Teneke (opera)

Franco Marcoaldi adapted the Italian libretto from the eponymous novel by the Turkish author Yaşar Kemal published in 1955.

The opera was premiered on September 22, 2007, at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan, conducted by Roberto Abbado.

The very green young Kaymakam is easily swindled, however much the Doctor may try to explain the damage caused by rice, mosquitoes and malaria.

Homesickness and a pining for her far-off beloved are not enough to dampen her hopes that their people may unite their destiny with that of the West.

Okçuoglu waxes lyrical on the benefits of progress and the cultivation of rice – so much more profitable than traditional crops.

He falls into a heavy sleep and in a dream Nermin appears, consoles him and spurs him to fight for the law to be respected.

To start with, he immediately leaves the comfortable house placed at his disposal by the absentee landlords, and settles instead into his office.

In her disdain, Zeyno leads the peasants’ protest as they march, covered in mud, to the Kaymakam's office.

With bitter skepticism, Nermin's voice remarks that the law tends, as a rule, to lose in any clash with power.

Isolated by now, Irmaklï refuses to give in, whilst in dismay Resul and the Doctor observe his hopeless temerity.

In the end, the growers decide to flood the fields without permission, whilst a delegation sets out for Ankara to obtain Irmaklï's dismissal.

At the same time Zeyno and the peasant women, covered in mud from head to foot, demand the right to live in human conditions.

The din raised by the teneke, the big tin drums, scornfully accompanies the Kaymakam's departure.

Today's defeat may turn into victory tomorrow, the struggle between good and evil is not a foregone conclusion.