Two visions for Manitoba! Which will win out? We’ll know soon enough, as Führersonderzug “Churchill” speeds through the vast and majestic North.


Führersonderzug “Churchill”
A TWO-ACT OPERA by Lukas Sayko
LIBRETTO


CHARACTERS

Jacob Klevchenko: a tour guide at the Manitoba Legislative Building, amateur baritone
Lukas Sayko/Bronchi: a frustrated, amateur artist
Alphie: a recently deceased resident of Brandon, Manitoba




ACT I – SUMMER SOLSTICE

Jacob Klevchenko is waiting at the security station for his first tour group to assemble. It’s 8:02AM at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Jacob:

Nice weather isn’t it folks?

Are you from around here?

No, but I’d like to one day.
I’d like to tour all of Europe, see its great museums and opera houses, government buildings.
I’m a fool for anything Neo-Classical.
Anything you’d recommend in Wales?

Sorry I didn’t quite catch that.
Well, it’s already five minutes past; I suppose it’s just the three of us.
Follow me please.

This is the grand staircase. On either side is a Bison, mighty protector of this great building and all those who enter in. Kind of like those serious fellows with the furry hats, eh?

Please keep up now.

Yes, I can see you have a cane, but this is not a difficult ascent.
We raced up and down these stairs for the Act 2 finale of Cosi fan Tutte!

Yes, the Mozart opera. Any simpleton knows that.
I played Don Alfonso.
I was standing in this very spot when I sang his aria “Vorrei dir e cor non ho”!
I think I can manage it a cappella.

Sings aria

It would be customary to applaud,
Not after every aria, but always after an impassioned performance by a principle.

Ahhh yes, thank you, thank you. It was my pleasure.

Now to the top of the stairs.
Over here at the rotunda is the Pool of the Black Star, full of diabolical power;
facing us is a fresco depicting a masonic initiation.
Oh, and if you direct your attention above, you’ll see the golden boy’s undercarriage.
Look to the North you golden ideal!
Manitoba’s great undiscovered wilderness!
Full of untapped potential.

Then on the main roof level the Sphinxes serve as a second guardian beast!
On the east wing roof is the Ark of the Covenant,
Dwelling place of God,
Flanked by a Roman Legionary and a Chieftain Warrior.
In and upon this building, hidden in plain sight, are revealed the mysteries of man’s enlightenment, from the Pharaohs to the great Fascists!

Oh come on, that’s a little joke.

Now, to the most important room in the building—the Lieutenant Governor’s reception room.
Directly below the Ark.
This is the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple!
This is where our English overloads were welcomed,
And of course, the building’s architect numbered among them!
But we are on the path to full independence!
We thank the courageous colonialists, our founding fathers,
but it is time to throw off the shackles!!!
For culture is always in flux,
And it is the work of great men to guide and shape,
Retaining the best of yesterday, embracing a glorious tomorrow!

Washrooms? You can’t hold it?
Wow, you won the genetic lottery.
Bad legs and an enlarged prostate.
This way to the elevator.

Elevator sounds






This is rather awkward.
I’m not usually in the basement with tourists.
But there may be a divine purpose, as there always is.
Are you familiar with Ralph McNeil Pearson?
He was a Provincial Treasurer.
This is the very washroom where he shot himself, in 1947.
Or perhaps it was cyanide tablets in his office.
Might be getting him confused with Hermann Göring.
Alright, go along now.
If you need assistance, I’m sure we can excuse a page from their duties in the Legislative Chamber.

Tourist uses the washroom

That’s all the time for today folks.
Back to the elevator and I’ll walk you out.

Elevator sounds

Goodbye now,
Oh and if you’re still in the province next month I will be performing in a Mozartian production of The Three Little Pigs,
It will be a tour of schools in Northern Manitoba, put on by the University of Manitoba Faculty of Music—from where I am graduating!
I’d recommend Flin Flon for the best lodging options.
I am playing the part of the Wolf!
The final scene is adapted from the Commendatore dinner in Don Giovanni,
I actually do have a practice track for this one:

Sings excerpt from Don Giovanni

Shut up Susan. How dare you interrupt so sublime a work of art.
They would tell me if they weren’t interested.
Wouldn’t you folks?

If you were a real security guard Susan you would care about securing the European culture this society is built on, or at least used to be.
It might do you well to pay your respects at Queen Victoria’s throne and reflect on her scepter, an iron rod to rule the nations!

Oh, I’d love to stick her scepter up my ass. Maybe you can grease it up for me, with that Lubriderm you keep under the desk!






Lukas Sayko:

What are we doing here?
It’s a little silly isn’t it.
Our late music teacher speaks to her nephew in a dream:
“Gather them all and meet at the Old Pinawa Dam at sundown on Summer Solstice.”
The he goes into her old student records, contacts us, corrals us to these windy old ruins.
We’ve been here an hour and seen nothing but geese.
What are we expecting?

I suppose it’s kind of cool to see how many other students she had,
I remember a few of you from those odd recitals,
We’d have to introduce our pieces in five languages before we performed,
She’d bring this flip chart on stage and draw famous pieces of art with a marker,
Made everyone guess, a hundred people yelling things out.

She was well-travelled;
Obsessed with seeing art museums and galleries all over the world.
She’d keep notes and collect pamphlets on everything,
droned on about it all, in our lessons.

Things like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre were easy enough, but then she’d get into the obscure:
El Greco’s Opening of the Fifth Seal at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City;
The many depictions of Sedna at the Winnipeg Art Gallery;
Os Leões standing watch over Instituto Ricardo Brennand no Brasil;
Der Denker, purchased by Hitler for the Haus der Kunst in Deutschland;
Austerlitz Column in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Coronation Room at Château de Versailles;
Michelangelo’s Temptation and Expulsion on the ceiling of the Cappella Sistina;
Phidias’s statue of Athena Parthenos at the Parthenon;
Job at the Crystal Cathedral gardens!
The Gold Seal of the Empress of the Qing dynasty, at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City.
The Memorial to the Deportees at Yad Vashem.
Catherine the Great’s portrait at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Tanks and artillery at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev.
Alonday’s nightmarish Siokoy at the Pintô Art Museum, near Munilla.

Wow, how did I recall all that?
It’s as if I was given words to say,
the Holy Spirit descending in tongues of fire.

Oh wait, the geese are getting restless.
What do they know that we don’t?
They’re flying away.

There’s a cigar-shaped object on the horizon, just above the trees!
It’s getting closer!
It’s getting closer!
It’s getting closer!
Alphie:

Hello my lovelies!

I’ve missed you!
Que Saudades!
Ich habe euch vermisst!
Vous m’avez manque!
Mi siete mancati tutti voi!

Creativity is of the Gods!
Blessed are those who are chosen!

In my life I was spat upon, they called me kookie,
And they threw me under the bus.

Now I return to give you five principles.
Write these down:
1. Every member is an artist unto themselves
2. The art shall be self-evident
3. Create and Disseminate
4. Be rooted in your here and now
5. Do not fill in the gaps with money

Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden!
I will give you rest!
I will heal you!
Art will be your physician!

You are my Body!
You must become one!
Gather for the Summer Solstice here,
An annual remembrance of this day, for I have called you.
And for the Winter Solstice, go to Churchill—Celestial City, New Jerusalem.

Yes, I know the Churchill you see now is declining in population,
And is overrun with ferocious white beasts with a taste for human flesh,
But behold, I make all things new!
Look to the New Churchill!

You are my apostles,
Approach, I will lay my hands on you and give you a spiritual name,
And in turn, you will lay hands on those who are yet to hear our message,
Now, go out into all the world and preach this good news to all depressed, deflated artists!

This I say unto you:
CORVUS OCULUM CORVI NON ERIUT

Farewell my lovies!
Adeus, Queridos!
Auf Wiedersehen, meine Lieben!
Adieu, mes chers!
Addio, amori miei




ENTRACTE



ACT 2 – WINTER SOLSTICE

Members of The Body of Alphie are on a train for their annual pilgrimage to Churchill.

Bronchi:

Twelve long years.
Same old Churchill, just less and less people.
How surprised they are when we tell them we’re not there for ecotourism.

Alphie is not quite the ideal in death we expected.
We tried to put on a concert of her works,
She was a dedicated composer for a time.
There’s an extended choral work about the UFO sighting at Falcon Lake.
There’s an atonal piano suite based on products at Costco.
Even a couple musicals about her cute little dog.
That’s just to name a few.

But we couldn’t get many members to commit,
And as we got deeper into the music, we realized it wasn’t very good.
She had a lot of enthusiasm, but not much training.
So we scrapped it, which was a relief to all involved.

The best way to honour her is to follow the five principles.
That was her greatest gift to us—certainly not the composing, nor her piano teaching.

Those Principles allowed me to breath again!
I had bad asthma as a child, periodically afflicting me in adulthood.
That is why I was given the name Bronchi.
I haven’t had to use a puffer since I embraced the principles!
I know other members who had similar experiences.
Small Intestine hasn’t had an ulcer.
Liver stopped drinking.
Amygdala cured her depression.

I often think of my former life, before the Call.
So full of ideas, and unfinished projects.
People would say I should apply for grants or look for commissions,
The underlying message was that I wasn’t an artist unless my work was performed and profitable.
It was a miserable existence.
But I was so creatively constipated all I could do was keep trying to push, push, push.

I hate to admit it, but I was embarrassed to be a student of The Alphabet Lady,
And happy when she moved to Brandon.
I resented never winning any festival classes under her,
I think I had the potential.

But when she stepped out of the flying saucer
a spirit of power and peace just swept over us all.
It was a real born-again experience!
I couldn’t wait to get home and put my hand to the plough.
The first thing I did was release an anthology of everything I’d worked on up to that point.
Then I wrote a song called “The Old Pinawa Dam” to commemorate the Body’s inception.
I did a covers album, all the artists who had inspired me over the years: Bob Dylan, Franz Schubert, Britney Spears. My sister sang background vocals.
We have all done so much over these twelve years.
When we are gathered, sharing our work, we are truly at the gates of New Churchill.

I had made it a habit of going to the Winnipeg Art Gallery,
I felt close to her there.
Last month, at the Blackwood exhibit (or was it Fitzgerald?) the spirit descended again.
I was to write a cycle of operas!
So free a form, melodramatic, absorbing any topic and mode of musical expression.
I drafted out 52 one-act operas for this coming year!
I intend to complete one every week.
Covering everything I’ve ever wanted to cover once and for all.
What kind of life waits for me on the other side!!!

At the Gathering I am presenting a prototype of the one-act operas,
It’s called The Arlington Bridge Story.

And what about you? You are a member of the Body of Alphie right?

Oh Sorry, I just assumed—you looked like the solitary, pensive type.


Jacob:

I’m intrigued by your mention of a New Churchill.
That is exactly the reason for my journey.
I am on a survey trip,
The first of many, as I lay plans for my New Churchill.
I am an aspiring politician, and when I have sufficient power I intend to move our capital.
The fulfillment of the scared geometry our forebearers imagined for this vast land.

The focus will be a Neo-classical tower,
both residential and governmental,
After Bruegel’s painting of Babel,
I’m not sure how high it will—but I won’t stop until the gods themselves demand it!

It will contain a Monumentalist gallery: the Manitoba House of Art.
I’ve already begun acquiring the finest in local landscape paintings.
And there will be an opera house,
With the space necessary to give justice to the Ring Cycle!
I used to be a Mozartian, but my taste has since evolved: I am now a confirmed Wagnerian.

I do have a political party you know.
We meet in the basement of Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral (where I am also storing my art).
That Cathedral remains a beacon of beauty in the sea of trash that surrounds it.
This whole province has been overrun by animals.
You want proof?
How about the herd that pulled down our beloved Queen Victoria statue!
(What am I to tell the tourists?)

It’s a very simple matter really.
Enforcement.
We already have the laws.
I am building my base.
They will be armed, and unified in their vision for what we can become.

There will be no more complaining.
We have the fairest society on earth, and still, the people’s uproar reaches the heavens,
I promise a job and a place to call home for all,
For those who are able, and don’t want to work, let them feel the consequences,
There will be residential work enlistments.
That will solve the problems of homelessness and labour shortage.
There is no end to our industrial potential.
We can and should be the greatest economy in Canada, and the world,
Not the dead wight debt horse we currently are.

I have no intention of creating a racial state.
I myself am a mut of Ukrainian, German and Jewish blood.
My grandfather spoke often of his struggle to climb, continually pushed off by the British Elite.
I have found identity in my vision of a new Manitoba,
A new Manitoban.

English will be spoken in an official capacity.
This will cut down the administrative burden, and cultural clutter.
(Though you are free to speak any language on the beach, or at a Bombers game.
After all, I have become a great admirer of the German tongue.
For those who wish to start a life here,
Cultural assimilation programs will be offered.
There will be no place for hatred, intolerance and stupidity in New Manitoba.
And to those who already have a life here,
We will do all we can to increase birthrate,
For what is more noble than a Manitoban born where he lives?
Growing to maturity among the trees and lakes,
Learning the greatness of a simple life,
Developing an appreciation for culture, stretching back to Greco-Rome and Ancient Egypt
Of which The Legislative Building is the guiding light.
When they are of age, our youth groups will formally instill these Manitoba values!
And provide annual trips to the capital: New Churchill!

How wonderful that you are doing a project that celebrates exactly these values!
Our noble Arlington Bridge, and the courageous Councilman MacArthur,
Glorious girders and trusses, originally meant to span the Nile.
May the gods bless you!

Bronchi:

Do you want to hear a bit?
I’ve embellished the story to have the bridge components carried to Manitoba by a herd of camels.
In this movement they swim across the Atlantic, arriving at Churchill!
It’s a rough recording.

Plays Mvmt 2: Ocean, from The Arlington Bridge Story


Jacob:

Bravo!
Oh, and one more thing:
On the empty outdoor pedestal,
Queen Victoria’s previous perch,
The warrior god Wotan atop a Bison.
Who could argue with that?

Do you hear those majestic strains?
Are you familiar with Wagner’s Das Rheingold?
I asked them to play “The Entrance of the Gods to Valhalla” over the loudspeaker at exactly the right moment so that the final section begins as Churchill comes into view!
Why would they honour my request you ask?
The conductor is a member of my party.
I’ll be singing the part of Wotan.


Jacob sings the part of Wotan, and can’t hold himself back from also speak-singing the Rhinemaidens’ trio. Churchill comes into view.


Bronchi:

Winnipeg, at last!
The end of a long, long journey.

Winnipeg, at last!
Far removed from any palm tree, pyramid, or dynasty.

Rest,
As the precious cargo is removed from each animal.

Rest,
Caressed, coddled by the hollow hands of men.

Rest, Rest, Rest!