OPERA SEARCH
The Seal Woman
(1924)Libretto by the composer and Marjorie Kennedy Fraser (E)
2S,2M,2A,T,Bar,2B,child mime
fl.corA.cl-hn-timp-harp-strings
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
Birmingham
Company: Birmingham Repertory Theatre
| THE CAILLEACH, an old Crone | Contralto |
| THE SEAL-WOMAN | Mezzo Soprano |
| THE SEAL-SISTER | Soprano |
| THE ISLESMAN | Tenor |
| FIRST FISHER | Baritone |
| SECOND FISHER | Bass |
| THE WATER-KELPIE | Bass |
| MORAG, child of the Seal-Woman | Silent role |
| THREE SWAN MAIDENS | Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Contralto |
An uninhabited islet in the Western Isles of the Scottish Hebrides
An old crone or 'Cailleach' sings of local legends of seals that turn into mortal women. The voices of a Seal-Woman and her Seal-Sister are heard. Fishermen approach the island. The Isleman recalls a Seal-Woman he has seen before, and when she and her sister appear he keeps hold of their sea-robes – without which they cannot reassume their marine form – and will only return those of the sister. He declares his love for the Seal-Woman, and she agrees to go with him. Seven years later, the Seal-Woman has borne his child, Morag. The Cailleach visits them, and while she sleeps three prophetic swans arrive and predict that the Seal-Woman will be free only when her daughter discovers the sea-robe hidden in a peat stack. Morag finds it and brings it to her mother. As the Isleman returns he watches as his wife flings herself from the cliff into the sea. He and his daughter listen to the Seal-Woman singing as she swims away.
Poetic, Romantic, Tragic