El Canto de la Guerra

by Maria Kallionpää

The Song of War

for Soprano, Theremin and Orchestra

Description

"The Song of War” (El Canto de la Guerra) was written for the World War I commemoration year 2014, and since the Russians started the war in Ukraine, its thematics are shockingly relevant again. The lyrics reflect the threat of the impending war from the perspective of the past: the text is a collage consisting of the predictions of Pythia (the oracle of Delphi), as well as an excerpt of an atmospheric poem by Spanish poet Carolina Coronado, who seemed to have sensed the tragic happenings within Europe already decades before the WW1 took place. The different prophecies from the two completely different situations and eras are separated by the names of some of the most notorious battles of the First World War. I have combined the two different texts relatively freely in order to reflect the haunting atmosphere of the looming future calamities. Pythia, or Carolina, is presented in the context of this work as a prophet and the electronic theremin instrument symbolises her connection to the divine knowledge that only she can access. The composition is dedicated to the soloists who gave the premiere: Lydia Kavina (theremin) and Tal Katsir (soprano). Commissioned by the Oxford University Philharmonic Orchestra 2013-2014.

Maria Kallionpää

Instrumentation

3333 3231 12 0, str, sopr solo, theremin solo [fl+pic, cl+bcl]

Category

Works for Soloist(s) and Orchestra

Language

Es

Lyricist

Text by Pythia, the oracle of Delfoi and Carolina Coronado

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by the Oxford University Philharmonic Orchestra 2013-2014

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Archive number

MF22758

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