Mer de Glace: opera in two acts with prologue was a 1986–1991 work by Australian composer Richard Meale, with a libretto by David Malouf. It is an adaptation of, and commentary on, Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. It presents a tableaux-like juxtaposition of some ideas of the novel Frankenstein alongside the real dealings of Mary Shelley with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.
While Voss, another collaboration between Malouf and Meale, is often considered the best Australian opera, some critics, including Andrew Ford, believe Mer de Glace may be superior. The opera was well-received at its initial performance.
Mer de Glace is a postmodernist opera of the order of John Adams's Nixon in China. The original Frankenstein is a novel about the creation of a human monster. Malouf enriches this by taking Mary Shelley, the novelist, her lover and friends into the narrative of the opera. She has a nightmare in which they assume the character of protagonists: scientist, monster, abandoned child, exploited lover, friendly observer. Meale's music refers to operas of Wagner (Tristan und Isolde) and Debussy (Pelleas et Melisande) as commentary on the action; the conventional moral views of the 19th century public are shown in musical parodies of the era's choral writing.
Structure and plot
The headings shown here come from Michael Hannan's The Music of Richard Meale. The synopses however derive from the full score at the Australian Music Centre.
Prologue
Claire, now an old woman living in Florence, reflects on her youth and her rivalry with Mary Shelley, the wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Claire loved Percy and bore his child, but Mary was the guardian of his legacy.
Then Claire finds herself on the slowly moving glacier on Mont Blanc, the Mer de Glace. The ghost of Shelley appears and sings a paen to the grandeur of the mountains. Claire herself feels she is sleepwalking in wonderment at the glacier, close to madness. Shelley calls to her, then to Mary. Claire feels the glacier is "some sleek animal" with frozen blood in its veins. "If only I should wake it!" The women call to Shelley, but he is preoccupied with his own supremacy to the ice, "I never dreamed … far above, snowy and serene". A guide appears, reducing the mountain first to a mere tourist object; then to a figure of the benign God. Shelley demurs: liberty is to be found in our aspiration ourselves to be God-like.
Act One
Scene 1
Claire Clairemont and Percy Shelley on the shore of Lake Geneva. Claire, guitar on her lap, sings a song Byron wrote for her. The song describes her as "one of Beauty's daughters". Shelley predicts the "little drama" of Claire being re-united with Byron, great poet and outcast among men. Claire begs him to stay: "Nothing must change among you, me and Mary."
Byron and his friend Polidori arrive in a small boat. Byron wades ashore, barefoot and limping. Shelley is glad to meet "Childe Harold", but Byron points to his damaged and down-at-heel appearance. Claire says Byron's indifference makes her weary.
Byron claims he is the weary one, a monster outcast from England who has dared fly in the face of nature's laws. (His sister has raised his child with Claire). Claire rejects his self-pity in anger, the supposed laws with contempt. Is he a lover, friend or brother? She is 18. He loved her once. He is indifferent to her.
Scene 2
Claire, Shelley, Mary Shelley, Byron and Dr Polidori are marooned by bad weather at the Villa Diodati. Claire is bored and agitated: "Rain, rain, rain …" She resists attempts at distracting her. Polidori suggests they tell one another stories. Mary declines, but Byron gets Polidori to tell the story of "Lenore and William", Claire to play Lenore and Shelley William. William (Shelley) returns to their marriage feast from the dead — to marry Lenore. "Aren't you afraid?" Shelley asks Claire. "Not of death. Only of being betrayed." Shelley, in and out of character, invites the company to "come dance at our wedding." His question torments Claire, who protests helplessly that Shelley and Mary are "changing the words". "They are all mad", says Byron.
Scene 3
Mary Shelley's nightmare. She lies in bed with Shelley beside her. They are in her bedroom with a view of white in the windows. Shelley urges her not to be afraid. "It's the light off the icy peaks." Her nightmare is that the glacier is alive, though with ice in its veins.