Written between 1963 and 1969, this stage work in two parts is for singers, mimes, dancers and musicians playing on twenty-five of the beautiful microtonal instruments designed and built over the years by this legendary composer, who was the first original thinker on tuning theory in centuries (his famous book Genesis of a Music is an exposition on his ideas and instruments). The stage set is made up of the instruments themselves, mostly tuned to Partch's forty-three-tone scale; the instrumentalists may also take over the roles of singing if the mimes and dancers are not musical in that way (much of the text consists of vocables and the like). The whole experience is akin to ancient ritual theater.

The beginning music which takes the place of an overture is called an "Exordium," the beginning of a statement or "web" designed to entice the listener. The music begins slowly, sounding somewhat like a Japanese Noh drama, with high and low bell-like sounds from Partch's Cloud Chamber Bowls, strumming sounds and strange bending tones. Then music in a simple rhythm, almost a folk tune, begins. Another section sounding somewhat like double-speed gamelan music takes over, with slow chords underlining the fast patterns. Staged in an indefinite ancient time, the story of Act One is taken from a classic Japanese Noh play in which a prince is making a pilgrimage to expiate the sin of having killed another prince in battle; he meets the dead man's ghost and together they relive the death scene. Eventually, realizing they cannot keep repeating this conversation again and again, they come to a reconciliation, the dead with the living ("You are not my enemy"), the living with the dead ("Pray for me"). A "Sanctus" is both a postlude to Act One and a prelude to Act Two. Whereas Act One had a tragic mood, Act Two is farcical. The story is based on a jolly West African tale of comical misunderstandings—a woman approaches a deaf hobo asking whether he has seen her kid, and the hobo motions her to leave. She takes his gesture as direction toward the lost child. She finds the kid, and returns to thank the hobo, who now thinks she is accusing him of stealing. The local villagers make both of them appear before the justice of the peace. The judge is deaf and also nearsighted; he is confused by the mimed arguments and finally tells the hobo to take his "young wife" and child home. The villagers laugh ("Oh, how did we ever get by without justice?"), and a storm comes up, clearing the stage. Offstage we hear the voice from Act One singing "Pray for me, pray for me again". A reconciliation with death in Act 1, a reconciliation with life in Act 2. The music of the "Exordium" is repeated and the ritual concludes.

© "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide