l’Heure Espagnole

“L’Huere Espagnole” is a comedic one act opera first performed in 1911 and composed by Maurice Ravel. Like many farces, this opera relies on the characters moving in perfect time, hiding and emerging just in time to create the desired effect. In this regard they are much like the figures in a cuckoo clock or medieval town clocks, moving each in their predetermined track. To this end, I treated each character like an archetype, rendered in bold and cartoonish colors. I also used a Spanish clock as inspiration for each of the characters, drawing on them for trims and silhouettes.

The opera tells the story of Concepcion, the wife of a clockmaker who is attempting to rendezvous with her lover, the student poet Gonzalve. Unfortunately for her, when her husband, Torquemada, departs he leaves behind a customer, the muleteer Ramiro. Her tryst is further complicated by the arrival of an admirer, Don Inigo, forcing her to hide each suitor from the other and both from Ramiro. She achieves this by hiding the men in the two large grandfather clocks in the shop, asking Ramiro to move each in turn. In the end Don Inigo becomes stuck in one of the clocks, requiring everyone’s combined efforts to extract him.

            As a French comedy set in Spain, “l’Huere Espagnole” draws on many Spanish stereotypes and name drops a wide array of Spanish locations without fully committing to one specific setting. For this reason I decided to draw from traditional Spanish folk dress, being careful to steer clear of bullfighters. For Concepcion I turned to the ‘Maja’, a genre of brash but fashionable lower class Spanish woman painted often by Goya. The dress of the Maja is characterized by elaborate decorations and tall pineta combs with embellished veils, which I paired with an 1830s silhouette that I felt would best flatter our soprano. For Ramiro the muleteer I turned to the ‘Majo’, the Maja’s masculine and tough counterpart, with his woven serape and fitted pants.

            The final touch to the design was lots and lots of clocks. All of Torquemada’s suit buttons are 3d printed and painted clocks, with another on his hat. Concepcion has a clock on her belt and her comb, in addition to her chatelaine of watches. Gonzalve has a clock brooch in the shape of a lute and Don Inigo has a watch on his walking stick. All of them also have clocked stockings.

            The exaggerated forms and bright color palette come together to create an atmosphere of lighthearted and cartoonish fun.