As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Sound theater
Commissioned by Donaueschingen Festival and Land Baden-Württemberg
Description
World premiere: 16 October 1999, Donaueschingen
Ensemble Varianti Stuttgart
Conductor: Manfred Schreier
Staging: Thea Brejzek
Claire Bloom, recitant, Mike Svoboda, solo trombone Gerard Buquet, cbass trombone
Libretto: Mari Mezei, based on the diary of Lady Sarashina, Year 1008, Japan
Based on excerpts from the diary of an unknown Japanese noblewoman
Language: English
English translation: Ivan Morris
This “dream play” is based on excerpts from the diary of an unknown Japanese noblewoman known as Lady Sarashina (“Sarashina Nikki”) who lived during Japans´s “Golden Age” in the 11th century.
The author takes us on a voyage of desire through supposedly real episodes of her life, showing us magical characters and the wonders of nature, blending together her subjective perceptions and subtle shocks in a rather curious way.
Synopsis
Parts:
1. Spring
2. Dream with the Cat / Requiem
3. The Moon
4. Mirror – dream
5. Dark Night
6. Remembrance
7. Bells
The libretto focuses on some of Lady Sarashina’s poems and also on events from her life. As to its genre, the composition can be considered vocal theatre or a vocal play, the world of the 11th century Japan comes to life through vocal solutions. Its atmosphere creates a context for odd stories embedded half in a dream, half in reality. As weepers lament in prose only up to the point where emotions reach a climax, and they feel forced to continue by singing, also in this theatrical piece similar tools serve to express emotional escalation. Escalation is carried out by two characters in the piece: when the narrator is just about to reach the point of singing (these are the poetic parts of the text), the solo trombone takes over. This way, the trombone is the continuation of the character of the narrator, only with escalated emotions.
This „character” has a distant, dream-like alter-ego, a contrabass trombone, which we can see and hear only from afar in dream-like scenes.
The form of these two instruments is also unique and exists only in the dream: two-bell trombones especially constructed for this composition. Not only do the narrator-protagonist and the characters of the stories play roles but also the solo instruments, while the other instrument create an atmosphere between reality and dreams.
Performances
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Almeida Theatre
English version
Staging: Patrick Dickie
Designer : Adam Wiltshire
Lighting designer: Neil Austin
Sound Design: Ian Dearden / sound Intermedia
Sound consultant: Bryan J. Wolf
Music director: Yuval Zorn
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Kathryn Harries
Dream speakers: Natasha Lohan, Anne Marie Gibbons, Richard Jackson
Speaking cello: Zoe Martlew
Alto trombone: Mike Svoboda
Contrabass trombone/sousaphone: Gérard Buquet
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Almeida Theatre
English version
Staging: Patrick Dickie
Designer : Adam Wiltshire
Lighting designer: Neil Austin
Sound Design: Ian Dearden / sound Intermedia
Sound consultant: Bryan J. Wolf
Music director: Yuval Zorn
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Kathryn Harries
Dream speakers: Natasha Lohan, Anne Marie Gibbons, Richard Jackson
Speaking cello: Zoe Martlew
Alto trombone: Mike Svoboda
Contrabass trombone/sousaphone: Gérard Buquet
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
English version
Staging: Cornelia Heger
Scene: Janina Mendroch
Costume: Sabine Hilscher
Sound direction: Bryan Wolf
Conductor: Philip Mayers
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Vivian Lüdorf
"Alter ego" - Posaune: Jürgen Schaal
Schatten des "alter ego" - Kontrabassposaune: Volkmar Jäger
Mondgänger - sousaphon: Volkmar Jäger
Traumstimmen: Shira Karmon, Elisabeth Zündel, Jonathan de la Paz Zaens
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
März Musik Festival
English version
Staging: Cornelia Heger
Scene: Janina Mendroch
Costume: Sabine Hilscher
Sound direction: Bryan Wolf
Conductor: Philip Mayers
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Vivian Lüdorf
"Alter ego" - Posaune: Jürgen Schaal
Schatten des "alter ego" - Kontrabassposaune: Volkmar Jäger
Mondgänger - sousaphon: Volkmar Jäger
Traumstimmen: Shira Karmon, Elisabeth Zündel, Jonathan de la Paz Zaens
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
März Musik Festival
English version
Staging: Cornelia Heger
Scene: Janina Mendroch
Costume: Sabine Hilscher
Sound direction: Bryan Wolf
Conductor: Philip Mayers
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Vivian Lüdorf
"Alter ego" - Posaune: Jürgen Schaal
Schatten des "alter ego" - Kontrabassposaune: Volkmar Jäger
Mondgänger - sousaphon: Volkmar Jäger
Traumstimmen: Shira Karmon, Elisabeth Zündel, Jonathan de la Paz Zaens
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
März Musik Festival
English version
Staging: Cornelia Heger
Scene: Janina Mendroch
Costume: Sabine Hilscher
Sound direction: Bryan Wolf
Conductor: Philip Mayers
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Vivian Lüdorf
"Alter ego" - Posaune: Jürgen Schaal
Schatten des "alter ego" - Kontrabassposaune: Volkmar Jäger
Mondgänger - sousaphon: Volkmar Jäger
Traumstimmen: Shira Karmon, Elisabeth Zündel, Jonathan de la Paz Zaens
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (Hungarian version)
Cond: András Almásy-Tóth
Thalia Theatre Budapest
Budapest Spring Festival
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Kulturfabrik Schönherr
Chemnitzer Kulturfestival
Staging: Sabine Sterken
Conductor: Niksa Bareza
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Christine Gloger
"Counterpart": Jürge Schaal, alt-trombone
"Shadow" : Volkmar Jäger, contrabass-trombone
"Moon": Edgar Schilling, Sousaphon
"Dream-speakers": Heidrun Göpfert, Regine Köbler, Dietrich Greve
Ensemble: Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie
Sound direction: Gerald Kassube
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Schauspielhaus
Klangforum Ensemble
Cond: Gergely Vajda
directed by Michael Scheidl
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Budapest, Thalia Theatre
Budapest Spring Festival
Hungarian version translation: Kornél Hamvai
Staging: András Almási-Tóth
Scene and costume: Zsuzsa Molnár
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Adél Kováts
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Johanna Bodor, Borbála Németh, Sándor Almási
Ensemble: UMZE Budapest
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Vienna, Schauspielhaus
Staging: Michael Scheidl
Scene and costume: Nora Scheidl
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Birgit Doll
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow" and "Moon": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Dream-speakers": Roberta Cortese, Margarete Jungen, Johann Leutgeb
Ensemble: Klangforum Wien
Sound direction: Peter Böhm
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Venue: Cité de la Musique
Staging: Thea Brejzek
Scene and light: Lawrence Wallen
Conductor: Gergely Vajda
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Claire Bloom
"Counterpart": Benny Sluchin, alt-trombone
"Shadow": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Moon": Klaus Burger, sousaphon
"Dream-speakers": Christine Schmeling, mezzo; Stephanie Field, alto; Matthias Horn, barytone
Ensemble InterContemporain, Paris
Computer-piano programmed by Vykintas Baltakas
Sound direction: IRCAM Paris
Sound supervisor: Peter Eötvös
Eötvös: As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
World premiere
Donaueschingen Festival (Germany)
Commissioned by "Südwestrundfunk" and "Land Baden-Württemberg"
Staging: Thea Brejzek
Scene and light: Lawrence Wallen
Conductor: Manfred Schreier
Cast:
Lady Sarashina: Claire Bloom
"Counterpart": Mike Svoboda, alt-trombone
"Shadow": Gérard Buquet, contrabass-trombone
"Moon": Klaus Burger, sousaphon
"Dream-speakers": Christine Schmeling, mezzo; Stephanie Field, alto; Matthias Horn, barytone
Ensemble Varianti, Stuttgart
Computer-piano programmed by Vykintas Baltakas
Sound direction: Digital Masters Stuttgart
Sound supervisor: Peter Eötvös
Details
Publisher information
Edition Ricordi – performing material on hire (Sy 3458)
Cast
1 recitant (actress)
3 singers: sopran, mezzo, bariton
Orchestration
1 trombone alto with double bell (solo) amplified
1 trombone cbass with double bell (solo) amplified
3 cl (3. also bcl, cbcl)
1 sax (alto, also bariton)
1 sousaphon amplified
3 percussions
9 strings: 3.0.2.2.2.
1 computer piano without player
Special instruments: sousaphon with light-module
Technique: multichannel harmoniser and sound-projection
Technical information
____________________________________________
The sound material is available for download
____________________________________________
Further information
“… its British premiere by Almeida Opera was something special.
Sprung from the Japanese diary written by the 11th-century noblewoman known as Lady Sarashina, here was an hour of mysterious, compelling beauty. Lady S wrote about dreams, death, orange blossoms, a hundred autumn nights. Eötvös’s triumph is to embody the diary’s wistful moods in sounds without ever shattering their fragility.”
/Geoff Brown, London, The Times, 12.07.07/
“… the work encapsulates the fastidious sensibility of the subject in an audio-visual spectacle of rarefied elegance. …Eotvos transported us for an hour away from trendy Islington to another world so refined that one could hardly bear the spell to be broken.”
/Barry Millington, London, Evening Standard, 11.07.07/
Als “Klangtheater” bezeichnet Peter Eötvös seine 1999 uraufgeführte Komposition – und tatsächlich vollstreckt sich in As I crossed… das Theatralische im Klanglichen, gehen Sehen und Hören ineinander über und ineinander auf, erweitert und entgrenzt sich der Text hinein in die Musik, die ihrerseits in klanglichen Spiegelungen ein assoziatives Traumspiel imaginiert. Im Zentrum dieses Traumspiels stehen Tagebuchaufzeichnungen einer anonymen japanischen Hofdame, der so genannten Lady Sarashina (“Sarashina Nikki”) aus dem “Goldenen Zeitalter” Japans (11. Jahrhundert).
Mit zartem, poetischen Sinn führt die Autorin über vermeintlich reale Episoden ihres Lebens, über zauberhafte Figuren und Naturerlebnisse in eine Art Sehnsuchtsreise, innerhalb derer die subjektiven Wahrnehmungen und feinen Erschütterungen auf eigentümliche Weise vermischt werden.
Dies findet eine kongeniale Entsprechung in den vielschichtigen Klangräumen der Musik. In der Kongruenz zwischen Bild- und Klangwelt kommen die entgrenzten Phantasien der Protagonistin zum Ausdruck und werden in mehreren instrumentalen Klangschichten gespiegelt. Das Innenleben der Lady wird seinerseits in klingenden Klangschatten (Posaune und Bassposaune sowie drei Stimmen) fortgeführt. Andere Instrumente, elektronisch verstärkt und überformt, bilden einen atmosphärisch dichten Klangraum, der den Zuhörer umschließt.
Töredékek Lady Sharashina naplójából, 1008-ból
“Egy nő ezer évvel ezelőtt Japánban névtelenül és cím nélkül írt egy könyvet.” Így kezdődik a fordító, Ivan Morris bevezetője az As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams című könyvhöz, amelyben összegyűjtötte ennek – a Lady Sarashina néven ismert hölgynek – a 11. századi Japánban írt verseit és napló-jegyzeteit.
A libretto kiemel néhányat Lady Sarashina verseiből és életének eseményeiből. A kompozíció műfaját tekintve hangszínháznak, hangjátéknak nevezhető, különleges hangi megoldások realizálják a hallgató számára a 11. századi Japán életformát, hangulatilag megjelenítve a furcsa, félig álom, félig valóság történeteket.
Ahogyan a siratóasszonyok csak addig mondják prózában a szöveget (kántálnak), amíg az érzelmi töltés olyan fokra nem emelkedik, ahonnan már csak énekben lehet folytatni, ugyanúgy ebben a színpadi műben is ilyen eszközök szolgálnak a fokozásra. A darabban két szerepre oszlik fel a fokozás: amikor a mesélő eljut arra a pontra, ahol már a dal következne (ezek a szöveg verses részei), ott átveszi tőle a szerepet a szóló harsona. Így a hasona ugyanannak a személynek a folytatása, az érzelmi töltés fokának megfelelően.
Ennek a “szereplőnek” van egy távoli, álombeli alteregója, a kontrabasszus harsona, amelyet messziről, mindig csak az álombeli jelentekben látunk.
Ennek a két hangszernek a formája is különleges, csak az álomban létező, külön erre a kompozícióra épített két-tölcséres hangszerek. Nemcsak a visszaemlékezéseit mesélő föszereplő és a történeteiben megjelenő szereplők, hanem a szóló hangszerek is szerepeket játszanak, a többi hangszer pedig az atmoszférát teremti meg a realitás és az álmok között.
/Eötvös Péter/
Sound
Recordings
Video
Hommage à Peter Eötvös