When I was asked to review The Astronaut's Tale (music by Charles Fussell, libretto by Jack Larson), I will admit that I had no idea what to expect. The blurb describes the opera as being about the “confrontation of science and religion” (which certainly raised a red flag!), but the temptation of seeing of an opera written by Larson, the original Jimmy Olsen from the Adventures of Superman, was undeniable. I should preface this review by pointing out that I have not seen the entirety of The Astronaut's Tale. I attended a preview performance which only contained about half of the opera. What I did see was a pleasant surprise; despite a rather (perhaps intentionally) overly melodramatic opening scene, the piece manages to tell a compelling tale about a young man, Abel, aspiring to be an astronaut, and what science is and is not able to provide him.

But first, the opening––a scene that is supposed to display Abel's loss of innocence, as he witnesses his dog being hit by a car and killed. This scene, and the rest of the opera, is presented with a spoken narration that (probably intentionally) is reminiscent of the stereotypical mid-century announcer, somewhere between Rod Sterling and Cary Grant. While this threw me for a loop when it first began (in my notes I underlined "Intentionally camp??" twice), it actually does a surprising job of setting the tone of the piece as the story progresses.

Abel, a hopeful cosmonaut, realizes that he has to become adept at math and science before accomplishing his goals. He meets a wandering peddler of goods (in the program he is described as an “Einstein-like” figure, which I think is a bit of a stretch) who sells him a programmable calculator, which apparently is the key to academic success. Abel, initially skeptical of modern science, and the Peddler have a great duet in which they contrast the biblical and modern cosmological genesis stories, with Abel recounting the biblical version and the Peddler correcting him with science. This begins with low-hanging fruit, equating “Let there be light” with the big bang, but also contains more subtle comparisons such as God dividing day from night compared to the scientific fact that matter and energy are one and the same, and the belief that God created man in his image against the statement that the cosmos is the actual “image of God.” The music for this duet is a delight, with Abel supported by more traditional church music while the Peddler sings with a sound that sounds large, vast, and dark, but just as beautiful.

What I appreciated most about this piece, which captures a lot of the tone of the opera as a whole, is that while it compares these two ideas, it does not simply do so in the traditional "I'm right/you're wrong, I'm smart/you're stupid" structure that a lot of "science versus religion" debate quickly devolves to in modern discourse (side note: there is a monkey joke, but it is not mean-spirited). It's not that the Book of Genesis is a laughable joke--it was an attempt to explain the world we see around us, written when the scientific tools at our disposal were obviously not what we have now. I'm sure there are people out there who will find a way to take offense at this, but I thought the subject was treated with appropriate dignity. And I am happy to report that, to the best of my ability, all of the facts laid out were right (the age of the universe is approximated as twenty-thousand million years, which is pretty spot-on!).

Abel eventually works his way up in the American rocket program, and meets a tragic fate as his first flight is on a Challenger-like disaster; his last living line was the now famous, “Uh-oh.” It is at this point that I felt the opera (or at least the parts of it I was able to see in preview) lost some of its focus--it dissolves into a piece of the afterlife being "in space," which from my perhaps cynical physicist point of view is not as interesting, though it was still lovely to listen to. I understand the point being made: that there are some things, such as the afterlife, which are beyond the realm of what science is tasked to explain, but to me it just came off a bit too vague and sounded of empty philosophy. I won't say this spoiled the whole show, but I will say it bothered me more than the melodrama of pet death.

On the whole, though, the opera was great-- the music was highly enjoyable, and I'm always happy to see a heroic lead portrayed as someone whose trials and tribulations involve learning mathematics and physics. I will admit, though, that the whole thing made me sad mostly for the current state of the American space program (an opera review is not the right place for a political diatribe so I will stop here). The Astronaut's Tale should remind people both of the majesty of space exploration and the amazing story of how our universe was born, and perhaps even inspire them to call up their Congressman and demand more funding for basic sciences! Sorry, couldn't help myself.

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Matthew Roberts is a string theorist at NYU.

Excerpts from "The Astronaut's Tale" were recorded on Sunday, March 18, 2012, during Encompass New Opera Theatre's performance at the Manhattan School of Music. The performers were Brittany Palmer (Ann), Eapen Leubner (The Astronaut), Frank Basile (Peccavit, the old Peddler), and Christopher Vettel (The Narrator). The Encompass performance was the first-time the opera had been staged. Prior to that, "The Astronaut's Tale" was performed in concert by Collage New Music in 1998.

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Hi Mathew,

thank you for that review. Enjoyed reading it. Sounds good. I think they were brave to attempt that project. It has the potential to leave a lot of people a bit dissatisfied because it isn't one thing or the other; but its something else which manages to be both. The topics dealt with are also highly controversial and emotive.

Perhaps music and art have a way of presenting ideas that allows difficult subjects to be dealt with more easily. I think perhaps it is the complexity of a lot of music, that requires it to be dealt with by the right hemisphere of the brain. The imaginative side which is happier bringing different ideas together rather than breaking them up and distilling, or dealing with them in a logical linear sequence.

A lot of popular music deals with "difficult" subjects too expressing meaning both in the music and the poetry of the lyrics. It can be acceptable because it is music. Things can be said, impressions given and ideas conveyed, that it might not be possible, seemly, or acceptable to say or suggest in conversation. I find that difference in response according to context of presentation interesting. May have a connection with "The framing effect" bias, which is how we vary our judgements according to how identical information is presented or framed.

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I am now interested in sets and how they seem to correspond more easily with nature than more abstract arithmatic.I am learning that all arithmetic can be expressed as sets and so this could be a useful way of uniting different types of mathematical description that have best suited the description of particular aspects of nature.I think category theory rather than being an obscure dead end is probably a very useful descriptive tool, and I intend to learn more about it.Get some books and get some rudimentary knowledge so I can understand what other people are talking about.

I can see a potential correlation between the mathematical conundrum of different infinities with there being different facets and aspects of the entirety of reality. So the space-time continuum of the observer is a continuum which will relate to one of the infinities; the Object universe which is the material Source is made of separate parts not a continuum and so it will relate to another of the infinities and the historical imagined time line of former iterations could relate to another.I'm not saying they are infinite in themselves but that the different kinds of numbers might be best suited to different parts of the entirety of reality. The mathematical correlation is relevant as it could provide additional evidence for the validity of the explanatory construct.

Steve,

I think I have the potential to offend far more people than just you.I'm not sure what particular aspect of what I have said or done causes offence to you. I hope you will not lump what I am trying to do in with what other people are doing just because I am now trying to understand their approaches.Seeing if they justify or are able to defend what they say, and the assumptions that are made, or seeing whether it is compatible with a holistic explanatory approach. I have no ill will towards you, I wish you well.

I think that protesting against what others are doing is counter productive to you, and me. It would be better to demonstrate the merits of your own work, which should be judged on its own merits not compared to something completely different,(which may or may not have merit in its own right).Showing someone else is mistaken will not show that your model is correct. IMHO There are many different ways of looking at and describing the same thing and not just a single and only black and white correct answer.That might not be what mathematicians want, or mathematically minded physicists but I (and you) have come from the biological sciences where complex interrelationships of parts and processes and entities are considered, things are less black and white.There are layers of complexity- the biochemistry- the physiology -the form- the function- the behaviour-the ecology . No one part is correct alone making the others incorrect.

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Hi Mathew,

You said -"The Astronaut's Tale should remind people both of the majesty of space exploration and the amazing story of how our universe was born,........"

I have said a little of how I feel about "the amazing story" of how the universe was born and given a quote from cosmologist Fred Hoyle, from "Big Bang" By Simon Singh. (Which is a book mostly dealing with the historical development of the theory and the progressive accumulation of evidence in its favour.)

There is another book that I have read which paints a picture contrary to the usual romantic/heroic portrayal of space exploration. "Dark side of the moon" (The magnificent madness of the American lunar quest) by Gerard De Groot, Vintage, London, 2008. Described as "Caustic, absorbing and astute OBSERVER."

It ends well with these words- "Norman Cousins once said that what was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon, but that they set eye on the earth."..In other words, it took a 240, 000-mile journey for men to discover how stunted is their imagination. If there is a lesson to be learned it is the futility of seeking fulfilment in outer space. We need to judge ourselves by who we are and not where we go. The moon voyage was the ultimate ego trip. Hubris took America to the moon, a barren, soulless place where humans do not belong and can not flourish. If the voyage had any positive benefit at all, it has reminded us that everything that is good resides upon the earth." "Dark side of the moon" by Gerard De Groot.

I'm not stating my opinion or making any negative comment, just giving another point of view on "the majesty of space exploration".

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