When Eleanor met Hildegard
Composer Tawnie Olson shares some thoughts on the creation of her opera "Sanctuary and Storm"
Making its world premiere at IndieFest 2023, this innovative collaboration with re:Naissance Opera, Vancouver Opera, and the H.R MacMillan Space Centre promises an unforgettable operatic experience. Get your tickets here.
The two principal characters in our opera, Sanctuary and Storm, Hildegard of Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were towering figures in twelfth-century Europe.
Eleanor was in her early teens when she became Duchess of Aquitaine, then Queen of France. She was beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, an important patron of the arts, but her marriage to King Louis VII was famously unhappy, ending in an annulment. Two months later, Eleanor married an intelligent, ambitious younger man: the future King Henry II of England. It may have been a love match at first, but Henry’s tyrannical tendencies (tendencies that led, among other things, to Archbishop Thomas Becket’s brutal assassination in Canterbury Cathedral), ultimately created an unbridgeable rift between them - and between Henry and their sons.
Hildegard, “tithed” to the church to be locked up as an anchoress at the age of ten, nevertheless rose to international fame for her mystical visions, preaching, and her writings on topics that included theology, medicine, and natural history. With some difficulty and much determination, she was able to leave her enclosed existence and found her own community of nuns, of which she was magistra. Her advice on spiritual and temporal matters was sought by kings, bishops, and ordinary people, and many of her letters survive.
One of these letters is a reply to a missive (now lost) from Eleanor, another is Hildegard’s message to Henry. Both letters are included in Roberta Barker’s libretto, which imagines what might have happened if these two powerful, intelligent, very different women had met in person instead of corresponding. Also included in the libretto is Walter Benjamin’s Angel of History, who calls the women “out of the great disorderly pageant of the dead,” and who also calls them to be true to their deepest vocation.
Music was important, in different ways, to both Eleanor and Hildegard. Eleanor’s patronage of troubadours, including Bernart de Ventadorn, was influential to the development of secular music and poetry, and is a testament to her sophisticated literary and musical taste. As a nun, Hildegard sang several times a day as she observed the Daily Office; she also composed beautiful, elaborate, often virtuosic chants for her nuns to sing. The musical materials of this opera are derived from compositions associated with each woman: Hildegard’s “In principio” (“In the begnning”) and Ventardorn’s “Can vei la lauzeta” (“When I see the lark”). (You will hear the clarinetist perform “In principio” at the start of the opera, and “Can vei la lauzeta” a few minutes later.) When presented in something like their original form, these melodies represent the ideals each of these women held dear. When the melodies are played upside down (or “in inversion”), they represent darker, opposing forces.
Sanctuary and Storm was co-commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford for re:Naissance Opera. Early workshops of the opera were made possible by an Opera America Discovery Grant. It is the winner of the National Opera Association’s 2021-2023 Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition, and it is dedicated to the memory of Diane Murray Barker. It takes a village to create new opera, and I am deeply grateful to Debi Wong and Arianne Abela, and to everyone (singers, instrumentalists, crew, administrative staff) at Vancouver Opera and re:Naissance Opera who helped bring this piece to life.
"Sanctuary and Storm."
Prepare yourselves for a wild ride through time and imagination. Vancouver Opera and re:Naissance Opera have teamed up to unleash a collaborative masterpiece that will blow your mind. Brace yourselves for "Sanctuary and Storm."
This isn’t your grandma's opera, folks. No, sir. This is a mind-bending journey that takes us into the realm of fantasy and what-ifs. Picture this: Hildegard of Bingen, the mystic polymath, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the badass queen and mother of monarchs, meeting in a cosmic collision of power and intrigue. We're diving headfirst into Eleanor's vibrant tapestry of a life, from her ballsy role in the Second Crusade to her unwavering support for the arts. This isn’t your average history lesson, either. This is an invitation to explore the depths of Eleanor's storied existence and uncover the indelible mark she left on the medieval world.
But hold on tight, because this isn’t just about dusty old history. No, no. This is about the here and now, about female leadership and power. It's about how Eleanor's legacy still resonates in today's world, where the discourse on women in charge is hotter than ever. So, get ready to be captivated by a blend of history and opera that'll make your head spin. We're talking about the past's echoes being sung into the present, a symphony of resilience and authority that once shaped nations.
No, definitely not your run-of-the-mill opera. This is a powerful portrayal of strength and determination, a reimagining of a time when women ruled the roost. Vancouver Opera is pulling out all the stops to bring this epic tale to life on their stage. So, don't you dare miss out on this wild ride. Grab your tickets, buckle up, and get ready to have your mind blown. "Sanctuary and Storm" is coming, and it's gonna be one hell of a show.