Telaio: Desdemona

At the other end of the emotional spectrum, Susan Botti’s Telaio: Desdemona is an operatic soliloquy and character study based on Shakespeare’s Othello, the tragic story of jealousy and betrayal. Set in Venice and on the island of Cyprus, the play depicts the intense love between the exotic Moor, Othello, and the Venetian lady, Desdemona, their subsequent elopement, and finally the unraveling of their love through the manipulations of Othello’s standard-bearer, Iago. Unable to tolerate Iago’s insinuations about her fidelity, Othello strangles Desdemona despite her protestations of innocence.
The soloist in Telaio performs two roles as she embodies both the narrator and Desdemona. During the recitatives, the narrator portrays Desdemona through a collage of texts that describe her personality, words, and/or actions at second hand; i.e., these texts were originally spoken by other characters in the play. In the arias, the character of Desdemona speaks through traditional Italian folksong and the poetry of an historical Renaissance woman, Gaspara Stampa. The composer adds the following remarks:

The Italian word “telaio” literally means “frame,” as in the frame of a loom used for weaving. Telaio: Desdemona explores this image in several ways. First, the entire piece serves as a frame within which threads of the character of Desdemona are woven, and out of which her portrait emerges. Secondly, I have used the traditional forms of recitative and aria to serve as a series of smaller frames within the overall structure. Lastly, the word
“telaio” is a pun: in Shakespeare’s Othello, Desdemona is in essence “framed” by Iago.

Telaio: Desdemona was commissioned by the American Artists Series of Detroit and is included in a CD of Botti’s work, listen, it’s snowing (CRI/New World).

(c) Jason Stell and Susan Botti