Tondal's Vision
Music of Dalmatian traditional and medieval cantors
Abbo Abbas
The earliest western polyphony… and a murder mystery
dialogos
programmes
discography
press clippings
photos
Tondal's Vision, the story of an unconscious man whose soul quits his body, was one of the most popular visionary stories of the 12th century, like a premeditation for Dante's Divina Commedia. In this mysterious text, the soul – visiting hell guided by the voice of an unknown angel – gets lost on narrow paths and crosses bridges in darkness before returning to its body. This sojourn on the other side of death, which seems endless to Tondal, lasts clinically only the time of the winking of an eye, and it faces us with the strange question that Tondal constantly repeats to the angel: 'For how long a time was I dead?'. The Croatian collection Vartal, written in the 16th century for a female Benedictine community on the Dalmatian coast, is a very faithful translation of this vision.
We hear very dissonant Glagolitic polyphony in the context of much softer repertoires from the south of Dalmatia, Gregorian melodies and latin polyphony coming from the localities where Tondal's Vision was translated and performed. A staging by Sanda Hržić, in collaboration with Yoshi Oida (one of Peter Brook's principal actors), puts the Vision in a new context where faces and music contribute to create very pure and expressive images.
This programme was first performed at the Utrecht festival in 2002 and was recorded for the label Arcana. It received the prestigious award Diapason d'or de l'année 2004. The inherently 'multi-lingual' character of medieval Croatian music and language allows us to wonder about the conventional distinctions that arbitrarily separate medieval, traditional and contemporary music.
Programme with super-titles
Voices: Marie Barenton, Laura Gordiani, Katarina Livljanić, Lucia Nigohossian, Sandrah Silvio, Sylvie Špehar Vučić / Aino Lund Lavoipierre
Staging: Sanda Herzic
Artistic advisor: Yoshi Oida
Salve regina
(MP3, 1:22, 563 KB)
Zač noge tvoje sada u tanci ne igraju ?
(MP3, 1:18, 533 KB)
In a reinvented musical language, between plain-chant, readings, traditional melodies and simple polyphonies (full of unexpected intervals), seven singers with superb voices and a rare commitment, carry us on a visionary voyage through time and space… to the other-side. Remarquable!
Diapason, 2004
• January 24, 2010
UBC Recital Hall, Vancouver, Canada
Early Music Vancouver
Programme: Barlam & Josaphat
www.earlymusic.bc.ca
• February 14, 2010
AMUZ, Antwerpen, Belgium
Programme: Dalmatica
www.amuz.be
• April 6, 2010
Masterclass Katarina Livljanic on Glagolitic chant, Irish World Academy of Music, University of Limerick, Ireland
www.ul.ie
• May 16, 2010
Europäischer Kultursommer Festival, Fellbach, Germany
Programme: Judith
www.kultursommer-fellbach.de