The Original Chinese Conjuror - Presentation

Synopsis

Hear music from this piece:

Track 1 | Track 2 | Track 3 | Track 4 | Track 5

On Saturday 23 March 1918, the famous Chinese conjuror Chung Ling Soo made the headlines - he was killed on stage by one of his own tricks during a performance at the Wood Green Empire in London. His death was shocking enough, but the truth behind Soo's most amazing trick was explosive and was revealed only when he died on stage.

The opera The Original Chinese Conjuror presents the amazing life story of a magician who sacrificed everything, even his life, to perfect his art. It is also an investigation of the nature of deception and magic, and the lengths to which people will go in order to deceive.

The story follows the path of Soo's transformation from an undistinguished magician to a performer who captured the imagination of audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Instrumentation

Violins (2), viola, cello, double bass, flute (doubling piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), horn, trumpet (doubling flugelhorn), trombone, percussion (2), piano.

Composer's note
Raymond Yiu

I came across the name Chung Ling Soo purely by chance. In search of a suitable subject for an opera, I went through stories that have left strong impressions on me. To my disappointment, in spite of the dramatic possibilities of these stories, I did not feel the characters were suitable for dramatic presentation through singing and music - they were too human, too normal. I needed some extraordinary or larger-than-life characters to fit the bill.

One day, the name Ching Ling Foo came up in a random internet search: a Chinese conjuror whose life was interesting but not strong enough to make me feel I could use it. Reading on, I discovered the story of Foo's one-time rival, another Chinese conjuror - Chung Ling Soo. I was fascinated to discover that he was killed on stage when one of his tricks backfired.

What makes the story more interesting is that Chung Ling Soo turned out to be much, much more than he appeared. I mentioned the idea of writing an opera based on the life of Soo to my soon-to-be-librettist Lee Warren, who is a professional magician and knew the story. The rest, as they say, is history.

Librettist's note
Lee Warren

In October 2002, I received a text message from Raymond Yiu: 'Do you want to write an opera?

I'm serious.' Ray and I had talked over the last seven years about many ideas for an opera story, but had never found anything that we were really committed to. The Genesis Opera Project was exactly the artistic kick that we needed to stop talking and start writing.

We realised in our first 'meeting' (in my kitchen, over tea and Chinese takeaway) that we were both fascinated by the idea of deception and how some people love to fool others. I was slightly disturbed to realise that I could instantly put my hands on more than 50 books from my library on that theme. My only excuse is that I am a magician and those sort of books are tax-deductible. We had problems, however, finding a topic that would let us dramatically realise this idea. The last thing that I wanted to do was write an 'opera essay' or become involved in what Howard Barker has called 'the endless curse of debating things'.

After about three weeks of quite serious searching for an idea, Ray called me up and said, 'Have you ever heard of Chung Ling Soo?' I had, as his name is very famous among magicians. I was instantly excited by the idea for several reasons. The first is that his life story is extremely dramatic: everybody finds his tale interesting. Secondly, his story is a dramatic unveiling of the very themes that we had wanted to write about, almost as if by magic! Thirdly, while he was on stage, Chung Ling Soo never spoke. But off stage he spoke two languages - one real and one invented. This seemed to me the most fascinating basis for creating a new opera character. Lastly, I was struck by the visual images of Soo and the archetypal nature of his rags-to-riches story, only to be brought low at the end of his life by a trick of his own making. Famously, Peter Brook wrote: 'When years later I think of a striking theatrical experience, I find a kernel engraved in my memory: two tramps under a tree, an old woman dragging a cart, a sergeant dancing, three people on a sofa in hell.' The image of Soo's death seemed to me an immediate 'theatrical kernel'.

Joint statement
by Raymond Yiu and Lee Warren

'Don't do it, you'll never stay friends' was the general tone of advice from friends and acquaintances when we decided that we would write an opera together for the Genesis Opera Project. We are delighted that their predictions have turned out to be as reliable as those of Mystic Meg. From the moment we found our first idea, we have managed somehow to put aside our respective egos and really make the work itself the most important thing. Early on, we had a conversation about the 'rules of engagement' of working together and we agreed never to criticise each other, although honest criticism of each other's writing was essential. Working in this way, we were able to create early on a dramatic structure that we were both happy with.

Once the structure was there, Lee wrote the first draft of the libretto in close co-operation with Ray. In fact, we went to Barcelona together (a very intelligent use of some of the commission fee, we feel) and spent long afternoons in the sun at the Buenas Migas and Cubanito cafés arguing, laughing and creating. Ray was shown bits of speech and stage directions as soon as they were written and suggested musical themes and ideas which informed Lee's draft as he was writing. In the plane on the way back, we had to sit 12 rows apart and so pieces of dialogue and scribbled bits of sheet music were continually passed up and down the aisle - to the amusement of the cabin crew.

The structure for the libretto is now clear and more or less how we want it. We benefited enormously from a reading of the libretto given by some actors courtesy of the Genesis Foundation. This enabled us really to get a sense of the rhythm of the piece, and helped Ray to see where the musical structure and dramatic structure were unified and where they were not.

Our challenge now is to cut the libretto and make some scenes more theatrically punchy. Musically, we are looking at how to give the characters and different time frames very distinctive voices.

We have learned a huge amount during this process, both about the creation of an opera and about each other! We have also been lucky to make many friends during the last few months and to strengthen acquaintances. The amount of advice and help given during walks, feedback sessions and in Soho bars has been wonderful, and we really appreciate it!

What we hope to gain from the workshop is more independent feedback from people who have had no involvement until now with the project, so that we can find out where the story and characters are compelling and funny, and where the music creatively works with the drama. And of course the opportunity for us to hear parts of our work on stage for the first time will be a great springboard for future development, helping us to pinpoint where the characters come alive musically and where they don't.

Night Shanghai
by Raymond Yiu

Raymond is still developing for the stage The Original Chinese Conjuror. Meantime, Raymond's new piece, Night Shanghai, commissioned by Lontano, gets its world premiere on Saturday, 16 April 2005 in London at The Warehouse, Theed St, as part of the South Bank's contemporary Music Festival.

Asked about his new piece, Raymond Yiu says:

The song Night Shanghai was made famous by the legendary Shanghai-born singer Zhou Xuan (1918-57), and is well known among the older generation of Chinese. It was inevitable that I would get to know the song as I spent a large part of my childhood with my grandparents - it eventually became a part of my memory wallpaper.

As I listen to it now as a grown-up, I am struck by the contrast between the carefree nature of the music and the pessimism of the lyric; what I once thought of as dull, old-people's music has become poignant. Maybe nostalgia becomes less intimidating with age.

I find the influence of western culture on Chinese society since the turn of the 20th Century fascinating. In the field of popular music, dance forms such as the waltz, foxtrot and two-step were introduced to and absorbed by Chinese musicians; and later on, a bundle of Latin-American rhythms were also imported such as the samba, cha-cha, and in the case of Night Shanghai, tango.

Scored for six players, my eponymous work is an one-movement fantasy based freely on the original song. It was specially written for All About Tango, the second concert of Lontano's All About series, which in turn forms part of the La Linea Latin-American Music Festival, London 2005.

Night Shanghai is dedicated to John Fallas.