Mirror of the Sun, a musical time travel [live performance by Via Artis Konsort]
Classical music for the heart and intellect. A classical art song based on a composition by 19th century woman composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, arranged and extended by contemporary classical composer Poul Udbye Pock-Steen. The piece is part of the classical song cycle 'Mirror of the Sun'. THE SONG 'La Ausencia y la Tempestad' Translated, the composite title means: The Absence and the Storm. Behind this somewhat mysterious title lie two pieces of music: 1) L'absence, composed by Pauline Viardot-Garcia in 1850 Pauline Viardot-Garcia was a talented soprano, pianist, and composer, the daughter of the famous Spanish baritone Manuel García, who settled in Paris in the early 19th century. Pauline Viardot-Garcia befriended a great many personalities from cultural elite of the time, among them the Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen. Pauline Viardot-Garcia's connection to Hans Christian Andersen came through the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale. Jenny LInd had serious problems with an overused voice around 1831 and sought help from Pauline Viardot-García's elder brother, also named Manuel García after their father, who was an internationally recognized singing teacher at the time. Jenny Lind stayed in Paris for two years, and the two women of the same age crossed paths several times during their often rival career paths. The Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen fell in love with Jenny Lind in 1843 when he heard her sing at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Andersen's unrequited love for the Swedish soprano is well known, and many books have been written about it. Whether Andersen's acquaintance with Pauline Viardot-García was due to a contact through Jenny Lind is difficult to say. They all belonged to the European cultural elite of the time, but we know that Hans Christian Andersen visited Pauline Viardot-Garcia in Paris on his way back from a trip to Spain. 2) 'La tempestad', composed by Poul Udbye Pock-Steen in 2020. La tempestad was inspired by a storm surge that devastated Barcelona on September 15, 1862, just as Andersen was staying at the Hotel Oriente in the city. Poul Udbye Pock-Steen was fascinated by the connection between Hans Christian Andersen's journey to Spain, Jenny Lind, and Pauline Viardot-García, and decided to include Viardot's piece L'absence in a planned song cycle 'Mirror of the Sun'. The piece appears in a recognizable, but rearranged version and is interwoven with Pock-Steen's own section 'La tempestad'. MIRROR OF THE SUN 'Mirror of the Sun' is a collection of classical art songs for chamber ensemble, with lyrics primarily by the Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen and music by various composers. The songs were recorded live at Nyvang Church, Kalundborg, Denmark. The music in 'Mirror of the Sun' is composed and arranged for an unusual combination of instruments: piano, marimba, romantic guitar, early flamenco guitar, clarinet, gaita (a Spanish folk music instrument), and viola da gamba. The songs are sung by two classical singers and a singer using vocal techniques from world music genres. Most of the songs are based on a series of quasi-modernist and sensuous poems from Andersen's trip to Spain in 1862. The poems exhibit a range of strong contrasts; South-North, passion-sobriety, sensuality-abstinence, youth-old age, nationalism-global outlook, Protestantism-Catholicism, life-death, and more. The poems stand out distinctly from the rest of Andersen's poetry and are in many ways ahead of their time, both in form and content. However, the poems did not arouse much enthusiasm in Denmark; they were simply considered too bold. Learn more about the song on Ballhaus' blog:
https://ballhaus.dk/en/post/la-ausencia Learn more about the performing ensemble Via Artis Konsort:
https://musica.nu [This video is part of a larger series of 'Music for the heart and intellect'. Please subscribe to our channel and follow the ensemble's ongoing work. [
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