Music Finland Core

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St George and Co.The basis of the drama is the legend of St. George, or Yrjänä as he is known in Finnish folk ballads. In the opera the figure of the dragon, the forces of evil, is personified in one Sören Drake, a bandit who has managed to get the city's opportunist merchants into his camp. The two central figures, however, are Prince Erik and his daughter Marina. Only when Drake demands Marina for himself does the old and weak prince throw over his policy of appeasement and conjure up an ideal from his youth, an anonymous heroic knight, whom Marina is also able to put a name to, on the basis of her own dreams: he is Göran Sköld.The opera has a legendary, fairy-tale background, and does not fit clearly into any particular historical era. But at the same time the subject does tie in with the history of Turku Cathedral in at least two ways. In the Middle Ages the church had not one but two altars dedicated to St. George, and he remained - particularly in Scandinavia - a popular figure even after the Reformation. Equally, in the early 16th century a pirate named Otto Ruud pillaged and burnt Turku and its cathedral, taking with him the famous Ejby Chalice, which was only returned from Denmark earlier this century, and which is now on show in the Cathedral Museum.At one point I thought about writing an opera in which the cast would be prominent figures who are buried in Turku Cathedral. But in order to carry this off, I would have had to make the complicated into the simple, constantly pointing out to the audience who was who. I decided instead to make the simple complicated, to go looking for new dimensions to a familiar and archetypal tale. The most problematic figure was Göran himself, since he is not flesh and blood like the others, but rather an idea and a function. In my solution he is actually a projection of the Prince and his daughter, a concretization of their hopes and dreams. He is as strong as light, but his strength is not physical or aggressive. Hence his name, which in the early drafts was to have been Svärd (Sword), had to become Sköld (Shield). When I told Carpelan that I wanted to make Göran a breeches part (given to a mezzo-soprano), he redesigned the character in a more androgynous direction. It may be that this "gender-bending" reflects in some way a new interest in things physical, which is also associated with my running hobbies.[...]As for where my opera fits on the nationalist scale, I shall leave that to others. The work differs from the mainstream in one respect at least: it will be sung in Swedish. Swedish is nowadays the minority language of the country, but at that time (in my mind I am currently dressing the opera in the 16th century) it was the dominant tongue in what was, after all, Sweden's 'Eastern Province'. Without a doubt it will become a Finnish opera - or a 'regional opera' in modern Brussels-speak. Perhaps the admission of this is not unconnected with my having reached middle age, or that stage of my life when my track condition can be 25 times better than it was 25 years ago.© Mikko Heiniö, 1999(excerpt from the article On being a composer in Finland: Marathon man paces himself for the opera, published in Finnish Music Quarterly 3/1999)

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Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin

Riddaren och draken