By Chandos Records Suite No. 3 In 1916, Atterberg was appointed conductor and composer at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, or ‘Dramaten’) in Stockholm. It was a post that established for him a strong element of routine, and challenged him to develop his powers of musical invention. It was not always easy to meet the demands of the plays with the small musical resources at hand. These experiences proved useful when in 1918 he was also asked to compose music for a production at the Intimate Theatre (Intima Teatern, or ‘Intiman’) of Soeur Béatrice (Sister Beatrice), a Miracle, or mystery play, by the Belgian Nobel Prize winning playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. He only had space for three musicians, playing violin, viola, and harmonium. The play, set in a convent, centres round a nun who is abducted by her lover while praying beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary. To avoid scandal, Mary herself takes the nun’s place, no one noticing anything different. At the end of her life, the nun returns, repentant and dying. She realises the extent of her offences, and the amount of love that has been extended to her. Atterberg reworked his music in 1921 by replacing the harmonium with a string orchestra, and known as Suite No. 3 the work has become one of Atterberg’s most frequently played compositions. It is a small masterpiece, notable for both its beauty and passion. The ‘Prélude’ is a slow movement ‘in a certain sacral style’, as the composer described it, and, as in the ‘Pantomim’, from the second act (solo violin and viola portraying the nun and her lover), the music is dominated by the expressive playing of the soloists, set against the rather temperate, partly muted, background of the strings. ‘Vision’, the prelude to the third act, is a dream-like waltz carrying memories of the nun’s sinful past: melancholy, veiled, and not far removed from the ‘Valse triste’ of Sibelius. https://youtube/watch?v=sjHAexK4lLU
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 23:56:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015