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Programs for the 31st concert season
(2008-2009)
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Fragments for the End of Time
[original German title: ENDZEIT FRAGMENTE]
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| Theme: |
From the time of Christianity’s introduction into Europe
until the end of the first millennium, apocalyptic images
of the End of Time and the Last Judgement were widespread,
both in texts and in the visual arts. These images, based
largely on the Biblical Revelation of John, at times bear
a remarkable similarity to the pagan-germanic description
of the world’s destruction during the final battle (Ragnarök)
between Odin, the gods and their mortal enemies, the
giants.
In Sequentia’s new program, Fragments for the End of Time,
vocalist/harper Benjamin Bagby und flautist Norbert
Rodenkirchen explore the musical world of these surprising,
powerful texts, some of which survive only as fragments:
the Old High German Muspilli (the name itself may be
borrowed from the Norse), a complex poem which describes
the waking of the dead, the battle of Elijah with the
Antichrist, the workings of Satan, the horn calling to
judgement, and warns of the uselessness bribery in that
final courtroom; the doomsday prophecy of the Erythrean
Sibyl (an acrostic text surviving only in Augustine’s City
of God) as sung in Aquitanian cloisters; the Alsatian monk
Otfrid’s rhyming German verses which give advice on how to
prepare for the last day, when the world will end ‘like a
book snapped shut’; the Old English ‘Song of the Last
Survivor’ (found embedded in the Beowulf epic) describes
the bleak and lonely end to an unnamed tribe, as their
useless treasure is heaped in a cave to await a dragon’s
arrival; masterful Latin sequences from Frankish tradition,
describing angels and archangels; instrumental interludes
based on sequulae – untexted sequence melodies with titles
(such as puella turbata, fistula, cithara) which point to
possible pre-Christian usages; and finally, from the Old
Icelandic Edda collection, the harrowing description of
Ragnarök, when the armies of Surt and Loki launch their
final, deadly assault on the indigenous northern European
gods.
The instruments used in this concert include
reconstructions of Germanic lyres (based on 7th century
instruments from Oberflacht, near Stuttgart), an early
medieval triangular harp, and copies of medieval
transverse flutes (including a flute made from a swan’s
bone, based on an 11th century instrument unearthed near
Speyer).
Duration: 75 minutes, without interval |
| Personnel: |
2 musicians: Benjamin Bagby (voice, harp) and Norbert Rodenkirchen (harp, flute) |
| Venue:
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Intimate
church or small concert hall with resonant acoustic. |
| Availability: |
2008-2009
For artistic questions, contact Sequentia directly at:
Mailing address:
Sequentia
12, rue du Poteau
F-75018 Paris
France
European representation:
Cinquièmes Cordes
Valérie Lafont
valerie@cinquiemescordes.com
tel. +33 (0)1 40 35 71 56
42
rue des Vinaigriers
F-75010 Paris
France
All North American presenters, and those interested in the Edda music-theater production with stage director Ping Chong should contact:
Jon Aaron Concert Artists
Jon Aaron
Telephone (USA):
+1 212 665 0313
For those interested in Benjamin Bagby's performance of "Beowulf" visit the web site at: bagbybeowulf.com |
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