You Are the Earth Beneath You
Du är jorden under dig
2022-2023
Based on texts from
“Röster ur tingen” (1923)
by Kerstin Söderholm (1897-1943)
Selected and translated from Swedish to English by Sebastian Hilli
The work can be performed in Swedish or English
Duration
34 min.
Instrumentation
2(Fl2 also Picc)22(Cl2 also B. cl)2(Bsn2 also Cbsn) 2200, Timp Perc1, strings
Commissioned by
Anu Komsi
Premiere by
Anu Komsi, soloist, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra & Vaasa City Orchestra
Conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing
Nov 22 2023
Jakobstad, Finland
You Are the Earth Beneath You (Du är jorden under dig)
is a large-scale work for soprano and orchestra, written to texts by Kerstin Söderholm (1897-1943).
The work is in six movements, each of the six poems being selected from Söderholm’s debut anthology Röster ur tingen (1923) and translated from Swedish to English by Sebastian Hilli.
The movements are:
1. I Walk in a Dazzling Light
2. I Fill in Stillness
3. Sunshine Morning
4. Take Me Earth!
5. You Are the Earth Beneath You
6. Rest
The poems, self-reflective in nature, paint a picture of a person’s relationship with self as well as the relationship of the self with the Earth and the entire universe.
The poems go into the narrator’s inner world and emotions, revealing thoughts of existential anxiousness, helplessness, exhaustedness and longing for purpose.
Nature plays a prominent role in the poems, having a symbolic and concrete presence throughout all six poems. In the poems, as well as in the music, nature presents as forceful, threatening, powerful, beautiful, sensual, embracing and comforting.
Nature is used as a metaphor bridging the gap between the narrator’s internal world and their connection to the external surrounding world. Ultimately, the narrator aspires to be a part of something larger that reaches beyond the limits of mundane and humanity.
While the poems are characterized by the narrator’s at times tragic outlook on life, this thought of belonging might bring them a sort of sense of hope and peace.
Like nature itself, sometimes still and sometimes flowing, unpredictably in motion and ever-evolving, the narrator surrenders to the stream of emotions and to the circle of life.
The work is commissioned by and dedicated to Anu Komsi.
Past performances
Nov 22 2023
Anu Komsi, soloist, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra & Vaasa City Orchestra
Conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing
Jakobstad, Finland
Sheet Music
Schott Music
Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG
Weihergarten 5
55116 Mainz
info@schott-music.com
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