COLLIS O HELICONII

About the opera

Pound commenced a third opera project sometime in the mid 1920s or early 1930s but left it unfinished c.1934. His music sketches for one aria by Catullus, carmen LXI (“Collis O Heliconii”), and one aria by Sappho, fragment 1 (“Poikilothron’ athanat’ Aphrodita”), are linked by incidental music. Pound also sketched a scenario regarding the staging of the opera.

The setting:
• In the distance, the hills of Helicon, where Hymenaeus and the muses abide.
  
• In the foreground, two houses, one belonging to the family of the bride, the other to the bridegroom, with
• a path or road between them.
The players:
• The young boys
• The young virgins
• Catullus: master of ceremonies of the wedding procession
• Bride: Vinia Aurunculeia
• Bridegroom: Manlius Torquatus
The action:
A festive crowd gathers outdoors at dusk. The boys carry pine torches and toss the nuts that are sacred to the marriage celebration. The virgins scatter flowers. The bride must dress and make the traditional journey from her mother’s embrace to the bridegroom’s bed chamber. Here the wedding party will sing and joke outside the closed door, preventing jealous gods from disturbing the couple’s lovemaking. The master of ceremonies calls for Hymenaeus to descend from Helicon. He instructs the young girls to prepare the bride and directs the young boys to form the wedding procession.

About the book

Part I: Introduction to Catulllus and Sappho, and to Pound’s published remarks concerning each. Analysis of the musical treatment and problems in the manuscript tradition. Examples of the setting of a poet's words as an act of criticism. The influence of the setting of Catullus’ carmen LXI on Pound’s Canto XLV.

Part II: The engraved performance edition for violin and voice: Excerpts from the 2 principal arias, 3 incidental numbers, a transcription of Pound’s undated, unfinished translation of carmen LXI, and Pound’s sketch for a scenario for the dramatic setting of carmen LXI.