THE FISHWIFE
After her husband, a poor fisherman, catches a magical fish, a woman makes a series of increasingly bombastic wishes for wealth and power until she ultimately asks to be “like God.” But what does it mean to be—truly—similar to the divine? What does the fishwife actually want and need?
From traditional arias to jaunty sea shanties, The Fishwife is an inventive reimagining of the Grimm fairytale and greed fable, The Fisherman and His Wife. A comic operetta with a foot each in the worlds of opera and musical theater, this one-act ensemble piece explores wanting: greed, yes, but also ambition, satisfaction, and deserving; human needs physical and beyond; imagining and pursuing a better life; and most importantly, the question of what is worth wanting. In exploring an unceasing, ever-growing desire for more, the work considers how aspects such as power, gender, cognitive functions, and economic systems influence what we think we want and how free we are to pursue our wants. It also examines how we justify wanting and having significantly more than what one needs, even as others have too little, as well as how human greed affects our shared planet. Fast-paced and playful, with catchy melodies and an ensemble of nine singers with relatively equal roles, The Fishwife aims to bring joy, reflection, and, hopefully, a little bit of kindness to everyone who sees and sings it.
“O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife, Ilsabil, will have her own will
And has sent me to beg a boon of thee...”
Commissioned for the Maryland Opera Studio
by the School of Music, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
New WOrks REading: THE FISHWIFE
February 14, 2025, 7:30p
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
COllege Park, MD
Free and Open to the Public
Presented by Maryland Opera Studio
Forces
9 singers: 3 soprano, 2 mezzo,* 2 tenor, 1 baritone,* 1 bass-baritone
piano
*2 roles can be performed by either mezzo or baritone
Duration
~55 minutes; one act
Roles
The Fishwife is a true ensemble piece, and all roles are fairly equal (with the exception of the role of the FISHWIFE, which is slightly larger).
FISHWIFE (soprano) Unhappy, unable to fully articulate why; loves the sea
FISHERMAN (mezzo or baritone) Not that great at fishing; loves his wife
FISH (baritone or mezzo) A prince cursed to live as a magical flounder
ARCHETYPES
MILKMAID (soprano) A rural idyll/ideal
SOCIALITE (mezzo) A glamorous diva
FAT CAT (bass-baritone) An upwardly mobile millionaire
LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER (tenor) A light in the darkness; a still, small voice
SHADOW ADVISOR (tenor) A billionaire; the 0.001%
ACOLYTE (soprano) A spiritual guide for gaining, and justifying, wealth
ABOUT THE ARCHETYPES: The ARCHETYPES and the FISH together function as an ensemble that is the driving force of the opera, functioning as both narrators and a Greek chorus. One by one, as the story calls for it, each of them turns into their ARCHETYPE representing the internal and external pressures that influence the FISHWIFE as she makes more and more wishes. Each ARCHETYPE represents a specific perspective that might function as a voice in her head, arguing their case about what she should do next. This structure is inspired by long-form improvisation, in which a troupe of actors lines the back of the stage, taking on individualized roles as they become needed by the story. Each singer in the ensemble alternates between star turns as a soloist and small-group singing.
SEA SOUNDS: The singers and the pianist also perform the opera’s sound effects, creating the world of the sea and sky as it grows increasingly stormy and dangerous.
COLLABORATION
And Development
The Fishwife was commissioned by the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland for the nine incredible singers, first-year master’s degree students in the 2024-2025 school year, with piano accompaniment. It will receive a staged reading as part of the New Works Reading on February 14, 2025, at the University of Maryland.
Please reach out if you are interested in collaborating on a further workshop of the piece, premiering a fully staged performance, performing an excerpt from the opera, commissioning or workshopping a version with instrumental accompaniment, hearing the workshop recordings when available, or just to talk fairytales and greed allegories.
This piece will be especially appropriate for collegiate and chamber settings. ashikday at gmail dot com
Creative team
Based on the fairytale collected by the Brothers Grimm, The Fisherman and his Wife.
Developed with the incredible insight and collaboration of the students in the University of Maryland’s Maryland Opera Studio and their director, Corinne Hayes.
Ashi Day, composer and librettist
Other operatic works include Waking the Witch, a one-act, immersive chamber opera for solo countertenor and Pierrot ensemble in which the audience is an accused witch being interrogated by a 16th-Century witchfinder, winner of an Opera America Discovery Grant; The Green Child, for soprano, clarinet, and optional narrator, a 15-minute work based on the French fairytale, “The Green She-Devil,” in which two girls, one of whom is mysterious and green, must rescue each other from dangers both physical and existential, commissioned by Whistling Hens; and For Whom the Dog Tolls, a 10-minute work for solo soprano, piano, duck call, and whistle, about a day-in-the-life of a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, a rare Canadian hunting dog that can lure ducks to their demise.
Photo by Lauren A. Little
Dig deeper
Interested in nerding out about the themes in this work? Below is a small list of some of the things that influenced the thinking behind this fairytale adaptation.
Dr. Paul Piff’s lab at UC Irvine investigates how wealth affects us intellectually and morally.
IMPORTANT READING:
Every Real Housewives Tagline Ever
BOOKS:
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis ed. by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine Wilkinson
Double Bind: Women on Ambition ed. by Robin Romm
Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Matthew Croasmun, Ryan McAnnally-Linz, & Miroslav Volf
Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler
The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles
The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy by June Carbone, Nancy Levit, & Cahn Naomi
Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth by Ingrid Robyns
fish·wife noun
/ˈfiSHˌwīf/
1. archaic a woman who sells fish
2. derogatory a coarse-mannered, vulgar woman who is prone to shouting
