The Finnish Prisoner
The Finnish Prisoner | |
---|---|
Opera by Orlando Gough | |
Librettist | Stephen Plaice |
Language | English |
Premiere | 11 July 2007 |
The Finnish Prisoner is an
Background
When the Russian fortress of
While in captivity, 28 prisoners had died of disease, and in 1877 Tsar Alexander II of Russia arranged for a monument to be erected in their memory, which still stands in the churchyard of St John sub Castro, near the site of the Naval Prison.[3][4] A popular Finnish folk-song, Oolannin sota (Crimean War), evolved from the earlier Ålandin sota laulu (Åland war song) which tells of their capture and imprisonment in Lewes and is thought to have been written by one of the Lewes prisoners during his internment.[5]
Production
Stephen Plaice, at the time writer-in-residence at the modern
The opera received its world premiere in Lewes on 11 July 2007, in a venue very near the site of the Naval Prison, in front of a sell-out audience including Finland's ambassador to London.
Roles
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast,[6][9] 11 July 2007 Conductor: John Harcorn |
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Cora Combe, 21st-century young woman | mezzo-soprano | Marcia Bellamy |
Lily, Cora's great-grandmother | soprano | Joanna Songi |
Matts Olander, Finnish prisoner | baritone | Jarmo Ojala |
John Triptolemus, photographer | tenor | Stephen Chaundy |
Prison warder/Traffic warden | baritone | Andrew Rupp |
Finnish prisoners | tenor and bass | Members of the Finnish National Opera
|
Director | Susannah Waters | |
Designer | Num Stibbe | |
Lighting | Clare O'Donoghue |
Synopsis
Cora carries a picture of her great-grandmother as a young woman back to her car, which is parked on the spot where a cell of the Lewes Naval Prison once stood. She unlocks the car, an act which triggers the first manifestation of parallel realities specific to that site but 150 years apart: the apparition of Matts Olander, a Finnish soldier who once occupied that cell.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Coleman, Nick (10 July 2007). "Chorus in a car park". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ^ Bell, Marjatta (20 April 2004). "The Crimean War in Finland". Embassy of Finland, London. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- ^ a b "Plea for help with obelisk". Sussex Express. Lewes. 1 August 2002. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
- ^ Historic England. "Russian Memorial in the Churchyard of St John Sub Castro (1043887)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ^ "Oolannin sota – Suosittu laulu ja alkuperäinen "Ålandin sota laulu"" [Popular song Oolannin sota (Crimean War) and the original "Åland war song"] (in Finnish). Bomarsundssällskapet (Bomarsund Society). Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Pappenheim, Mark, "The Finnish Prisoner", review in Opera (London), September 2007, pp. 1130–31 on stephenplaice.co.uk
- ^ YLE(Finnish Broadcasting Company). Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ^ "Report of the County Archivist April 2007 to March 2008" (PDF). East Sussex Record Office. 2008. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
- ^ "The Finnish Prisoner". Stephen Plaice. Retrieved 2 September 2010.