Vinko Globokar: Les Émigrés [1/7]

Part 1 of the 1st movement: "Miserere"

"I composed the instrumental and vocal work, Les Émigrés between 1982 and 1986. It was intended for the stage, and the subject of reflection was emigration. Is it a composer's function to tackel so complex a topic? Yes, of course it is!
In the beginning I considered writing an opera, but very soon abandoned that idea, convinced I had to invent a new form, to take the risk of producing something that could not be classified. The work makes use of an orchestra, five narrators, a small choir, two vocal soloists, and a jazz trio, and is divided into three sections.
The first part, Miserere, may be regarded as a historical allegory and is mainly based on texts : letters written by emigrants to their families (both letters written at the beginning of the century by Italians who had emigrated to Brazil and more recent letters by Turkish emigrants), interviews of women who followed their husbands into emigration but who do not work, quotations from the International Immigration Act (mainly contradictory), poems written by emigrants and excerpts from the daily press connected with emigration.
These texts are sung, shouted, spoken by the five narrators who, in this first part, give the impression of sitting in a court that is in the process of judging the public. The emigrant's major problem being the lack of understanding of the language, I place the listener in a similar situation, confronting him with texts translated into a dozen languages. We are dealing with people who left their countries in order to survive or improve their way of life. In this first part the subject is emigration for economic, not political reasons.
An orchestra is superimposed on these texts. It symbolizes the inevitable fatality weighing upon the emigrant and behaves like a steamroller crushing all the logic and all justice in its way. A jazz trio cuts up the time filled by the orchestra and the narrators and alludes to the music poured out by juke-boxes.

The second part, Réalités/Augenblicke, consists of the multiple projection of photographic transparencies and film on themes like religious rituals (marriage, funerals, birth), work, housing and leisure.
The music, performed by a vocal quintet, is intended to be cheerful and optimistic, negating the idea of misery that could emerge from the visual element. It is based on calls, interjections of joy and invitations to the dance.

The third part, Sternbild der Grenze, is based on a text written for the occasion by Peter Handke. It is composed of three sections. The first deals with hermetically sealed frontiers, showing in nine tableaux what people contrive to cross a border in a clandestine way. It is performed on stage by giant puppets. The second section is a reflection on the surmounting of frontiers. The physical and acoustic frontier is represented by five singers whose movements prevent a couple from communicating. These five singers are then replaced by a "true" barrier that finally obstructs all communication. But at this moment all the musicians and singers who have participated in the performance invade the hall in order to address each member of the audience separately.
The third section is supposed to symbolize the abolition of the frontier to the sound of harmonicas."

--Vinko Globokar

Category:

Music

Tags:

• vinko
• globokar
• hans
• joachim
• hespos
• indeterminate

[GreggaryPeccary]

Err, you missed part 2!

[flammesombres]

blergh.... youtube.... i'll correct this tomorrow. Sorry 'bout that.

[GreggaryPeccary]

Thanks for posting! Will digest it when I have time