Contact
the.story.of.that.woman.opera@gmail.com
About the Opera
«Hekayat-e An Zan» translated into English as «The Story of that Woman» is an opera in 2 acts on a Persian long poem with approximate duration of 83 minutes. It is the first opera by the composer, and also the first collaboration between the librettist and composer. The whole opera is set on a long Persian poem, which was written beforehand. In this respect this opera is perhaps unique. It is important to mention that during the process of composing, with the collaboration of composer, poet and producer, small changes and adjustments are applied to the original poem. Many parts in the music are influenced by Iranian classical music. There is usually a specific recognizable music structure or tone or motif for every role and occasion in the story.
This production is the first recording of this opera and «The Story of that Woman» has not yet been performed publicly.
About the Story and Poem
Love, a word oft-repeated but unrepeatable, has been the essence of numerous literary and artistic works in the world, from time immemorial to time ever-lasting. No doubt, Persian literature in its richness is a trove of exquisite glittering gems of love. That is stories and poems relating and reciting tales of pure love over time; a treasure left to mankind. “The Story of that Woman” is also an account of love; both as the few enlightening verses on love in the ancient “Book of the Divine”, by Attar of Nishapur, and also as the narrative that inspired the opera “The Story of that Woman”. An inspiration and idea brought to fruition by a dramatic processing of the narrative and adding verses, characters, anecdotes and theatrical ups and downs. “The Story of that Woman” is the tale of a common woman who falls head over heels for the Prince of the City. But as she knows she is beneath his status and with no hope of union, she sits waiting in his path each day, to perhaps quell the flames of love just by seeing him. “A woman waiting, in vain on her beloved’s trail” is a reminder of the contemporary image of a
woman in love, who stood on her Love’s path for years, clad in a red dress and holding a bunch of red roses; lest she lay eyes upon him.
My attire a hue of fire
My hair I’ll plait to his desire
A rose across the stream I’ll pluck
To hand him if my path he’s struck
It is as if since the ancient days of Attar and the girl in his tale, and before that, until the contemporary days of the Woman-in-Red waiting for years at Tehran’s Ferdowsi Square, and even till the end of the World, this enamoured woman-in-waiting has lived and re-lived over and over again, to be repeated in all her excitement, loyalty and pain.
