When Orpheus went to the underworld to bring back his lover, Eurydice, he was warned by the god of the underworld, Hades, that he should not turn around and look at Eurydice while leaving the underworld. Even the briefest glimpse would have led Eurydice into a sorrowful descent into the deep darkness. This was the only condition for her return. Filled with hope and love, Orpheus made his way back to the living world, playing his lyre and singing along the way, confident that Eurydice was just a step behind him, following closely. While leaving the land of death, both of them were forbidden to look back. But the moment that Orpheus stepped into the living world and felt the warmth and brightness of the sun, he returned delightfully to hug his lover. Eurydice, however, was still in the darkness of the underworld and had one step further to enter the living world. Hades The moment became the point of no return and she got pulled back into the underworld for eternity. That point of no return, that moment of separation, the moment of complete loss, is a touching drama within one of the simple narratives from Greek mythology.
A Plot Twist
There are already so many variations of this story. Of course, the classic ones are the most well-known and have become cliches in every performance and reproduction. However, while I was working on this project, I came across an intriguing interpretation, and a twisting narration of the story by the Scottish poet and playwright, Carol Ann Duffy. In her free-verse poem "Eurydice," she retells the myth from Eurydice's perspective and suggests that Eurydice feels liberated, relieved, and free from Orpheus. She sees Orpheus' passion as a self-centred obsession and believes that "he fails to understand the real woman beneath his romanticized imagery."
Like it or not, I must follow him back to our life - Eurydice, Orpheus’ wife - to be trapped in his images, metaphors, similes, octaves and sextets, quatrains and couplets, elegies, limericks, villanelles, histories, myths… (“Eurydice” - Carol Ann Duffy - ‘The World’s Wife’ - 1999)
Read the full poem by Carol Ann Duffy on Genius.
Harp versus Electronics: Aesthetic or Metaphor?
One of our main challenges in creating the piece was defining the role of Electronics in combination with the harp. I personally believe there must be an artistic reason to combine the two distinct acoustic and electronic sound worlds. In that regard, I am very much inspired by my beloved teacher, Wim Henderickx, and his approach to such combinations in his works. For example, in his Nada Brahma for soprano, ensemble, and electronics, he assigns a metaphorical role, by confronting the duality of the worldly (acoustic instruments) versus cosmic (electronics).
In our piece, the story of Orpheus gave us many directions and materials to work on. The duality between Orpheus and Eurydice as characters, the border between the living world and the underworld, and the drama of the story lead us towards assigning the right character to each instrument. For example, the emotion of "doubt," which, in one interpretation, seduced Orpheus into looking back to see if Eurydice was following him, inspired both my choice of harmonic language and the use of free rubato in the entire piece. On the other hand, Soheil brought the metaphorical duality between the two worlds and characters into the electronics; Orpheus’ story is embodied through the lyre/harp, while the dark and haunting realm of the underworld, along with Eurydice’s emotional turmoil, expressed through the electronics part.
One of the most memorable experiences I had during this project was the sampling session for Joost's harp. Soheil wanted to create the electronic sounds solely by triggering the notes of Joost's harp. It was a brilliant idea because eventually, it allowed the electronics to blend seamlessly with the acoustic sound of the harp. To get that, we recorded each note individually and Joost explored many different special effects and extended techniques, which gave us an incredible pallet of sound effects and noises. As a bonus, I had the chance to use a double bass bow to play the lowest string of the harp—just listen to that warm, deep resonance and those gorgeous harmonic partials! Truly fascinating:
The piece was included in Joost's Dutch Classical Talent tour and his debut at the Grachten Festival, both of which earned him the well-deserved first prize at both events, along with many touching moments from our piece.
"Event Horizon: the point of no return" is ready to be brought to Life. Scores and parts are available on demand. More information about the piece:
references:
Carol Ann Duffy – Eurydice. (n.d.). Genius. https://genius.com/Carol-ann-duffy-eurydice-annotated
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