Synopsis
Friday of Light, the story
based on the score and writings of Karlheinz Stockhausen
In the Licht (Light) cycle, Friday is the work of temptation, that of Eve, torn between Michael and Lucifer, convinced sometimes by one, sometimes by the other, and understanding them both. "I want to translate archetypal human temptations into music. First and foremost is the temptation to use the body as a musical instrument. But there are also variations: exchanging human bodies and conducting unusual experiments with the body are essential temptations for humans. Paying attention to the body itself, as a composer does with an instrument. The temptation to transform oneself also fascinates me. A musical situation is thus transformed into another (to varying degrees): vocal into instrumental, instrumental into electronic, electronic into a surreal sound situation... I will try to simultaneously create several very different sound scenes in the same space, connected to each other by bridges, not only musical but also physical, which allow the elements to exchange and multiply...", declared Karlheinz Stockhausen, as he began composing this vast Vendredi de Lumière. The main colour of the work is orange, its secondary colours are light green and shiny black. Its element is the flame of a gently burning candle. Its metal is copper. Its precious stones are amber, alabaster and jasper. Its fruits are pumpkin, orange and apricot.
Freitags-Gruss: Friday's Greeting 69'
The audience enters, bathed in the light of calmly burning candle flames, and is surrounded by a circle of eight channels, on which the ‘Electronic Music of Friday’ is played, an immense projection of the fifth segment of Licht's super-formula, which articulates the entire cycle, as well as the double formula of Eva and Lucifer, which is clearly evident in the tessitura, high-pitched for the former and low-pitched for the latter. "In this electronic music, given the exceptionally long duration of the notes, I have shaped the interior of each of them and their development as never before: microtonal movements of pitch, interference (beats) with slowdowns, accelerations, gradual splits and unifications; expansion and contraction of interval relationships from and to a reference note; choice of timbres for the pure clarification of notes, chords, layers of pitches, glissandos, spatial movements, all composed according to the formula; meticulous formation of the dynamic curve of each note to emphasise its presence in the polyphony and support the simultaneous notes; finely graded differentiations between notes, sounds and coloured noises of different bandwidths; isorhythmic pulsation with transitions from periodic to syncopated and irregular impulses; trajectories, forms of movement and individual spatial velocities, clearly perceptible,‘ wrote Stockhausen. This ’Electronic Music" covers Friday's Salvation, but also the entire work.
Friday – Temptation: Friday Temptation in two acts, 150’
The two acts of this “Temptation” consist of three layers of musical events:
a. the Electronic Music, without determined visual events, which can be listened to in darkness or sometimes accompanied by abstract forms;
b. twelve Sound Scenes, played on twelve channels, each represented on stage by a couple of dancer-mimes – thus, twenty-four actual parts. In Silvia Costa’s production, twenty-one of them are automatons or “demiurge children”. Ten of the couples integrate objects – mundane images from our daily lives rendered uncanny. Each pair consists of a “male” and a “female” partner:
Woman / Man
Cat / Dog
Photocopier / Typewriter
Race car / Race car driver
Pinball machine / Pinball player
Football / Leg with football shoe
Moon with a small owl / Rocket
Bare arm / Hand holding a syringe
Electric pencil sharpener / Pencil
Woman’s mouth with crocus flower / Ice cream cone with bee
Violin / Bow
Nest / Crow
Each couple has its own text, its own music, its own movements, and enlivens the theme of sexual relation. While the Electronic Music is abstract, the Sound Scenes feature a soprano and a bass voice – Kathinka Pasveer and Karlheinz Stockhausen – with the collaboration of the composer’s son, Simon Stockhausen, on synthesizer. Only one couple, the first, is natural. The others are unprecedented sonic pairings, created through modulations (vocoder, harmonizer, and other electronic tools) of the two voices, animal cries, machine and object sounds – the soprano, for instance, being modulated by photocopier noises, the bass voice by a typewriter. The Sound Scenes follow various sequences, culminating in the twelfth, where all couples come together. These scenes are short – about one minute each in Act I, up to seven times longer in Act II – and they emerge strangely from silence and return to it, punctuating both acts, with echo (VII) or duplication (XII). A loudspeaker near each couple plays the music associated with them, the whole forming a pyramid shape.
c. The third layer consists of ten Real Scenes, alternating with the Sound Scenes and superimposed on the continuum of the Electronic Music. These scenes, with singers and instrumentalists, develop the plot of Friday from Light: the temptation to which Eve succumbs. The sung texts are written in phonetic alphabet (see page 12), for the most accurate pronunciation and precise placement of vowels and consonant types. The voices exalt Christmas, eros, procreation, time and eternity, the figures of love – Aphrodite, Venus, or Freia – and darkness becoming light.
Act I
Klangszenen – Sound Scene 1: Entrance of the Woman / Man couple (0’25’’)
Sound Scene 2: Entrance of the Cat / Dog couple (0’40’’)
Real Scene 1: Antrag (Proposal) (13’)
This is the first encounter between Eva (soprano) and Ludon (bass), structured into Arrival, Quartet, and Departure. Eva, followed by Elu (basset horn) and Lufa (flute), enters from the left on a gravel path, while Ludon enters from the right. After the usual greetings, Ludon, to Eva’s surprise, proposes that she yield to his son, the “black prince” Caino, and procreate with him. They agree to meet again and introduce each other to their children.
Sound Scene 3: Entrance of the Photocopier / Typewriter couple (0’56’’)
Real Scene 2: Kinder-Orchester (Children’s Orchestra) (6’30’’)
From a winding path on the left, Eva descends with her children, followed by Elu and Lufa. They wear light-colored concert attire and carry European musical instruments. Ludon introduces, from the right, slightly later and at a faster pace, a children’s choir who strike, shake, or scrape percussion instruments. Dressed in bright and cheerful colors, they laugh a lot. Eva and Ludon greet each other. A little further on, Synthibird, a synthesizer accompaniment, appears like a phantasmagoria. Conducted and sung by Eva, the children’s orchestra sings vowels and plays joyfully for Ludon’s children, who have fun.
Real Scene 3: Kinder-Chor (Children’s Choir) (8’)
Ludon’s children applaud and then, in turn, perform music for Eva’s children. Before their entrance, Ludon, who conducts and sings, gives each of the twelve boys and twelve girls a specific cue: each child steps forward briskly and performs a percussion solo while singing, not without humor. The choir is spirited, performing in front of Eva and her children, who listen attentively. At the end, applause and enthusiastic shouts express their joy. Ludon proposes that the black and white children perform together. Eva agrees.
Real Scene 5: Kinder-Tutti (Children’s Tutti) (6’)
Eva and Ludon sing, accompanied by Elu, Lufa, and Synthibird. Eva begins conducting: her children play the first measure. Silence. Ludon conducts: his children sing the second measure. Silence. Eva gives the cue for the tutti in measures three and four. Silence. Kindly, Ludon suggests that Eva should conduct alone, which she does with charm. The resulting music is of intense joyful and choreographic expression. The children start laughing. Eva, Ludon, and their offspring part ways and exit left or right. As they walk away, their laughter, singing, and musical sounds remain audible for a long moment, gradually fading into the distance.
Sound Scene 4: Entrance of the Race Car / Race Car Driver couple (1’15’’)
Sound Scene 5: Entrance of the Pinball Machine / Pinball Player couple (1’05’’)
Sound Scene 6: Entrance of the Football / Leg with Football Shoe couple (1’32’’)
Real Scene 5: Zustimmung (Consent) (11’30’’)
This is Eva and Ludon’s second tête-à-tête. Ludon arrives early and waits. Suddenly, still accompanied by Elu and Lufa at a slight distance, Eva mysteriously appears before him. Surprised, Ludon presents her with a black talisman and asks her to reconsider his offer to unite with his son Caino in order to contribute to humanity’s evolution. Eva consents and returns the talisman. Ludon, again surprised, hesitates before taking it. They part with a discreet nod. Eva, Elu, and Lufa vanish without a trace. Ludon, alone for a moment, slowly exits to the right.
Sound Scene 7: Entrance of the Moon with Little Owl / Rocket couple (2’30’’, with echo)
Act II
Real Scene 6: Fall (Fall) (20’30’’)
Night. A lake reflects the moon, which is otherwise invisible in the sky. Sporadically, birds cry, and an owl hoots. Caino (baritone), standing on the shore, gazes at the lake, then sits in the lotus position. A boat approaches. Eva is seated inside, with Elu and Lufa standing behind her, playing long notes. All three wear transparent robes. Caino sees them. Before reaching the shore, the boat stops. Eva steps down barefoot, lifts her robe, and walks through the shallow water to the land. She stands before Caino, slowly unfolds her robe, and embraces him. They sing softly, accompanied by basset horn and flute. Eva then rises, returns to the shallow waters, climbs back into the boat, and sits, turning her back to Caino, who watches her depart before exiting right, his hands placed (but not crossed) on his shoulders. A chilling tenor cry pierces the universe: “Eva, our children!” A vivid red light bursts from the sky, cuts through the middle of the lake, and floods the space.
Sound Scene 8: Entrance of the Bare Arm / Hand Holding a Syringe couple (2’05’’)
From this point onward, neighboring couples exchange partners. Here, the Cat becomes a Man, and the Woman becomes a Dog. In Scene 9, the Typewriter becomes a Race Car, and the Race Car Driver becomes a Photocopier. In Scene 10, the Pinball Player becomes a Football, and the Leg with Football Shoe becomes a Pinball Machine. In Scene 11, the Rocket becomes a Woman’s Arm, and the Hand with Syringe becomes the Moon. Finally, in Scene 12, the Pencil becomes a Woman’s Mouth, and the Ice Cream Cone becomes a Pencil Sharpener, then the Bow becomes a Nest, and the Crow becomes a Violin. These transformations must be musically and visually evident. Until Chor-Spirale, the hybrid couples sing long, sustained notes accompanied by slow gestures.
Sound Scene 9: Entrance of the Electric Pencil Sharpener / Pencil couple (2’47’’)
Real Scene 7: Kinder-Krieg (Children’s War) (13’30’’)
Children’s voices approach. Screams, terrifying howls, and songs are heard. Eva’s children enter from the left, cross the stage, return alone or in groups, and run again. They wear combat uniforms and carry modern weapons. They disappear to the right, then retreat in the face of increasing numbers of black children, who wield simple weapons—spears, bows, stones. The war is horrific. Here and there, wounded children lie on the ground, evacuated from the battlefield. A gigantic winged rhinoceros enters. Four black boys ride it, firing at Eva’s terrified children. The creature is unharmed by the attacks, flaps its wings, charges left and right, and breathes fire. Eva, levitating, tries to protect her children. But they flee. The rhinoceros tramples them. Ludon’s children prevail. The sounds of battle gradually subside and fade away. For this scene, the synthesizer player, hidden from view, samples as many toy weapon sounds as possible—pops, howls, crashes, whistles, drones, explosions, squeaks… They improvise, not necessarily using all the notated pitches. The rhythm must be irregular, but the downbeats of each bar should be perceptible. The dynamics follow those of the choir, as it moves closer or farther away, just like the ever-pointillistic density of the sounds, which must appear to be produced by the children.
Sound Scene 10: Entrance of the Woman’s Mouth / Ice Cream Cone couple (3’38’’)
Sound Scene 11: Entrance of the Violin / Bow couple (4’40’’)
Real Scene 8: Reue (Repentance) (11’)
Eva, Elu, and Lufa emerge from the lake. While her two companions remain at a distance, Eva kneels at the place where she united with Caino, sings, and performs the gestures of Inori (a work of prayer and adoration composed by Stockhausen in 1973–74). Eva then sees her master Michael, her husband Adam, and the light of God appear. All three vanish.
Sound Scene 12: Entrance of the Nest / Crow couple (6’47’’, in two parts)
Real Scene 9: Elufa (10’)
After the final Sound Scene, Elu and Lufa play their instruments—the basset horn and flute—commenting on the events of the work. The upper voice is a combination of Eva’s formula and Lucifer’s mirrored formula, while the lower voice presents the intervallic succession of both formulas. The twelve couples watch the duo, mesmerized. Lufa stares at them and softly asks, one syllable at a time: “Do you all repent?” “Yes, we repent,” they answer in unison, with high, pinched, articulated, and elongated voices. Their light fades, and they all disappear.
Real Scene 10: Chor-Spirale (Choir Spiral) (7’30’’)
After Elu and Lufa’s departure, the hybrid couples—between human, animal, and machine—unite in a new, magnificent variation of light, like the giant flame of a candle. This flame, in which the six hybrid couples sing, shines ever more brightly, rising in a slow spiral motion until disappearing into the beyond.
Freitags-Abschied: Friday Farewell (78’)
The Electronic Music is played under the same conditions as the Greeting.
Laurent Feneyrou