List of Works || Le Rendez-Vous

Le Rendez-Vous (1995)

Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Baritone, Piano

Duration: No duration given

First Performance: No premiere

In the 1990s, Weinzweig wrote five theatrical works that revisited ideas initially explored in Trialogue (1971) and Private Collection (1975). While these works generally contain no plots or true dramatic enactments, their stage directions, costumes, and texts connect them to the world of music-theatre.

The singers in Le Rendez-Vous are instructed to dress in “tourist attire: light clothing, sun-glasses, sun hats.” The score sets the story:

    Three travelling friends
    Seek rendez-vous
    In Italy, then spain.
    Enchanting, Romantic,
    They look and see    
    But do not meet,
    So illusive
    Perhaps illusion
    As here and there
    Or ev’rywhere.


The text indicates arrival at the two destinations by using Italian and Spanish words. Musical terms, famous people, menu items, and locations are all included in the text, some with humorously obvious word painting (e.g., glissando, sotto voce). Weinzweig also differentiates the two countries by using tarantella motives in Italy and tango motives in Spain.

The vocal textures vary, as each section begins with a soloist writing a letter to the two others, explaining that while “I looked for you, ev-rywhere,” their paths did not cross. The voices join in to create a polyphonic confusion. Weinzweig uses homorhythm to emphasize certain words and, most importantly, at the end, when the three friends agree they will meet up “over there, somewhere.”

Written by Alexa Woloshyn