Marco Polo is an opera in two acts by the Chinese-born composer Tan Dun with an English libretto by the writer and critic Paul Griffiths. It premiered at the Munich Biennale on 7 May 1996 in a staging by Martha Clarke.
The work divides the title figure into two charactersâÂÂMarco (mezzo-soprano) and Polo (tenor)âÂÂand interleaves a spiritual âÂÂBook of Timespaceâ with episodes inspired by the VenetianâÂÂs travels. The scoring combines standard Western orchestra and chorus with instruments associated with the cultures evoked in the drama, including pipa, sheng, tabla and Tibetan horns.
Marco Polo received the 1998 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Notable productions include the United States premiere at New York City Opera in November 1997, a 2008 staging by De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (issued on DVD/BluâÂÂray), and a 2013 production for the Bergen International Festival.
The opera originated in a late-1980s commission from the Edinburgh International Festival. Although intended for Edinburgh, the completed work premiered at the 1996 Munich Biennale. GriffithsâÂÂs earlier novel Myself and Marco Polo has been cited in connection with the operaâÂÂs genesis, although the libretto is not a direct adaptation.
Marco Polo began as a commission by the Edinburgh International Festival in the late 1980s. However, it was not completed until 1995 and received its first performance at the Munich Biennale on 7 May 1996 directed by Martha Clarke. Its US premiere followed on 8 November 1997 at the New York City Opera. Marco Polo was first seen in the UK in November 1998 in a concert performance at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Its most recent revival was a November 2008 production at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam.
The opera presents Marco PoloâÂÂs expedition as three overlapping journeys: physical travel from an Italian piazza toward ChinaâÂÂs Great Wall, a spiritual âÂÂBook of Timespaceâ (WinterâÂÂSpringâÂÂSummerâÂÂAutumn) in which âÂÂshadowsâ of historical figures appear, and a parallel musical journey. Marco embodies action and being, while Polo embodies memory. The three strands converge at the Great Wall, a symbolic threshold the merged âÂÂMarco Poloâ must cross.