval German literature at theuniversity in Marburg. It was these latter two subjectswhich inspired their life-long love of folk tales and in1806, encouraged by their friend Clemens Brentano, thetwo set out to systematically collect and record the oralstorytelling tradition of the local countryside. Contrary towhat many believe, Jacob and Wilhelm were not really theauthors of these fairy tales, unlike another famous writerof tales, Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen’s works,while certainly appearing to be folktales, are defined asliterary tales. His stories, including The Little Mermaidand Thumbelina, came from his imagination. As folklorists,the Grimm brothers sought to record common stories thatwere told around campfires or to children at night – someof which had been passed down for centuries. Travellingaround the local district and inviting individuals into theirhome allowed them to accumulate a vast amount of rawmaterial which included everything from magical fairytales to parables, local legends, fables and other morallessons. The resulting book, Kinder - und Hausmärchenor Children’s and Household Tales, was published onDecember 20, 1812 and contained 86 stories includingRapunzel, The Frog Prince, Cinderella, The Fisherman andHis Wife, The Bremen Town Musicians and The Elves andthe Shoemaker. By 1857, seven editions had been releasedand the publication had grown to include 211 entries.Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014Die Brüder Grimm (“The Brothers Grimm”) by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann,1855. Currently located in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in Berlin, Germany.It is interesting to note that, although the brothers’ originalgoal was to produce an accurate account of German folktales, they found it irresistible to modify some of thestory fragments they received to create a more satisfyingnarrative. Through the various editions they also revisedmany of the tales to be more reflective of trends in religion,social propriety and children’s literature.Children’s and Household Tales has been translated intoover 100 languages and served as the inspiration for someof the world’s most enduring operas, plays, movies andeven video games.coc.caThe Brothers Grimm Study Guide9
A Glossary of TermsOPERA AND MUSIC TERMSA capella:Vocal music without instrumentalaccompanimentAria:A song for one singer; content is oftenself-reflective or emotional in natureArioso:A type of singing that is more tied to therhythm of speech than an aria, but moremelodic than recitativeMezzo:Medium (i.e. m
brothers Grimm are working together researching words to include in a dictionary. Brentano, who is a poet and scholar himself, interrupts them and sets them a task. He would like them to write a book for him of common tales, like the ones that people tell around a fire. Since the Grimm brothers do not have a background in writing
Minnesota Opera Debut: Tosca, 2005 Notable Engagements: Cold Mountain, Santa Fe Opera La bohème, English National Opera The Barber of Seville, Canadian Opera Company Rigoletto, Bremen Opera Company Ainadamar, Santa Fe Opera Un ballo in maschera, Minnesota Opera LEVI HERNANDEZ Baritone Hometown: El Paso, TX Minnesota Opera Debut: Madama .
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1. Grimm, Hermann, “Los hermanos Grimm” en Grimm, Jacob y Wilhelm, Cuentos de niños y del hogar, Introducción Hermann Grimm, Traducción de María Antonia Seijo Castroviejo, Madrid, Anaya, 1985, p. 17 [Todas las traducciones que aparecen
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productions: The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera and Of Mice and Men at Westport Country Playhouse. Many collaborations with the choreographer/director Bill t. Jones and the Bill t. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; productions at Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Boston Lyric, Canadian Opera
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