(1)įrom Act II Scene 3, Goldondern Aniara (The goldonda Aniara) (Chefone).įrom Act II Scene 4, Nar den man alskat natt till dodens dorr (When the one you love arrives at death's door) (The Mimarobe).įrom this interesting opera with its humbling message for humanity, we hear two more beautiful instrumental excerpts : Kristal and Vintergaten (Milkyway). Melismatics are unusual, vocalize entirely absent -with one exception: the role of the Poetess in Aniara, whose tremendous textless arches of melody sound like a synthesis of the romantic coloratura technique and features of the richly ornamented falsetto singing practiced in parts of rural Sweden. (2) From Act II Scene 2: Lib i della (Daisi Doody) and the Yurg (Mimarobe).įrom the same scene we hear the blind poetess in Vokaliser (Vocalization). The passengers seek to distract themselves, turning first to jitterbugging (led by a party girl named Daisi Doody), later to an atavistic sex cult called "Yurg," involving lascivious dances in a hall of mirrors. We hear ' Aniara SOS Aniara' in Morse code.Īn Interlude from Act I Scene 3: Vi borjar langsamt ana att den rymd (We are slowly beginning to divine that the space) sung by the Chief Technician 1 of the spacecraft.įrom the same scene: Mimaband 2 (Mima-tape 2) with electronic accompaniment. The opera starts with an instrumental prelude Galactic Space. (1) The story is told in detail here. Listen to acts I and II here and here. A few months before Blomdahl's death, the composer attended the opera's 100th performance by the Stockholm Opera. The story imagines a ' tragic, futuristic vision of a spaceship getting off course doomed to circle the heavens for all eternity.' The two-act setting is intensely effective and became very popular. 1) and the Florentine poet Giulio Arcangioli (1881 - 1843) whose works only became known after his death.Īniara (1959), with lyrics by Erik Lindegren based on an epic poem by Harry Martinson, is widely considered the first science fiction opera. 4 Il Cielo (The Sky) from Cinque canzone (Five Songs) (1954) for voice and piano are set to poems by Salvatore Quasimodo (No. In the second video we hear part VII: the 22nd sonnet Stilla som en brunn (Still as a well) sung beautifully by the soprano and composer Margareta Hallin. The first video features parts I - III of the oratorio: the title sonnet (poem I), the seventh sonnet här i denna tystnad (here in this silence), and the fourteenth i den urholkade dimman (in the hollowed fog). I speglarnas sal (In the Hall of Mirrors) (1952), an oratorio for speaker, soloists, choir and orchestra, sets nine sonnets from mannen utan väg (The Man without a Way) (1942) by Erik Lindegren, Blomdahl's favorite author. (1) Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916 - 1968) gained his greatest success with his mature vocal works. These are often syllabic, declamatory, and thus temporally economical, as though it were almost melodic speech. This technique also leaves its mark on the shaping of the vocal parts. Blomdahl's work with small particles (in his later works, especially in the lyrical movements) can give one the feeling of looking into a microscope.
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