Two Scenes from Frankenstein
Listen to the work here!
Two Scenes from Frankenstein is a duo work for a multi-percussionist and actor-tenor, who embody the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his Creation, respectively, in Mary Shelley ’s seminal 1818 science fiction novel, Frankenstein. Shelley’s text has been distilled here by Trevor Landreth. The scenes presented here are described as “Victor:The Creation”, and “Victor/The Creation”, highlighting the double meaning of the word “creation” as both a process and an outcome.
The percussionist utilizes two multi-percussion setups throughout the piece. In the first movement, the percussionist performs a set up of the following instruments, which are attached to the vocalist’s body as the vocalist lies motionless on a table, as if the vocalist is the newly created being which Victor is working to finish the building of while describing his thoughts to the audience. Those instruments are: a tambourine, mounted atop the head like a helmet; a triangle, suspended over the nose and mouth; a woodblock attached just below the front of the neck; a frame drum, secured to the chest; three graduated bell plates in the place of the abdominal muscles; a rasping stick on the right forearm, played like a guiro; loose sleigh bells loosely attached to the left forearm; a shekere affixed to the right hand; an almglocken of any pitch affixed to the left hand; four graduated aluminum pipes tied around the legs like radii and ulnae; and wooden clogs worn on the feet with flat metal pieces affixed to the bottom.
In the second movement, the percussionist performs at a “workstation” consisting of a vibraphone, four crotales pitched in C, Eb, G, and A, a pair of bongos, a two-pitched log drum, a guiro, and a small muted bass drum, while engaging in a heated conversation with the vocalist, over the Creation’s desire to have Victor Frankenstein create for him a bride so that she may accompany him in his exile. At the end of the movement, the percussionist reveals that a woodblock, tambourine, and two aluminum pipes are hidden inside their outfit, suggesting that tampering any further with the balance of life and death is tantamount to sacrificing Victor’s own humanity in the process.
Two Scenes from Frankenstein was commissioned by Trevor Landreth for his DMA recital “So(ul)/(le) Desires” at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.