‘Amour, Neige de Soleil’<\/a><\/p>\nPresentation<\/h2>\n
Version 009 from 2016 09 16<\/p>\n
Argument\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
During May 1976, Christian Dotremont- poet, graphist and founder of the CoBrA group \u2013 aged 54- leaves for Laponia (Lappland), accompanied by a young student, Caroline G, here called l\u2019Accompagnatrice (The Accompanist). Interested in his work, she finishes an essay on him, at the Universit\u00e9 de Bruxelles. She will share his trip which will bring them to Ivalo in Lapland, where they will stay two weeks in a inn.<\/p>\n
Christian\u2019s bad health does not allow him to carry his suitcase. The Accompanist, instead, will carry it and take care of the shopping, the post office\u2026 She will take care of him, look after his rest each afternoon, so that he keeps the energy to walk and work. In those days, Dotremont\u2019s health is not brilliant. He walks extremely slowly, for short distances only and not more than five minutes. He must stop frequently in order to get his breath back. His life is in danger. Each moment of his life is lived as the last one, as if his days were numbered.<\/p>\n
During the day, Christian works on his poems, which he translates then in his famous \u00ab Logogrammes \u00bb. Those logograms area sort of free calligraphy which illustrates the text of his poem. A well informed reader like his brother Guy Dotremont, can decipher the logograms and restitute the text.<\/p>\n
The gesture of the logogram is free and that is typical of the CoBrA movement founded by Christian. It can be thought of as action-painting \u00e0 la Jackson Pollock, except that there is a literary content behind the symbols.<\/p>\n
Christian draws also logograms in situ, in the beautiful snow of Laponia: the \u00ab logoneiges \u00bb (logosnow). The scenes involving logoneiges will be the high point of this opera. Christian draws them with a stick. He also uses his body, for instance, by rolling himself in the snow.<\/p>\n
The construction of the libretto<\/h2>\n
The libretto tells about a day of Christian D., following, hour by hour, an almost fixed ritual. Morning writing, noon eating, afternoon nap, walking, visit to the local caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
The text of the libretto comes directly out of his poems, texts, logoneige and logogrammes titles.<\/p>\n
The opera is for one singer. The action takes place in one room of the inn. On the right, a virtual door opens on the other room, the one of the accompanist, with whom he speaks often. The \u2018logo-neige\u2019 (literally logo-snow \u2013 logo is from the Latin \u2018I talk\u2019 and neige is from the French snow)) performances happen in another part of the stage.<\/p>\n
The construction insists on the ideas dear to Dotremont, in particular the sense of spontaneity,<\/p>\n
of game, the repetition, and the ephemeral. The notions of repetition and ephemeral play a leading role in the music and in the construction of the play.. Dotremont is a poet who exagerates the natural writing and makes it pictorial. His white page can be the snow and, in this case, his approach belongs to land art.<\/p>\n
With the Accompanist, he repeats actions – for instance film shooting \u2013 absolutely identical in all their details. He will repeat them in each of his travels to Laponia (he shall make eleven of them). Same entry to- and behaviour in- the bar, same menu, same camera viewing angle from a travel to another, same attitudes<\/p>\n
Apart of that, he is very funny and fills life and words with a blend of humour and gravity.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u202fPour un <\/b>rien<\/b> plein<\/b>\u202f\u00bb<\/b><\/p>\n
The logoneige \u201cPour un rien plein\u201d (\u201cfull with nothing\u201d) comes back as a leitmotiv. Dotremont will draw it many times.<\/p>\n
\u00ab Notre temps compte-t-il un \u00e9v\u00e9nement positif, c\u2019est la d\u00e9couverte du rien plein par une r\u00e9union imposante quoique peu visible\u2026 \u00bb (\u201c Does our time count a positive event, it is the discovery of a full nothing by an imposing, though hardly visible meeting\u2026 \u201c) (Strates, 1963). \u00ab Pour un Rien, Plein \u00bb is explained largely in his logogramme text \u00ab Nous n\u2019avons rien \u00e0 faire de l\u2019Au-del\u00e0 \u00bb. Guy Dotremont explains it as follows :<\/p>\n
\u00ab The snowy plain of Lapland is emptiness, however this emptiness is quickly filled\u2026 an absolute calm, the smallest thing animates it, a slight wind shakes a blade of grass and the space is filled. \u00bb. This vision seems to be close to the Buddhist emptiness, however, according to Guy Dotremont again, Christian should not have shown a special interest to the Buddhism.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Pour1RienPlein-226x300.png\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 1 \u00ab Pour un Rien Plein \u00bb, logoneige, 1963, (Excerpt from Revue Strate No1, Photo Christian Dotremont)<\/strong><\/p>\nSinger:<\/strong><\/h2>\nChristian Dotremont, barytone sung by Gregory Decerf![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Decerf_Gregory_02_S-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Possibly, l\u2019Accompagnatrice, actress (dancer), still.<\/p>\n
Musicians :<\/strong><\/h2>\nString quartet, \u2018Quatuor Tana\u2019<\/p>\n
The Tana string quartet is specialised in the interpretation of contemporary composers.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/s_tana_studio-7-nicolas-draps-200x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The musicians are :<\/p>\n
Antoine Maisonhaute, violin 1<\/p>\n
Ivan Lebrun, violin 2<\/p>\n
Maxime Desert, alto<\/p>\n
Jeanne Maisonhaute, cello<\/p>\n
Production of 2016
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\nTheatre Po\u00e8me, dir. Dolores Oscari<\/p>\n
Ars Musica festival, dir. Bruno Letort<\/p>\n
Stage Director\u00a0 : Pascal Crochet<\/p>\n
Graphic handling of the logogrammes : Simona Gropeneanu \/ Infographics: Marie Kasemierczak<\/p>\n
Scoring: Olivier Verschueren at Clic Music<\/p>\n
Scenography : Alicia Jeannin – Lights : Florence Richard\u00a0 Set: Beno\u00eet Francart<\/p>\n
Construction of the composition<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe play alternates between monologs in Sprechgezang and melodies.<\/p>\n
The melodies are written on poems which Dotremont wrote more or less simultaneously, during the year 1976. Those are mostly from the logogrammes and logoneiges. The logoneiges texts, by necessity, are composed of a few words only, whereas those of the logograms contain sometimes three pages.<\/p>\n
The musical construction is analogue to the one I used in my previous piece \u2018Digue\u2019, also written on a poem by Dotremont. I handle the logogrammes\/neiges and translate them musically by strings movements, mainly by the cello. The process is frequently used throughout the piece but not all the time. The graphics of the logogrammes are used in the score as themes. They are translated in analogue movements: \u2018Cobra\u2019 movements after all. Those graphic themes are handled in solo or multiple voicing, in canons or other sequences. They are then included in different types of harmonisation.<\/p>\n
Set<\/h2>\n
Chair, table, bed, wood burner, suitcase\u2026<\/p>\n
Suggested: Dotremont\u2019s room communicating, through an open door, with another room that cannot be seen<\/p>\n
Outside: snow landscapes and Ivalo village.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NeigeSoleil-p1-212x300.png\")
<\/p>\n
Photos of the logo-neiges\/grammes, by Caroline Ghyselen, and other photographers, Radomir\u2026 ,.<\/p>\n
Some Logoneiges<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/VillageVagabond-300x225.png\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 2 Chistian drawing the logoneige \u00ab Ici ma terre d\u2019\u00e9lection mon village de vagabond \u00bb (\u201cHere my land of election, my village of vagrant\u201d) (Photo Radomir 1973 p186 Guy Dotremont<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00ab Serpent de neige sifflant au soleil \u00bb (Snow snake whistling in the sun) is a particularly remarquable logogram text which Christian draws in the snow. Caroline Ghyselen tells its performance in the three photos herunder.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/SerpentNeige-300x199.png\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 3 Christian draws ‘Serpent de neige sifflant au soleil (1) 1976. (Photo Caroline Ghyselen)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/SerpentNeige-02-300x194.png\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 4 Christian draws ‘Serpent de neige sifflant au soleil (2) 1976. (Photo Caroline Ghyselen)<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/SerpentNeige-03-300x206.png\")
<\/p>\n
Figure 5 Christian draws ‘Serpent de neige sifflant au soleil (3) 1976. (Photo Caroline Ghyselen)<\/strong><\/p>\n***<\/p>\n
Notes from Daniel Schell’<\/p>\n
www.clicmusic.eu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0L’amour \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Neige \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 de \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 soleil Music by Daniel Schell Libretto by Daniel Schell, based on the work by Christian Dotremont Short Introduction www.clicmusic.eu \u00abNeige de Soleil \u00bb ‘Neige de Soleil’ was created May 27, 2016 at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":190,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-61","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":657,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61\/revisions\/657"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielschell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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