Music Theatre since 1990 - Schott Music

Synopsis
Father Sergius, Tolstoy’s short story on which God’s Liar is based, follows Sergius’ long journey
through life. We first see him as a young man fully in command with a bright future. Betrayed
by his fiancée, his vanity leads him to seek an escape from his present world, a decision that
finally results in poverty and vagrancy.
This haunting and disturbing tale speaks forcefully to us in any age. However, the synopsis has
been developed to include our own time, casting the even-numbered scenes in the present,
whilst following the basic line of Tolstoy’s original story. After the opening scene set in the 19th
century, we then find Stephen, a young academic of today whose research is based on the discovery
and transcription of the diaries of a 19th century Russian hermit, and who is persuaded
to sell the fruits of his research to the film industry.
Stephen, shocked by what Hollywood has done with his work, becomes obsessed with finding
out the truth behind Sergius’ actions. As the opera progresses, the two centuries begin to
merge and, in the final scene, the story thrusts Sergius/Stepan, now an old beggar, onto a modern
street where he is taunted by a crowd. Stephen recognises him, rescues him and is joined
by a woman from the crowd, a figure who seems to be the woman from his own past and also
to represent all those in Stepan’s life. The search for truth which has occupied both Stepan and
Stephen has provided no answers, only darkness and silence: perhaps this is the final lie. The
thread that runs throughout the opera returns with the woman’s final lines: “one good deed...
worth more than all the lies...”
Cod‘s Liar
02.08.2004 KlangBogen Wien
John Casken’s new opera, God’s Liar, is everything a new opera ought to be. It is not shy of facing
big issues – God (or lack of), faith (or loss of), truth, reality, illusion. It is admirably concentrated
in its treatment of such matters – slightly more than 90 minutes of music divided into two acts.
The score is almost traditionally “operatic”, mainly lyrical, demands to be listened to, and is plainly
rewarding to its performers. (The Times 9.7.2001)
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