The Meal

Archer, Violet (Canadian composer, April 24, 1913-February 21, 2000), and Rowland Holt Wilson (Canadian librettist, ____-____), "The Meal,”

a 50-minute one-act opera, set in _____, ____,

2m

tenor, baritone, + 1 piccolo, 1 English horn, 1 bass clarinet, 1 1110, 1 percussion, 1 piano [celesta], strings;

© 1983 by Violet Archer;

• in Violet Archer's The Meal (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Music Centre, 1983), score 232 pp., vocal score 161 pp.;

• script/rights available from the estate of Violet Archer, c/o Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Calgary, CHD 100 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada, e-mail finearts@ucalgary.ca, telephone 403-220-5497, fax 403-282-6925.

• or, script/rights available from Canadian Music Centre, Chalmers House, 20 St. Joseph Street, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1J9, Canada, telephone 416-961-6601, fax 416.961.7198, general e-mail info@musiccentre.ca, music services ms@musiccentre.ca.

Dramatis Personae

_______ (m tenor), Allied soldier; _______ (m baritone), Axis soldier.

Synopsis

“Two soldiers from opposing sides in the First World War stumble across each other near a no-man’s land hut. The fact that they are unnamed suggests that they are symbolic of all soldiers. The first is a deserter while the other having stolen a chicken is about to eat it. Alone, surprised, they don’t kill each other, and the result is a wary stalemate, then friendship. They cook and eat the chicken, and realize that they were both lied to about the monster enemy. Dawn comes—they are enemies again and return to their sides.

Comment

• “Score (232 p.); vocal score (161 p.). For tenor, baritone, /1(picc)1(eng. hn)1(bass cl)1/1110/perc, piano(celesta)/strings.”—CMC-BC Opera Catalogue A-M, http://www.ffa.ucalgary.ca/cmc/BC/Opera-Cat.html, accessed February 24, 2000.

• “Violet Archer was born Violet Balestreri in Montreal on April 24, 1913, the third of four children, to native Italian parents. Her family chose to anglicize their name to Archer from Balestreri (Archer is the English translation of the Italian name). Ms. Archer began her musical training as a pianist, and by 17 years of age had become a professional accompanist. In 1934, she completed the requirements for the Teacher's Licentiate in piano at the McGill Conservatory and in 1936 received her Bachelor of Music in composition and piano, also from McGill University. Two years later, she obtained the Associate Diploma of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, studying organ with John Weatherseed. Throughout her years in Montreal, Archer was an active soloist, accompanist, and private music teacher as well as a percussionist with the Montreal Women's Symphony under the direction of Ethel Stark. From 1939 to 1947, she was deputy organist for several Montreal churches. After finishing her Bachelor of Music degree, Archer continued her studies at McGill, receiving four scholarships to study composition with Canadian composer Claude Champagne and with McGill's Dean of Music, Douglas Clarke. In 1940, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra premiered her composition, Scherzo Sinfonica. Her first published work was Three Scenes for Piano (Habitant Sketches) by Mercury Music in 1946. She spent one summer in New York (1942) where she studied composition with Bela Bartok. In 1947, Ms. Archer won the Bradley Keeler Memorial Scholarship to attend the Yale School of Music where she was able to pursue graduate studies with Paul Hindemith. She was awarded additional scholarships from the province of Quebec, and in 1949 was awarded her Master's degree in composition from the Yale School of Music, receiving the Woods Chandler Prize for composition for her thesis The Bell. Upon graduation, Archer used her savings to finance a musical tour of post-war Europe. She had hoped to find a teaching position in London, but was unsuccessful in this pursuit. Returning to Canada, she taught at McGill Conservatory and then found employment at three U.S. schools: North Texas State College, where she was Composer-in-Residence from 1950 to 1953, Cornell University, and the University of Oklahoma, where she was appointed professor of composition. During her eight year stay in Oklahoma, Archer received two grants for composition: one to compose at the MacDowell Colony during the summer of 1956, and the other a grant from the Canada Council for a year's leave to compose in 1958-9. Violet Archer hosted both a radio program and a television program while in Oklahoma, providing a platform for discussions of 20th century music. During this time, she was also involved with sponsoring the student chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, and as she had in Texas, starting regional composers' forums for students. In the summer of 1961, Violet Archer began studies toward a doctorate at the University of Toronto, but was forced to put this aside in order to nurse her seriously ill mother. In 1962, Richard Eaton, a fellow student from McGill Conservatory, offered Archer a position with the University of Alberta's Department of Music in Edmonton. Violet Archer was familiar with the University, as she was a summer school instructor there in 1948 and 1949. In 1962, the Department had a three-year program in music and four faculty members in the department. By 1967, the four-year Bachelor of Music degree had been instituted, and in 1971, the first master's degree student was admitted. Violet Archer headed the theory and composition department and by the time of her retirement from the University of Alberta in 1978, the music faculty had grown to over thirty. Other professional activities included work on behalf of the Canadian Folk Music Society, the Canadian Association of University Schools of Music, and several years service as the Western Canadian representative of the Canadian League of Composers. She established composers' forums for her students; maintained a full schedule of teaching and composing duties, and formed associations with other musicians who regularly performed her pieces. Her works were frequently broadcast on CBC programming, and she had numerous offers for commissions of her works. Archer's early compositions were orchestral, and she later produced chamber and vocal works. She believed strongly that poetry inspired music and established a relationship with several poets that involved setting their poetry to music. Her 335 works also include compositions for choir, organ, and solo piano. She wrote two operas, over 90 children's works, the film scores to two Canadian documentaries, and an electronic piece called Episodes. Her last commissioned composition, completed in 1999, was a work for classical accordion and orchestra. Dr. Archer was the recipient of countless honors and awards in recognition of her outstanding achievements. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from McGill University in 1971; and received honorary degrees from the University of Windsor and Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1983; received the Canadian Music Council's Composer of the Year award in 1984; and in 1987 had the Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region library at the University of Calgary named after her. Other honors included being inducted into the Cultural Hall of Fame in Edmonton, and receiving the Sir Frederick Haultain prize for her contribution to music in 1987. A small ornamental park in Edmonton bears her name, and a three-day music festival was held in her honor in 1985. Violet Archer's 80th birthday was celebrated with a gala concert and celebration in 1993, and her departure from Edmonton in 1998 was also marked with honoring events and a farewell concert. In May 1998, Violet Archer moved to Ottawa to be closer to her family. She passed away there on February 21, 2000 at the age of 86.”—Violet Archer Fonds Finding Aid, http://archive1.lse.ualberta.ca/FindingAids/VioletArcher/VioletArcher.html, accessed October 2, 2007.

• Research could include archived holdings, Violet Archer Fonds Finding Aid, http://archive1.lse.ualberta.ca/FindingAids/VioletArcher/VioletArcher1.html.

• Photograph from Violet Archer Fonds Finding Aid.

Themes

anonymity, chicken, cooking, dawn, desertion, eating, enemy, First World War, friendship, military, murder, no-man’s land, opera, stalemate, symbolism, theft, truth.