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In process : Eesti ballaadid : Estonian Ballads
Libreto: Lea Tormis Cast: ESTONIAN BALLADS is based on narrative (lyrical-epic) runo-songs, which have been cemented together by the unifying part of Mother and the motif of the fate of the daughters. Authentic texts ('translated' to Standard Estonian) and original melodies from various parts of Estonia have been used. A certain similarity of the melodic material is intentional. The all-pervading and unifying link is the motif of fate made up of two notes which both appear at the beginning of ESTONIAN BALLADS. Although composed as a cantata-ballet meant for stage, it did not seem right to me to dramatize the events in the songs, to arrange them into an operatic form. I was captivated by the deep inner drama inherent in these songs - both lyrical and telling a story at the same time. In a sense, they remind one of a classical tragedy. I only thought it necessary to accentuate this inner drama with my own interpretation, that is, by bringing a modern emotional comment upon the events (the presentation in Estonian folk songs being neutral, seemingly dispassionate), trying, at the same time, to preserve their narrative form. The melody of a runo-song, in itself, refuses to comply with arrangement or harmonization on classical principles, but my instrument in the present case has been an academic opera ensemble: soloists, choir and orchestra. This is a contradiction, of course, and to overcome it I had to work out a compromise; the song created by people in the past would reach a wider circle of people today in the rendering of the professionals. And, therefore, I had to follow the structure of folk song as well as the fundamentals of symphonic treatment simultaneously.
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