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Pi Nârâti

An Opera in Three Acts with a Prologue

 Libretto by Michael Besack

All text © Copyright 2007 by Michael Besack & Joyce Whitelaw

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© Copyright

Monique LeGarff

About the Story

   The theme of the opera is renewal, as in the transition between world ages. It is a very ancient theme, already found in the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh and echoed consistently over time under various poetic disguises. It is typically associated with an otherworldly oceanic quest that leads to the navel of the sea, then past the gates of death right down to the Fountain of Life.

   The hero who undertakes this journey must eventually bring back the “measures” needed to establish a new world-order. These “measures” are critical to the layout of celestial or terrestrial temples where the esoteric foundations of that order are reflected. In Jewish tradition these correspond to the middoth, which determine the numeric value of Hebrew letters as well as the placement and usage of ritual objects in the Temple of Jerusalem. In Greek tradition they can be traced to the voyages of the Argo, where Eridu-Canopus represents the steering oar of Argo: the very “oar” that Odysseus, based on Teiresias’ otherworldly advice, must carry inland and plant firmly into the ground to signify the completion of his journey.

   In relatively modern times, the navel of the sea is accessed through Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" and Prospero’s magic island, where the native Caliban, Prospero’s unwilling servant and ‘salvage man’ resides. Prosperity is associated with Pluto, Lord of the Underworld and the renewal here is more in the form of a restoration than the deployment of a new order. In 1956 Shakespeare’s last play was dramatically reinterpreted through a science-fiction film called "The Forbidden Planet". Here the island is transformed into a distant planet, lost in the galactic ocean, where Morbius, a man of science lives together with his daughter and an all-powerful invisible force (equivalent to Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax, in Prospero’s magical setting). The key to Morbius and his function is found in the green-skied world he inhabits. That world is the world of Al-Khadir, the Green Man who lives forever, or at least for the duration of his world age, like the Wandering Jew.

   Pi Nârâti, the opera, also develops in a futuristic setting. It is set in the 49^th century and its central character, known as ZedZed, has been exiled to the system of Alpha-Canopus likewise inhabited by an all-powerful invisible force. ZedZed is the 22^nd clone of Sir Basil Zaharoff (1849-1936), the wealthy arms merchant and "mystery man of Europe”, code named ZedZed by British intelligence. As a reward for his services Zaharoff was promised “chocolate”, which on the surface appears as just another code word for the Grand Cross of the British Empire, which he eventually received.

   Zaharoff had both Greek and Russian origins. In Russian his name means “of sugar”, when written with an S instead of a Z. Basileus, in Greek, means king. Basil Zaharoff is therefore the King of Sugar who eventually straightens out (S à Z). In that context his craving for “chocolate” is all the more understandable. People with high blood-sugar levels are known as diabetics. If we go to Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English lexicon and look up this word, which comes from the Greek diabêtês, we find the following choices:  1) compass, so-called from its outstretched legs   2) carpenter’s or stonemason’s rule and also II. siphon.

   A compass and stonemason’s rule are indeed useful items to have if one is to bring back updated “measures” from the Fountain of Life.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

ZedZed's Daughter, Born in the System of Alpha-Canopus

Vortex Controller

PSY-OPS Officer and Nautor's Guide

Other Native Spirit of Alpha-Canopus

COUNCIL FOR GALACTIC RELATIONS

MEMBERS of   NAUTOR's Expedition (6 males, 6 females)

THEIR SPIRITS  (ballet dancers)

CHORUS OF ALPHA-CANOPUS SPIRITS