A musical monodrama for bass-baritone, three players, and electronics, based on the writings of Paul Gauguin. A part of the music/theatre project SOMBRE, the work enters a dialogue with Kaija Saariaho’s work NoaNoa.
Music by Cécile Marti
Text by Aleksi Barrière
World premiere on April 25, 2026 at Cologne’s Kunstraum Walcheturm as part of Orbit Festival, performed by Robert Koller (voice), Camilla Hoitenga (flute), Fritz Hauser (percussion), and Aleksander Gabryś (double bass). Electronics by Gary Berger. Staging by Aleksi Barrière.
Libretto
1.
En plein silence, je rêve à des harmonies violentes dans les parfums naturels qui me grisent…
In the violet light the sheets still hold her dark shape as firmly as marble.
I want to bend dry wood and words to the rustles of my dream.
2.
Une branche convenable à mes désirs…
Her shapeless image and scent fill the eye of my mind.
Formes gracieuses, formes robustes comme l’arbre…
Her nameless image and scent fill my shivering hands.
Te rā’au rahi. [The large tree.] L’arbre sentait la rose, no’a no’a…
I live with nothing but naked skin between me and the world.
Vivre dans les bois. Sauvage. (‘Ōviri.) Sculptant des êtres imaginaires sur les arbres…
3.
Le no’a no’a embaume tout. Je n’ai plus conscience du jour et des heures, du Mal et du Bien.
I could make the wood crack but I do not break I do not strike what I do is I caress. And my hands are full of shards.
The more I remove, the closer I am to feeling her under my fingers.
À travers la robe de mousseline rose excessivement transparente on voyait la peau dorée des épaules et des bras. Ses cheveux. Au soleil, une orgie de chromes. L’œil insatiable et en rut.
4.
There she is, against my thumb, like a black knot hidden under a mesh of fibers.
A perfect fruit never spoiled.
C’est Ève après le péché, pouvant encore marcher nue sans impudeur, conservant toute sa beauté animale.
A dream of childhood. A child.
Tamāhine. Tamari’i. [A girl. A child.]
5.
The sculpture is complete.
Portrait ressemblant à ce que mes yeux voilés par mon cœur ont aperçu.
Le souvenir d’une parfaite idole.
But the wood is inert and dead. Only as smoke and ashes would it recover its smell.
All memory of woman has disappeared.
Under my fingers is nothing but an idol.
“E na o rā ‘oe ‘ia rātou… [This is what you will do to them…]
E ha’apararī i tā rātou mau ti’i… [You will smash their idols…]
E tahu i tā rātou mau ti’i tarai i te auahi…” [You will burn their carved idols in the fire…]
An idol. A doll. A flowerless branch.
Teha’amana. Were you ever a vahine.
Teha’amana. You were always an idol.
Where are you. You were under my hands. Full of shards.
In the violet light I never touched a woman.
I have never touched a woman. The idol is whom I adore.
Aleksi Barrière / After Paul Gauguin
November 2024
