Songs
Nuits Adieux (Nights Farewell)
(1996)
Nuits Adieux (Nights Farewell)
Dans l’air s’arrache de la terre au noir la lumièreet la crache dans l’air la nuit rêche jusqu’aux bords des arbres dans la terre...Nuittues venueleslumièresont poussésurles herbes, les pentesvidéesdelumière, leslumières sontdevenuessombres...dans l’herbe s’attachent de la terre au noir les grains les vagues de la lumière et les crachentdans l’herbe la nuit réelle jus-qu’au bord des arbressous la terre... Nuit, c’est celachevelure de noir reverend la lumiére n’est que pour le définir ainsila nuit première pécéda le jourJacques Rouband, Échanges de la lumiéreAdieu, granit, tu deviendras fleur; adieu, fleur, tu deviendras colombe; adieu, colombe, tu seras femme; adieu femme, tu seras souffrance;adieu, homme, tu seras croyance; adieu, vous qui serez tout amour et prière.
Nuits Adieux (Nights Farewell)
In the airlightwrenches itself free from the earthinto darknessand spits itinto the airNight harsh in the groundup to the edgeof the treesNightyouhave comethelightshave thrustontothe grasses, the slopesdrainedoflights, thelightshavebecomedark- - In the grassthe grain the wavesof lightcling to the earth in the darkand spit them outonto the grassReal nightup to the edge of the treesbeneath the ground- -Night is just thatblackholy head of hair light is only thereto define itthus did the first nightgive way to day
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish artists who are making a worldwide impact. She studied in Helsinki, Fribourg and Paris.
At IRCAM, Saariaho developed techniques of computer-assisted composition and acquired fluency in working on tape and with live electronics. This experience influenced her approach to writing for orchestra, with its emphasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound in slow transformations. Significantly, her first orchestral piece, Verblendungen (1984), involves a gradual exchange of roles and character between orchestra and tape. And even the titles of her, linked, pair of orchestral works, Du Cristal (1989) and …à la Fumée (1990) suggest her preoccupation with colour and texture. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as Orion (2004), Laterna Magica (2008), Circle Map (2008).
The detailed notation using harmonics, microtonaly and detailed continuum of sound extending from pure tone to unpitched noise – all features found in one of her most frequently performed works, Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra (1994). Her catalogue also includes Aile du songe (2001), Notes on Light (2006), D’OM LE VRAI SENS (2010), Maan Varjot (2014). In 2015, Gerald Finley and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, premier True Fire for baritone and orchestra.
From later nineties, Saariaho has turned to opera, with outstanding success: L’Amour de Loin (2000), Adrian Mater (2006), Emilie (2010) and the oratorio La Passion de Simone (2006). Her opera Only the Sound Remains was premiered in March 2016 at The Dutch National Opera. Other performances will follow in Paris, Helsinki, Madrid and Toronto.
Saariaho has claimed the major composing awards: Grawemeyer Award, Wihuri Prize, Nemmers Prize, Sonning Prize, Polar Music Prize. In 2015 she was the judge of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.
Kaija Saariaho’s harp concerto Trans was premiered in August 2016 by Xavier de Maistre and The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
See Full Entry
Poet
Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac,[1] 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.
Taken from Wikipedia. Read more here.
Read or download La Comédie humaine for free here on Gutenberg Press, or listen to it on audiobook here on LibriVox.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 20 Oct 2018: Sounding North: The Carice Singers
-
Nuits Adieux (Nights Farewell)
Nuits Adieux (Nights Farewell)
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish artists who are making a worldwide impact. She studied in Helsinki, Fribourg and Paris.
At IRCAM, Saariaho developed techniques of computer-assisted composition and acquired fluency in working on tape and with live electronics. This experience influenced her approach to writing for orchestra, with its emphasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound in slow transformations. Significantly, her first orchestral piece, Verblendungen (1984), involves a gradual exchange of roles and character between orchestra and tape. And even the titles of her, linked, pair of orchestral works, Du Cristal (1989) and …à la Fumée (1990) suggest her preoccupation with colour and texture. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as Orion (2004), Laterna Magica (2008), Circle Map (2008).
The detailed notation using harmonics, microtonaly and detailed continuum of sound extending from pure tone to unpitched noise – all features found in one of her most frequently performed works, Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra (1994). Her catalogue also includes Aile du songe (2001), Notes on Light (2006), D’OM LE VRAI SENS (2010), Maan Varjot (2014). In 2015, Gerald Finley and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, premier True Fire for baritone and orchestra.
From later nineties, Saariaho has turned to opera, with outstanding success: L’Amour de Loin (2000), Adrian Mater (2006), Emilie (2010) and the oratorio La Passion de Simone (2006). Her opera Only the Sound Remains was premiered in March 2016 at The Dutch National Opera. Other performances will follow in Paris, Helsinki, Madrid and Toronto.
Saariaho has claimed the major composing awards: Grawemeyer Award, Wihuri Prize, Nemmers Prize, Sonning Prize, Polar Music Prize. In 2015 she was the judge of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.
Kaija Saariaho’s harp concerto Trans was premiered in August 2016 by Xavier de Maistre and The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
See Full Entry
Poet
Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac,[1] 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.
Taken from Wikipedia. Read more here.
Read or download La Comédie humaine for free here on Gutenberg Press, or listen to it on audiobook here on LibriVox.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 20 Oct 2018: Sounding North: The Carice Singers