When the Flame Dies - Vocal Score Piano, Vocal - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1742379

The Poet must choose between his love and his books before the candle flame flickers and dies. Will he bring back his dead lover from the Underworld, or choose art, creativity, and immortal fame?

He is visited by a mysterious woman called the Princess. She says there is one way for the Poet to be re-united with his dead love – through Death and with the help of the Underworld. The Princess offers the Poet opium. He falls asleep and begins to dream of the Underworld.

The legend of Orpheus is retold. The Poet wakes. He blames Orpheus for causing Eurydice’s death. They argue violently. In despair the Poet summons the Princess again. The Underworld invades the Poet’s study. The Poet emerges from a trance as the figure of his loved one appears.

‘When the Flame Dies’ imagines a moment in the life of French poet, novelist, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau and characters from his film ‘Orphée’ (1950) in a fast-paced human drama. Featuring five singers who act as both lead characters and chorus, an orchestra of 12, plus an electroacoustic sequence and audio treatments. In the concert version, with video by Will Reynolds, the electronic sounds complement Reynolds’s video and evoke transgression between life and death.