Die Alte Frau (PAUSET BRICE)

Par PAUSET BRICE. 'Sleeping Beauty', one of the most famous of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, has been the object of numerous analyses, commentaries, and renditions of all sorts. Its motifs, typical of the genre (pact, numeral symbolism, destiny, curses, enclosed space) abound in the crude and concise text from the 1812 version, the one I chose from among the seven versions spanning 1812 to 1857. The themes of suspended temporality (the entire castle deeply asleep) and fragile beauty are less common, but musically very inspiring. The instrumentation being used (string quartet, double-choir and orchestra) is treated as a composite derived from opera. The principle theme is distilled in the solo string quartet, the double-choir is assigned the narration, while the orchestra is entrusted with numerous descriptive elements designed to transpose the real action: ascending the stairway, spinning, etc. Of course, specific situations will put this lovely construction into peril. In the context of my work on 'critical exegesis' with regards to the stage, this project is an attempt to create music that in itself satisfies a large number of the demands normally present in the operatic setting: characters, action, movement, singing, dramaturgy, scenography, décor, lighting, etc. It is not a question of inventing new metaphors, but rather, of managing to transcribe the phenomena used in the Grimm Brothers' fairly tale with purely musical classifications and objects, rich with associative images: thus a music of situations and phenomena, more than of representation. Two sections of the piece were already composed for double-choir in a preparatory form (Zwei Studien über Dornröschen composed in 2007). The whole, amounting to about 25 minutes, is divided into 9 'scenes' equivalent to the interpretations of transitional moments in the Grimm Brothers' story: 1. '...keine Kinder...' 2. die Feen 3. '...alle Spindeln abschaffen...' 4. '...ein Wunder von Schönheit...' 5. Der alte Turm 6. '...Eine alte Frau... 7. Stich und Schlaf 8. Dornen und Kuss 9. Die hohe Zeit / contemporain / Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes et Orchestre