Enigma is a music theatre work for singers and a dancer in five scenes, of which the first and last were produced first on a commission by Vancouver New Music, with singers from Vancouver’s Erato Ensemble as performers. A six-channel electroacoustic soundscape provides the musical support for the singers. The libretto is constructed from the facts and words of Turing’s life (based on the book by Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: The Enigma), as well as from poetry in the public domain (e.g. Tennyson’s In Memoriam, and a poem by Katherine Philips, 1631-1664). The middle scenes will deal with the Turing machine, the Enigma code, and the Turing test; the opening and closing as below.
As background information, Alan Turing (1912-1954) was the British mathematician who is widely recognized as the father of the modern computer, having demonstrated its theoretical possibility in what is known as the Turing machine. He also became famous after his death when his role during World War II in deciphering the German “Enigma” code that was key to the British war effort in the Atlantic finally became publicly known. In 1951 he had an affair with a 19-year old working class youth in Manchester that eventually led to his conviction on the charge of “gross indecency”. To avoid a prison sentence, he agreed to the injection of female hormones. A year after his probation ended he was found dead, presumably from eating an apple laced with cyanide and his death was declared a suicide.
Synopsis:
Scene I: Mother and Christopher
Alan Turing (tenor) at age 16 is a precocious youth given to scientific experiment and idiosyncratic behaviour. His mother (soprano) wishes a career for him where he can benefit humanity. Alan meets a brilliant boy, Christopher Morcom (represented by the dancer), and is immediately infatuated with him. Together they work on scientific and mathematical projects, but tragically Christopher dies of tuberculosis and Alan, now 18, is bereft, though convinced they will meet again. He begins to speculate on the relation of the spirit to matter, similar to a wireless set that resonates to a signal from the “unseen world”.
Scene V: Witches Brew
Turing, now almost 40, meets a working-class youth in Manchester, Arnold Murray (represented by a dancer). They spend a night together, but Arnold rejects receiving any money from Turing. Turing’s home is later burglarized and Arnold identifies a friend of his whom he talked to. On the eve of the death of George VI, a detective (baritone) arrives, challenges Turing’s story, and Turing naively reveals that he had an affair with the informant. Turing is charged with “gross indecency” (as was Oscar Wilde more than a half century earlier) and put on probation provided he undergo female hormone injections. At the end of the scene, Turing, now free but regarded as a security risk, laces an apple with cyanide. He has visions of “messages from the unseen world”, and as he dies, he is reunited with Christopher. His mother denies that he is capable of suicide, but that is the judicial verdict.
Scene I: Mother and Christopher
Alan Turing (tenor) at age 16 is a precocious youth given to scientific experiment and idiosyncratic behaviour. His mother (soprano) wishes a career for him where he can benefit humanity. Alan meets a brilliant boy, Christopher Morcom (represented by the dancer), and is immediately infatuated with him. Together they work on scientific and mathematical projects, but tragically Christopher dies of tuberculosis and Alan, now 18, is bereft, though convinced they will meet again. He begins to speculate on the relation of the spirit to matter, similar to a wireless set that resonates to a signal from the “unseen world”.
Scene V: Witches Brew
Turing, now almost 40, meets a working-class youth in Manchester, Arnold Murray (represented by a dancer). They spend a night together, but Arnold rejects receiving any money from Turing. Turing’s home is later burglarized and Arnold identifies a friend of his whom he talked to. On the eve of the death of George VI, a detective (baritone) arrives, challenges Turing’s story, and Turing naively reveals that he had an affair with the informant. Turing is charged with “gross indecency” (as was Oscar Wilde more than a half century earlier) and put on probation provided he undergo female hormone injections. At the end of the scene, Turing, now free but regarded as a security risk, laces an apple with cyanide. He has visions of “messages from the unseen world”, and as he dies, he is reunited with Christopher. His mother denies that he is capable of suicide, but that is the judicial verdict.
See also the
article in Musicworks.
