High Sonatas (Opera)

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Opera dates
Title: Autumn sonata
Original title: High sonatas
Shape: Opera in two acts
Original language: Swedish
Music: Sebastian Fagerlund
Libretto : Gunilla Hemming
Literary source: Ingmar Bergman : Autumn Sonata
Premiere: September 8, 2017
Place of premiere: Finnish National Opera Helsinki
Playing time: about 2 hours
people
  • Helena, the younger daughter ( soprano )
  • Eva, the older daughter (soprano)
  • Charlotte Andergast, the mother ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Viktor, Eva's husband ( baritone )
  • Leonardo, Charlotte's dead lover ( bass )
  • Audience (eight-part mixed choir )

Höstsonaten (German: Herbstsonate ) is an opera in two acts by Sebastian Fagerlund (music) with a libretto by Gunilla Hemming based on the script for Ingmar Bergman's film drama Herbstsonate . The world premiere took place on September 8, 2017 at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.

action

first act

Scene 1. In the evening in the rectory. Eva and her husband Viktor, the pastor of the local parish, talk about the upcoming visit of Eva's mother Charlotte. This is a world-famous concert pianist whom you have not seen for years. Eva has mixed feelings about her.

Scene 2. In Helena's room. Some time ago Eva took in her severely disabled younger sister, Helena, who had previously lived in a home, to take care of her personally. Helena cannot walk and also has a speech impediment that only her sister can understand her words. Eva and Viktor try to prepare them for their mother's visit. They consider showing Charlotte the grave of their son Erik. Eva points out that it was only by chance that they found out about the death of Charlotte's lover Leonardo. That was also the trigger for her invitation. Eve puzzles over the nature of love between mother and daughter.

Scene 3. Stage of a concert hall. The audience eagerly awaits the revered and beloved pianist Charlotte Andergast. It is an almost symbiotic relationship: “It lives through us and we through it.” She appears and everyone listens reverently to her program.

Scene 4. Outside the rectory. When Charlotte meets her daughter, the first thing she tells about her new suit from Zurich. Only then do they hug. While Eva asks her about Leonardo's death and Charlotte thinks about it, his voice can be heard from a distance. Charlotte says his end was completely peaceful. She tries not to let grief overwhelm her. Therefore she continues to give her concerts. When Eva's suggestion that she also occasionally plays in church, her mother simply replies with a list of her own great successes. She is shocked to find out that Eva has eaten Helena and asks for a few minutes to rest so that she can regain her composure.

Scene 5. Charlotte reunites with her audience. Although everyone is expressing their admiration, she has become thoughtful. She admits that she often feels a sense of emptiness and considers her soulful piano playing to be vertigo.

Scene 6. Helena's room. Eva leads Charlotte into Helena's room. Charlotte is insecure and behaves awkwardly towards her younger daughter, whose words she does not understand. She admires a dress that she finds in the room and is surprised when Eva tells her that she had given it to Helena in Bornholm when Leonardo was still alive. His voice is heard again and reminds us of the time when Helena lived with them as a fragile young girl before she was deported to the home.

Scene 7. Charlotte reflects on her life in front of the audience. She is plagued by guilt and decides to cut short her stay. She leaves and Eva appears - surprised at the presence of the audience, whom she accuses of being cold. She furiously tries to throw people out. But they counter that they are demanding compensation for their investment and their presence.

Scene 8. After dinner, Charlotte returns in a good mood and lets her audience celebrate. Everyone admires her red dress. She asks Eva to play a piece on the piano for her, but quickly loses interest in it. The bored listeners also leaf through their programs. Eva thinks her mother didn't like the lecture. She now demands to hear her version. The audience explains how the piece should be played. Charlotte says she recorded it around the time Erik was born.

Scene 9. In the cemetery Viktor tells Charlotte about the death of his and Eva's son Erik the day before his fourth birthday. Eva never seems to have gotten over it and still feels his presence. Viktor admits that the loss of his son hit him hard too.

Scene 10. Leonardo talks about the difficulty people have in dealing with overwhelming emotions. Charlotte fears that one day her daughter might harm herself.

Scene 11. Charlotte's room. Charlotte performs her nightly ritual before going to bed, listing the various items she will need. Her back pain is particularly troubling for her. The audience wishes her "good night".

Scene 12. In the dark, Helena suddenly screams in her sleep. Eva rushes to her at once to calm her down.

Scene 13. Midnight. Charlotte has also woken up and got up. She meets Eva as she is leaving Helena's room. Eva lets her emotions run wild about her mother. Even as a child she had always felt unloved by her and now accuses her of this with clear words. Charlotte tries to defend herself, but it becomes clear that her memories are very different from those of her daughter. Eventually she admits that she lived with her lover Martin for eight months while Eva tried to comfort her father.

Second act

Scene 14th night. Eva and Charlotte continue their conversation. Eva complains about her mother's frequent absence because of her concert tours. The conversation becomes increasingly heated. Both talk in confusion. Helena screams again and Eva goes to her.

Scene 15th night. The audience reappears and encourages Charlotte, who has been badly hit by her daughter's allegations.

Scene 16th night. After Eva's return, Charlotte continues with the allegations. The audience now also takes part in the dispute. Eva reminds her mother of her childhood sweetheart Stefan, from whom she was expecting a child at the age of 18. Charlotte had insisted on an abortion at the time. Eva calls her an "emotional cripple" and "hopelessly egocentric". She ruined her life just when she needed the most attention. Viktor appears and takes his wife's side. Charlotte suddenly thinks of her own childhood. She, too, had never experienced love from her parents and felt completely helpless after Eva's birth.

Scene 17th night. Suddenly Helena appears, now apparently completely healthy, and tells about their stay together in Bornholm many years ago. At that time, Leonardo approached her immorally one night. Charlotte did not do anything about it, but left. Eva goes on to say that Helena was so upset that she had to call the doctor. Eva, Viktor and also Leonardo blame Charlotte for Helena's illness. Charlotte asks Eva for forgiveness, but only her audience can comfort her.

Scene 18. In Helena's room in the morning. Viktor informs Helena that Charlotte left that night. Helena is so upset that she tries to get out of bed. Viktor tries to hold her back and calls for his wife.

Scene 19. Later in the rectory. Eva writes a conciliatory letter to her mother. At the same time, she phoned her agent in another city and told him about her visit. She wonders why Helena shouldn't die. Eve, on the other hand, has not yet given up hope of reconciliation.

layout

The libretto is largely based on the original film. The appearances of Erik, the late son of Viktor and Evas, and of Charlotte's also deceased partner Leonardo are new - as real people, not just in visions. Severely disabled sister Helena also gets out of her wheelchair in one scene. In addition, the concert audience of Charlotte appears time and again at her side. On the other hand, the most famous scene in the film is missing - the mutual prelude to Chopin's Prelude No. 2 in A minor.

The composer Sebastian Fagerlund, who has so far mainly become known as a composer of instrumental works, focuses on the orchestral setting. The reviewer of the opera world described his world of sound as follows: “Standing chord columns, suddenly foaming up into euphoric cadence regions, suggesting moments of triumph that ultimately do not materialize, a harmonious aura that by no means whitewashes the cryptic and threatening, but rather makes it more clearly conscious than everyone else marketable orgies of dissonance. ”The vocal parts take a back seat. The composer dispenses with elements of the bel canto style. There are mainly short, iridescent motifs. The part of Eva in particular has strong emotional moments, which are also expressed in more demanding music.

orchestra

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Work history

The opera was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera . The libretto by Gunilla Hemming is based on the script to Ingmar Bergman's film drama Autumn Sonata . Sebastian Fagerlund composed the role of Charlotte especially for the voice of the singer Anne Sofie von Otter .

Fagerlund said in an interview that he had seen the film for the first time about 20 years earlier. When he started composing in 2013/2014, he decided not to look at it again. Lilli Paasikivi, the artistic director of the FNO, called him in December 2012 and asked if he was interested in writing an opera. At the following meeting she suggested the film as a subject. Back at home, he read the script several times and then agreed. He quickly realized that the characters already existed in his subconscious and that everything felt very plausible.

The work was given great praise. For example, Operawire magazine counted the production as one of the 10 international “Must See Opera Productions” of the 2017/2018 season even before the premiere.

Helena Juntunen (Helena), Erika Sunnegårdh (Eva), Anne Sofie von Otter (Charlotte), Tommi Hakala (Viktor) and Nicholas Söderlund (Leonardo) performed at the world premiere on September 8, 2017 at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki . The conductor was John Storgårds , the production was by Stéphane Braunschweig , the costumes by Thibault Vancraenenbroeck and the lighting design by Marion Hewlett. The September 23 performance was streamed live on the website of the Finnish public service YLE , the Stage24 website of the Finnish National Opera and on The Opera Platform on the Internet and subsequently made available as video-on-demand . The Swedish classic label BIS Records released the work on SACD .

After the premiere, the reviews were more cautious. The reviewer of the Opernwelt magazine, for example, recognized "musical merits, but not a really convincing message." He criticized the fact that the "arc of tension [...] that had built up [was] lost in the second act, the draconian conflicts [...] ended in elegiac insignificance" and "Ingmar Bergman's disturbing and enigmatic final scene was smoothed out in favor of a socially acceptable solution". The reviewer of the Opera Lounge praised the music and the staging, but also said that the work had "no pluses compared to the 1978 film".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Volker Tarnow: Nightmare game. In: Opernwelt from November 2017, p. 16.
  2. ↑ a b Indication in the score.
  3. ↑ a b c Work information on the website of the Finnish National Opera , accessed on November 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ Interview with Sebastian Fagerlund in the opera's livestream.
  5. ↑ Merja Hottinen: Autumn Sonata - between the real and the unreal. In: Finnish Music Quarterly, September 4, 2017, accessed November 15, 2017.
  6. ↑ Francisco Salazar: 10 Must See Opera Productions Of The Fall 2017-18 Season [International]. In: Operawire of August 15, 2017, accessed November 15, 2017.
  7. ↑ Autumn Sonata ( Memento of 17 November 2017 Internet Archive ) at Opera vision, accessed on 15 November 2017th
  8. ^ Ekkehard Pluta: Sebastian Fagerlund - Höstsonaten. CD review on Klassik-heute.com, accessed on November 3, 2018.
  9. ↑ Rolf Farh: Sebastian Fagerlund "Höstsonaten" in Helsinki - Complicated relationships. Review . In: Opera Lounge, accessed November 16, 2017.