The Farewell
After the creation of Affected (2006), a piece consisting of three soli based on the Lieder of Gustav Mahler, Claire Croizé decided to continue her artistic work on Mahlers music. This time the starting point was the last pieces of the composer: Der Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde and the 3rd movement of the 9th symphony, the Rondo-Burlesque. The last part of the piece is in silence.
What interests Claire Croizé in Mahlers œuvre is how man feels confronted with the world, his solitude and endlessness; a hymn to life composed of solitude, the longing for a dialogue and the search for the absolute. The music creates the space, it suggests places, pasts moments, thoughts, feelings and emotions. The music is a truly mise en scène of emotions. The writing is romanesque, filled with desires and doubts.
The Farewell rests on a dialogue between the three scenic elements dance, music and light, created and directed by Jan Maertens, and wants to research how these mutually interpret, converge or diverge. Each form has to find its own space and freedom to exist by and for itself and experience its own solitude. The dramaturgy of the piece sets on the musical composition. Croizé wants to continue the romantic and dramatic aspect, the emotional content, and at the same time create the possibility for the audience to identify and make their own stories.
Notes on the music:
In the writing of the Abschied, there is a permanent game between the explosion and the restraint of emotions, the alternation between positives (major) and negatives (minor) moments tells about the duality in human beings. The Leitmotiv, many times repeated, always with variations, creates an unstable atmosphere.
« (…) Le rondo-burlesque dont le nom trahit l’intention de rire du cours du monde, perd bientôt l’envie d’en rire. C’est le seul et unique morceau de bravoure de Mahler, sur le plan de l’écriture non moins que pour l’orchestre: il perd tout souci de pureté, de correction, jusque dans les parties fuguées proprement dites (…) »
« La musique de Mahler est ‘recherchée’ dans la mesure où elle cherche à atteindre l’inaccessible, à dépasser l’insuffisance de l’existence, et où elle montre en même temps cette inaccessibilité. (…) L’affect se heurte à la civilisation qui lui impose silence pour son manque d’éducation ; l’insatiabilité de la musique est la résultante de ce conflit. Elle enfreint le tabou mimétique. Celui qui ne peut se contenir se réfugie dans le langage non conceptuel qui lui permet encore de pleurer et d’aimer sans limites. Il arrive que ce gestus s’accompagne de la forme du singulier sentiment d’un Après, ce qui nostalgiquement voudrait se dépasser est en même temps adieu, souvenir. » Theodor W. Adorno, ‘Gustav Mahler: une physionomie musicale’.
Lyrics:
The sun is setting behind the mountains.
In every valley evening is falling
With its shadows, full of coolness.
Look! The moon is floating upwards,
Like a silver ship, on the blue lake of heaven.
I sense a soft breeze stirring
Behind the dark pines.
The stream sings melodiously through the darkness,
the flowers turn pale in the twilight.
The earth breathes deeply in rest and sleep.
All longings now turn to dreaming;
Weary mortals plod homeward
To find again in sleep
Forgotten joys and youth.
The birds roost silently in their branches;
The world is falling asleep…
(excerpt from The Song of the Earth, The Farewell composed by G.Mahler)
Credits
Creation and dance Claire Croizé Light design Jan Maertens Assistance creation Etienne Guilloteau Musical advice Alain Franco Music Gustav Mahler Production management Natalie Schrauwen Production Action Scénique vzw Co-production Vooruit, Buda and Workspace Brussels In collaboration with wp Zimmer With the support of De Vlaamse Overheid Thanks to Felix Luque and Kunst/Werk Alexander Baervoets
For upcoming performances, check out the calendar.
News
The Farewell won the Prix Jardin d'Europe 2009. This year's prize was awarded within the frame of the Working Title #3 Festival in Brussels in December 2009, in collaboration with the project partner and renowned Belgian dance company Ultima Vez. An international jury of 5 professionals out of the contemporary dance scene chose The Farewell out of the 22 works of emerging young choreographers. The Prix Jardin d'Europe is a highly renumerated prize for young contemporary choreography in Europe. See also www.jardindeurope.eu.
Press
De Morgen - 24/09/2009 / De Standaard - 09/09/2009 / De Standaard - 14/12/2009 / Etcetera 119 - 12/2009
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