The Beginning of A New Era

I Machine and man, the new and the ages old.
Man competes with man, a machine with machines, the natural with the unnatural and the poorly planned with the well planned.

II The unnatural breaks. Healthy is strong. So the natural wins.
Well planned overcomes the poorly planned.

III The natural healthy man (with an objective holistic picture of the world) JOINS TOGETHER with the well planned machines.
Together they conquer the world.
Healthy is happy, so the world will be a paradise to come.

The strory could contain something like (in Finnish language):
"Jussi on maalta kotoisin ja rakastaa luontoa ja terveitä elämäntapoja. Hän haluaisi pärjätä maailmassa mutta huplehtii, ettei voi, kun on vain haaveilevainen maalaispoika.
Maiju rakastaa luontoa ja lintuja. Hän neuvoo Jussin ottamaan mallia siitä, miten pikkulintu ajattelee: se katsoo tarkkaan mutta on tunnelmallinen havainnoissaan. Niin se tietää, mitä ilmiöt merkitsevät elämälle, samalla , kun havaitsee maailman rakenteen nopeasti ja hyvin. Katse kiertää rakennepiirteestä toiseen kuin luonnossa kulkevalla katse liukuu luontokohteesta toiseen.
Jussi kokeilee ja huomaa, että hän on nopeampi muita, ja tarkempi ja parempilaatuinen ajattelu hänelle tulee näin myös. Niin kuin puu on oksistoineen ja lehvineen katselle monimutkaisempi kaupungin taloja, niin tulee nyt Jussista myös älykkäämpi kaupunkilaisia kilpailijoitaan."

I December 21th 2012 They wait for the end of the world. A huge thunderstorm comes. Then nothing. Darkness falls. In the morning a bird sings. The new era has begun.

II A councel is kept on what kind of era it will be. It will be an era of technologisation, they agree. The machines and computers will have a huge role in the world. But what about humans? Their nature has not changed. So success in the new are will be based on the same ages old healthy natural ways of living. The nature together with the technology, without an upper limit for either one, will be the answer in this era. So it will be an era of paradisalisation since the healthy natural world is the paradise in the beginning of time.

III But life with the technology isn't so easy. Jussi is a country boy who loves the nature. His lover suggests him that they should count on the ages old nature for survival in the tough modern world. She suggests that Jussi ought to copy the ways of thinking of birds: they look carefully at the same time as their feelings tell what things mean to life. Their picture of the world is landscape like, practical yet detailed like that of one who walks in the nature. Jussi tries and they notice that one can thus be more quick witted than those who live in the cities, just like a tree is rich in detailed structures compared to houses, they too can conceive a manyfold amount of things at one sight compared to those who live in the middle of cities. They conclude that the road to the future nature paradise like the one in the beginning of time is possible.

“Op’raByMe”

A“STORYNOPSE”

The END

FREE WILL Or the unaccountable factor - Divine Drama in three acts for Genius, Angels, Devils and Giants

Act I
God is in anguish, his deep concern raised by the way things go on earth: wars, hunger, diseases, hedonism, egoism, relativism.
So he summons a general assembly to which all the Angels Hierarchies and the Demiurge are convened.
He asks all of them advise about how changing the course of events. During the meeting different solutions are proposed: a new flood, a new Messiah, a severe punishment, but none of them looks convincing enough to God. When God is on the verge to lose hope, a shy young angel (Bastianel) comes out with a pretty weird idea: send back to earth 3/4 human genius of the past ages with the mission of changing the destiny of human mankind. At first everyone laughs at him, but God looks seriously interested, so after a short discussion God accepts Batianel’s proposal. Helped by Archangel Gabriel and the young Bastianel God chooses the heroes: Lorenzo de’ Medici, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alan Turing e Oscar Wilde, they will be picked up from the Limbo and sent back to earth with a brand new identity but the original thinking creative mind. They will be escorted by 4 angelic guides: Uriel (creativity), Perpetiel (dream), Jophiel (Illumination) and Gazardiel (New Beginning). So the four heroes are taken out of the Limbo and instructed by Gabriel and Bastianel about their task.
In the meanwhile Lucifer is informed by the Demiurge of the new initiative taken by God and starts studying countermeasures in order to ruin God’s plan.
Lucifer’s agents on earth (the Nephilim or Giants) led by Beelzebub will do their best to make the four heroes fail.

ACT II
We find again our heroes some years after they have been sent back to earth:
Mozart (now Ame Ratzmo) is the new mass music idol: hundreds of millions people all around the world consider his music as a new religion.
Alan Turing (now Alan Gurnit) is the founder and head of the Gurnit Industries a giant multinational corporation, operating in the field of new bio-technologies, more powerful and rich than Steve Jobs and Bill Gates put together.
Wilde (now Edi Worscal), after a brilliant career as a best-seller writer has climbed the world of politics and has been appointed General Secretary of the UN.
Lorenzo (now Lorenzo Decimi) has become the owner of the largest and richest Bank Group of the globe.
Time for action has finally come: Decimi is going to call for a worldwide broadcasted press conference during which he intends to announce his bank will repay the whole financial debts of the poor countries.
The same day Gurnit will make available for free to the whole world two new inventions: a self medicating machine and a device to synthesize healthy food starting from basic and very common elements.
And Ratzmo will announce his last world tour whose returns will be given to a foundation engaged in supporting all the poor children and moms of the planet.
Finally, after some days Wilde will deliver a speech to the UN reading a new Universal chart of the rights of man.
The four heroes prepare their action taking advice from their Angel guides.
In the meanwhile Beelzebub who is kept informed by the Demiurge organizes his Nephilim in order to make the four heroes action plan fail.
He summons a meeting with Samyaza, President of the World Industries Confederation, Urakabarameel – President of the biggest media network of the planet -, Azazel - head of the most powerful terroristic organization and Zavebe – President of the Wordl Bank Association.
They agree to: attack Decimi Bank’s intranet by hacking, the Gurnit Corp, by a stock exchange speculation followed by a lightning takeover, Ratzmo by mounting a media campaign aimed at depicting Ratzmo himself as a pedophile.
Worscal will be killed before he delivers his speech before the UN.
Unfortunately for Beelzebub the first day only the attack to Gurnit is crowned by success, the remaining fail completely. But the day of Worscal’s speech is coming and Beelzebub cannot miss the target this time.
The great day has come: Worscal stands in front of the representative of the UN ready to deliver his speech.
Samyaza gained the admittance to the hall under disguised identity, ready to shoot Worscal, but right when he is firing, Urakbarameel, who had been harshly reproached by Belzebu for his own failure, blinded by envy, stops him and prevent the assassination.

ACT III
It’s a triumph!!! News coming from all over the world testify that God’s plan worked fine, despite Gurnit’s failure! Mankind seems again on the good track. The four heroes meet to celebrate together.
But the joy lasts the beat of a wing …
Suddenly bad news break in …
The repayment of the debts of the poor countries has made the whole financial market collapse. Some of these countries devoted their new wealth to the purchase of mortal weapons and started new wars against each other while thousands of the biggest western corps fell in default and millions of new unemployed men and women light up violent riots along the streets of the capitals in Europe and US.
Ratzmo is now considered a mere agent of Decimi pretending to be an artist though interested only in fame, money and success … most of his former supporter start believing he is truly a pedophile.
Worscal is considered a false politician who only seconded Decimi’s crazy plan to throw the entire world into poorness violence and despair and a secret ally of Azazel …
While trying to organize a reaction to the craziness that is spreading all over the world after the recent events Worscal is killed by a fanatic.
Lucifer and Beelzebub can’t believe their eyes, they’re just puzzled … they tried to destroy God’s plan and they failed but .. men gave them a second chance to be again the secret unsuspected masters of mankind …
Ratzmo Decimi and Gurnit, led by their angelic guides, find shelter on a island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where they sadly wait for new orders by God …
Few words among them … rocked by the sounds of breaking waves on the beach
Ratzmo: How wonderful would it be if ever so …
Decimi: so how?
Ratzmo: don’t know … just so …
Gurnit: For Christ sake so how Wolfgang? What the fucking hell are you saying? The world is in ruin … we made a mess …so how?
Ratzmo smiles at them, stands up open his arms and starts moving them in the air like a bird … so …
While darkness falls on the stage the first notes of the adagio from the piano concert K488 start floating in the air …

King Olav

King Olav
The Nordic Saint

Dedicated to King Olav;
the Patron Saint of St. Olaf´s Castle,
the Venue of Opera in Savonlinna

Synopsis

Charactors
Olav, Norwegian king
Olav, Norwegian prince (teenager)
Ingegerd, Swedish princess
Olav Eriksson, Swedish king
Jaroslav, Prince of Novgorod
Grete, Wife of royal blacksmith
Krimkjell, English bishop
Ahmed, Arabic prince
Lumi, Finnish pagan and soothsayer

Act I

Thousand years ago Viking time is near to end.
There is thunderstorm upon The Baltic Sea. Heavy wind blowing behind a viking boat on the route of robberies and trade.Thor is speaking with thunders and lightnings. 1) It has a powerful effect on the crew of the teenager Prince Olav:
”We are going to win all with Thor. We follow our king to Walhalla.”

After years the royal blacksmiths have to solve a dilemma or many ones. Olav has returned with new christian faith. Nonetheless Thor is the special god for many blacksmiths. Grete, the wife of blacksmith Björn, knows that king Olav has ordered 1000 swords and axes for his army. Olav´s half-father Syr has ordered 100 scythes for farming.

King Olav and bishop Krimkjell are visiting the royal smithy. Grete is coming with her young boy. She would like to inquire about the problems they have been thinking: Blacksmiths have too much work. After working day they are too tired to take care children and to help wife.There is the need for more slaves to fulfill the order. How to get more iron material? A lot of men is needed to cut trees for fire. To build ovens (furnases). To work the bellows. To smelt iron. She has the courrage to say.

Who can sing the words of the old spells in order to make iron, when all the pagans are baptized into christians? Is the christian god stronger than Thor? Why are the English bishops visiting? Do you use the new weapons against Danish, Swedish or even Norwegian pagans?

Olav has answers from his experiencies and the vision. Concerning the Swedish relations, he says: ” Do not worry. I am going to marry princess Ingegerd.”

Olav wants to know, how is this little man, about 7, the son of Grete and Björn. What kind of work he would like to do as a big man? A blacksmith? A farmer? A fisherman? A trademan? A soldier? A hunter? A priest maybe, if you learn to read and to sing? A lot of priests, churches and monasteries are needed more during next decades. Maybe you have christian cousins living in Normandia? The Frence and the English are good models from Olav´s experience.

Olav is fallen in love with Ingegerd. They have secret meetings. ”I never promise to marry my daughter. You are a viking, a pirate living all kind of bad life,” says Olav Eriksson, the Swedish king. According to him: Olav´s father was looking for the new bride in the Swedish court, when his wife was pregnant waiting Olav. And then your father died. That´s not yeat all: You are maybe going to conquer the West Götaland, because you are making new weapons!

”Times are changing. It´s turning point of my life”, says Olav, the Christian king.

It is a suprise that peasants and tradesmen do not agree the decision by the their king in Upsala meeting. They prefer the arranged marriage. The security of the trade routes is the most important for all . ”If no, our king can go”, say peasants and tradesmen.
Olav Eriksson has to accept the marriage, but not for long time. The Prince of Novgorod is offering the better wedding gifts and winning the rivalry.
Olav is very disappointed. He is thinking now to make war - not love.

Act II

The bells of love are calling for Ingegerd and Jaroslav. Novgorod is the venue of the wedding. Slavic (church) music is listened by the representatives coming around the Baltic Sea and as well by the guests of the muslim and arabic culture. Great number of visitors are not only the Russian royal families.

Jaroslav welcomes all and says that Ingegerd is going to get as gift the large province of Ladoga town. You can call it Ingermanland in Swedish. The jubileum continues: Indroducing a woman by name Lumi, who is a Finnish speaking pagan with the special skills of old poetry and spells, living now in the province of Ladoga town of Ingegerd order.

Next program is indroduced by Prince Ahmed coming with four wives and Arabic dancers. 2)
Ahmed says that he appreciates very much good relations and trade with Northern kings. ”There was an idea to give as a gift some slaves, but I think you have enough”. Maybe you and your wife will enjoy an Arabic book with stories of thousand and one nights.
Many gifts are given by the other guests, too.

Olav seems not to be unhappy in the wedding of his former bride. Giving the best congratulations to the wedding couple by him and by the very beautiful lady standing beside him. She is princess Astrid, the half-sister of Ingegerd. The relations between the Norwegians and the Swedish are no more freezing. It seems to be the happy end.

Knut is the Christian Danish king dominating over British Isles and all Northern seas. There is no choise to avoid battles between neighbors. Olav is reading the ultimatum: The Norwegians have to give back ”the old Danish provinces” and to pay taxes. Some of Norwegian aristocrats are making a deal with Knut to take the power.

Olav has to flee. Ingegerd and Jaroslav are giving to him the shelter and the kingdom of Volga-Bulgarin. Jaroslav: I am the Christian member of old Rurik family helping Northern brothers. Maybe later you help me, if needed. Nonetheless Olav has the vocation of his own:
”We are not slaves of Knut.” 3)

Olav is returning with troops in order to take back the order. He is going to die in the battle of Stiklestad. People understood soon Olav died on the behalf of them.

The blacksmiths now are against all kind of wars. Björn smashing one sword into pieces. ”Never, never wars and arms”, all blacksmiths shouting with one voice.

Ingegerd receiving and reading the message of the battle: crying and singing the heart-breaking song of love. 4)

There is medieval catholic church music on the grave in Trondheim (Nidaros) and a mass by bishop Grimkjell, who decides: King Olav will become Saint Olav.
Pilgrims are coming.

The End 5)

Music:
1)Heavy rock
2)Tannura-songs or modern rai-music (look: the program of Savoy Theather, Helsinki 2004 by Finland´s Foreign Ministry)
3)Verdi´s Nabucco: Chorus of Hebrew Slaves (solo singer+chorus)
4)Ave Maria
5)Grieg: Morning mood

Op'raByMe

All Context have been inserted in its original synopsis

Res Publica, Synopsis

This is a story about the glory and the misery of trying to live together in organised societies. More specifically, this is an epic story of life and death of a civic society we know from the history as the Roman Rebublic, told in the form of an opera.

The story is narrated on stage by Marcus Tullius Cicero -- the last of the great statesmen of the republic. In his writings, he sometimes used musical harmonies as an analogue for the ideals of the republic: people of different classes singing different tunes to create a harmonious whole.

SYNOPSIS
========

First Act

1. Act takes place before written history of Rome begins, so we'll take quite a few liberties with history here. "Art is a lie that tells the truth", as Picasso once said.

The act takes place in a pre-Roman marketplace on a hill that will later be known as Palatinus. In the begining, we find peasants and some artisans exchanging their goods. The double basses are holding a sustained pedal note. There is a steady murmur of citizens discussing in the forum -- some 80 voices just talking asynchronously at the pitch of their natural speechs. Slowly each member of the choir starts to either lower or rise his/hers pitch -- until she/he hears that his/hers voice is resonating with with the pedal note or its' overtones. This will cause the choir to gradually settle to a chord. The orchestra starts to add voices to create a simple, pulsating melody which the choir starts to follow.

Suddenly the action in the stage freezes, and the music is cut off in the middle of a phrase, leaving only a thin chord of high strings playing. Only one figure on the stage keeps moving. He walks to the front stage and introduces himself: "I am Marcus Tullius Cicero. I have the pleasure of being your host and guide tonight. This here (he gestures around) takes place hundreds of years before my time, so I am invisible to these people."

In the first act, Cicero traces the origins of societies to the marketplaces of agrarian communities. Well see and hear a dispute arise between two traders. People around them start taking sides, and the situation starts to look ugly. Then the action in the stage freezes again, and we hear the familiar suspended chord of high strings. Cicero grabs a man in the crowd by shoulder, and "whispers" to his ear: "Maybe you could persuade the disputants to ask a wise and respected man to decide over the dispute!" He then taps the man's shoulder, which sets the music and the action in motion again.

It turns out that the disputants cannot agree on anyone. Someone is a second cousin of a wife, another is a friend of a disputants father etc. It also turns out that one of the disputants is much wealthier than the other, and the poorer one fears that the wealth will influence the judgement. Cicero intervenes again: "Maybe you should select twenty men by drawing a lot. Let them vote on this. He is not rich enough to buy eleven men."

A jury is selected and the dispute is resolved to the advantage of the poorer man. But as the disputants shake hands, we start to hear an agressive, percussive march at the lower ranges of the orchestra. A man runs to the marketplace "Enemy is approaching! He is burning our fields! He's here soon!"

There is a momentary chaos. Then a man grabs a pole that looks remarkably like a standard of the Roman legions of days to be. "Grab anything that can used as weapon, and follow me!" The people stream off stage. We hear a musical depiction of a battle: chaotic at first and slowly turning triumphant. The crowd re-enters, carrying the man with the pole and hailing him as their saviour.

The hero of the moment holds a speech: We must not let this happen again! We should have a standing army to protect us. Let me be the leader of a standing army. I have just proved that I have what it takes!"

The crowd has objections: "I cannot be absent from my fields! My family depends on it!". The wealthy man who just lost his case in the court suggests that hire etruscan mercenaries to protect them. The crowd objects that they cannot afford to participate. The wealthy man notes that he is perfectly willing to pay for several soldiers.

"This is where it started to go wrong," Cicero comments.

Second Act

2nd act starts with an accession of a new king, and ends with a stepping down of a ruler. The Etruscan mercenaries have established themselves as a military aristocracy under Etruscan king. The Romans start to ask themselves: "What do we need a king for? Why couldn't we run ourt affairs by ourselves, by coming together to discuss and vote on things?" They overthrow the king and his military upper caste. The king is replaced by two praetors (later consuls), who are elected for a one year's term of office. Their Etruscan neighbours attact to establish the old order, but are defeated by praetor Lucius Junius Brutus. After one year in office, he dutifully steps down. "This could work, you know," Cicero comments.

Third Act

3rd act opens with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus being elected tribune of the people. He sees that the Roman Republic has grown to be a sick giant: The patricians have gained a permanent upper hand over the small farmers impoverished by long stints of military service in Rome's citizen army, far away from home. The countryside that was once a patchwork of small farms is now dominated by big patrician estates where slaves toil in the fields.

Gracchus uses a legistlative loophole to pass a land and dept reform to help the impoverished middle class. A fellow tribune is bribed by the aristocracy to pass a veto. The aristocracy starts to spread false rumours that Gracchus wants to be a king. With the support of some of the populace, they kill Gracchus and throw his body into Tiber.

Fourth Act

In the 4th act Cicero leaves the role of a narrator and re-enters the play as character. After a civil war, Rome is in the hands of Caesar. He tells Cicero that he has now the power to enforce and see through the reforms of Gracchus and and Caesar's uncle Gaius Marius. Land reform and debt reform would recreate a middle class of independent farmers to serve as the backbone of revived republican life. Cicero reminds that republic is about people coming together to solve their problems and not about solutions being enforced on people. It is also about people electing their leaders and not about power being taken by military force. "To save the republic, your most important task is to restore regular elections. Otherwise there will be bloodshed every time imperium changes hands. And no speak of libertas". Caesar answers: "I don't disagree with you. Let see how things turn out." Exit Caesar.

Last act, last scene. Enter young Gaius Octavius Caesar (tenor), later to be knowns as Augustus. He tells Cicero that he has inherited the murdered Caesar's estate and his causes. He asks for Cicero's support in his strugle against Marcus Antonius and other enemies of the republic. Cicero promises him his support. When Octavius exits, we hear Cicero say: "What a brash young fool! He is useful now, we'll get rid of him later." Off Stage, we hear the choir's discordant but counterpointal music gradually dissolve into a monophonic hymn for the emperor.

Musical notes

We'll take the Ciceronian analogue of society as harmonious music, and stretch it to the outmost! We'll HEAR harmonies and textures evolve as the story progresses. For the simple agrarian beginnings of the roman life, simple harmonies with translucent textures -- and very simple counterpointal elements. Lots of parallel chords for archaic athmosphere! Orchestral colors have a narrow range of contrasts but different playing styles are used for nuanced expressivity within this range.

There will be a relapse to aggressive, monophonic, percussive melodies as the Etruscans warlords rule the Romans. By the begining of the third act, at the height of the republic, the music has evolved into rich counterpointal textures with a full range of contrasts both in harmonies and in orchestral color. During the entr'acte, a transfomation takes place, anticipating a change of mood as the class of independent small farmers starts to whiter away, eroding the backbone of Roman civic society. You'll hear the instruments in the upper ranges continue their chirpy counterpointal frolicking while in the lower ranges the instruments sink into simple, thick non-counterpointal textures, simple, monotonous chord progressions and slow melodies.

At the entr'acte of the last act, the music is on the verge of disintegrating. You still hear fragments of orderly, serene counterpointal music. But there is more and more polytonality, polyrythmics, atonality -- the whole works 20th century expressive devices.

In the end, there is of course imperial hymn sung in unison. Nothing left to be harmonized.

Cast of Characters

I think it is too early to list a complete roll of characters at this stage. There are of course the historical characters: Cicero, Lucius Junius Brutus, Gracchus, Caesar, Octavius. And there will be quite a few anonymous Romans: the choir and some small solo parts to convey diffent aspects of the popular moods in these upheavals.

But the real main characters of these stories are The People (played by the choir) and the Roman Society (depicted by The Music). I think we should be bold enough to see how far we can strech the music as primary, integral story telling device. If you take the music out of "La Traviata" or "La Nozze di Figaro", you still have a good play in your hands. Let's strive for something that simply would not work without the music!

THE ETERNAL HERO

ACT I
-Scene I: Darkness. Silence. Sound, music emerges out of the silence. A second melody emerges out of the first and out of them a third melody emerges.
-Scene II: These three melodies give birth to numerous creatures, other melodies.
-Scene III: Some of the creatures (melodies) start to move away from the rest.
-Scene IV: A war start among different creatures.
-Scene V: Some creatures defeat others. The defeated ones turn evil and fall down to the abyss.
ACT II
-Scene I: The first three melodies create our world and its living creatures. And they create the man and the woman.
-Scene II: The man and the woman are tempted by one of the fallen creatures from the abyss. The man and the woman fall into temptation, so falling their world.
-Scene III: The man awakes in a fallen world. This is the beginning of human evolution in this world. Some historical figures appear (prehistoric man, an Egyptian Pharaoh and his subjects, Alexander the Great, Roman Emperor, Napoleon as well as figures from the contemporary age). The gods and the mythological heroes speak to each other. They cannot save mankind so they finally vanish.
ACT III
-Scene I: The three melodies, the Creators, speak to each other and make a decision: the second melody goes down to the Earth.
-Scene II: The creatures of the Origin (melody-creatures from the first act) announce the arrival of a great hero. A great dragon, which is actually one of the melody-creatures who fell down to the abyss in the Origin, intends to avoid his arrival.
-Scene III: The Earth has turned into a desert and the Mankind dreams of the arrival of a hero.
-Scene IV: The second out of the three melodies is incarnated in the womb of a humble woman, married to a man. The creatures of the Origin announce the arrival/birth of the hero. The dragon intends to avoid his arrival.
-Scene V: Our hero is born, he arrives to the world. Creatures of the Origin, men and other dispirited heroes want to reach him. The great dragon and some powerful people want to kill him. The arrival of the Eternal Hero brings to the world the salvation so long dreamt by mankind since he carries within all the existing heroes and knights-errant.

CHARACTERS: Act I: Three melodies and creatures of the three melodies. (Only music). Act II: A man and a woman; prehistoric man, Egyptian Pharaoh and some walk-on parts, Alexander the Great, Roman Emperor, Napoleon, Contemporary age walk-on parts. Some gods and mythological heroes. Act III: The Eternal Hero (music and kid); Great dragon; Mankind (chorus); a girl and her husband; Walk-on parts; dispirited heroes and knights; some powerful men.

By Javier Armendáriz

Helene Schjerfbeck

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946)
Opera marking the 150th anniversary of her birth

Helene Schjerfbeck is an opera describing the life of a famous Finnish painter and her struggle from poor living conditions to achieve gradually acceptance and understanding not only in Finland but also abroad. She had three major disadvantages; the poverty of her family after fathers dead, being an ambitious woman artist in the chauvinist art circles at the turn of the 20th century and thirdly being a handicap since childhood through an accident occurred at the stairs of her home.

However, from the very beginning she had strong determination to create art and to become a painter at the same level as the best of men painters. Through her life she had a desire for love and a craving of becoming accepted. This feeling was shadowed by a fear of being rejected as once in her childhood the mother had shed most of her love to Helene’s brother. And later on her love has refused by others and thus there is no way to a marriage and children.

Finally she founds her own way. This was not the way recommended by the teachers, critics or famous male painters or art galleries. This was neither the way favoured by the national romantic art movements struggling for the independence of Finland, nor the way of the uprising suffragette movement of Finland, which was favoured by her female colleagues (called also “painter sisters”). She refused all these ideas and art directions and found her own way and got international recognition – after her death.

SYNOPSIS
Personnel

Helene Schjerfbeck

Helene’s mother Olga (Widow, thoughts in cooking, cleaning and marriage of her daughter)

Maria Wiik, Helene’s friend, a woman painter

Helena Westermarck, Helene’s artist friend, suffragette

Marianne Stokes (Preindlsberger), Helene’s closest artist friend at the 1880’s in France and England. In 1884 Marianne got married with an English painter Adrian Stokes’. Suffragette Marianne appears on the stage through her singing voice “voice of memories on youth and love” perceived only by Helene and the audience.

Walter Runeberg, sculptor (protecting father figure with traditional family values)

Gösta Stenman, art dealer (admires and supports Helene, but also wants through his protégé to advance in art business)

Einar Reuter, a charming forest technician, arts lover and collector (wants to buy Helene’s paintings as well as to reach her deepest secrets).

B.O. Schauman (or Mr X), art critic (cynical, chauvinistic and influential).

The following three choirs (Style parodying or overstating feelings of excitement etc.)

- Choir of Suffragettes – later: Choir of Feminists (women’s choir)
- Choir of Critics (Chauvinistic men’s choir)
- Choir of Money and Market Forces (mixed choir)

I ACT

30 years old Helene, feeling herself sick and with no money left, returns home to Finland after ten years of studies in France and working as a painter there and later In England (St. Ives in Cornwall). Her mood is sad; her fiancee has left her and married an English lady; In Finland she will not find understanding and acceptance.

Welcome reception: Her mother Olga, her friends Maria Wiik and Helena Westermarck as well as a sculptor, Walter Runeberg (Helene lived the first year at his home in Paris). Unexpectedly also arrives B. O. Schauman, an influential critic.

The friends try to cheer up Helene. The previous phases of her life will be narrated. Discussion continues on her future (tension between the prevalent chauvinism and uprising of the suffragette movement). Caring of her beloved mother is contradicting Helene’s vocation on art. Will she have means to continue with her art. Helene’s marriage would solve many problems.

Why Helene does not want to tell the name of the English fellow artist, with whom she had been engaged?

Suddenly Helene experiences a strange vision: She sees the figure of her closest friend Marianne –now living far away- and the singing voice of her. The song reminds the sorrow of her secret love but also its youthful joy. (Marianne is the only one who knows the secret). Helene recovers and tells the others that she is happy to have experienced love. This gives her strength to continue her art.

At the end of the scene a glad message arrives: A vacancy is offered to Helene as a teacher in the drawing classes of the Finnish Art Society.

II Act
Place: The Art Society’s school in Helsinki. In background high stairs to the second floor

Time: Ten years later

In one or two scenes the same people except her mother.

The pressure on Helene increases: She cannot find a new love and the marriage is out of question. The new style of her paintings is not accepted by critics or by her colleagues or even by her fellow women painters. The conservative and chauvinistic opinions of the society do not consider paintings of women artists to be a serious art.

However, the women movement is strengthening in Finland and ‘the painter sisters’ have a significant role in transferring the suffragette movement ideas from England and other Scandinavian countries to Finland. (In fact Finland was the first country in Europe in 1906 to get for women the right both to vote and to stand for election.)

Maria again tries to find out what is the name of Helene’s former love. Helene refuses. She hears again a song of Marianne. This time the memory of love rouses in her no pain but on the contrary it encourages her and gives her strength to continue as an artist.

A scene at the teaching class?

At the end of the act she fails to ascent the high stairs to the second class. She has to withdraw from teaching.

III ACT
SCENE 1

Place: A small villa of two rooms, about 50 km north of Helsinki

After being forced to leave her job at the Art Society’s school in Helsinki, Helene had moved with her old mother to a small country town of Hyvinkää and was living there a modest and secluded life. The contradictions between her and her mother are increasing. Helene has not found peace and time to work and also she has had difficulties to sell her paintings. Her paintings were not any more accepted to the Art Society’s annual exhibitions. She had felt herself more and more depressed.

One day a young and rather timid man, Gösta Stenman, enters the villa and asks to see Helene’s paintings. He is enthusiastic on them and asks to by one work. Helene having totally lost her self-confidence warns: “Do not bye, it can be a bad business for you”. Within the following years Gösta will be the real support and friend to Helene. He byes several works of Helene, establishes an art gallery in Helsinki and arranges there Helene’s first large exhibition. The exhibition receives positive critics and the prices of Helene’s works start to rise. Gösta made still a good business.

SCENE 2

Helene was still living rather a secluded life with her mother. She would soon be 50 years. The memory of the first love is gradually fading away. One day a handsome and charming man, forest technician Einar Reuter, had entered the villa. He was much younger than Helene but had infatuated her with his intelligence and knowledge of arts. He had asked to bye Helene’s paintings, had started a correspondence with Helene and often had visited the villa.

Now Helene feels reliance on Einar, and tells him about her engagement with the English fellow artist. She continues that from the very childhood she has been evading and also in this case the only one who knows the name of the man is her friend Marianne.

As being left alone Einar contemplates himself. What is the secret of Helene? Possibly the story of Helene is not true, is it possible that Helene would have had a platonic love with Marianne. When Marianne became engaged with the English fellow artist, Helene must have felt herself abandoned and vexed.

Einar feels increasing interest to continue the relationship with Helene and suddenly gets an idea to write a book of her life.

However, Helene believing that Einar is seriously courting her comes to the scene telling that she had seen a new vision. Marianne had sung her telling that she wished all the best for Helene’s love with Einar. Helene asks if Einar is in love with her. The man is totally baffled and tells a surprise, he is just going to be engaged with a young woman, which he recently had met.

Once more Helene has been let down in love. She knows that the rest of her life she will be alone and without love. From now on she will concentrate on her work and she has to find the truth and love only through her painting.

SCENE 3
Place: Olavinlinna Castle

Time: Nowadays (the 150th birth anniversary of Helene Schjerfbeck)

On the stage is starting the final of the Choir War, contest of choirs. The qualified choirs are the Choir of Feminists, the Choir of Critics and the Choir of Money and Market Forces. The chief of the panel of experts, the reincarnation of Helene, enter up to the stairs. She takes the highest step, the others beneath.

The director of the contest makes an official speech where he introduces the last decennium of Helene. After her mother’s death she lived a more and more secluded life. Most of her “painter sisters” either had been deceased, or had become estranged from her. Closest to her had stayed her art dealer Gösta and Einar who later published a book on her life. However, the mystery with her first fiancée had remained unsolved. She had eliminated any trace of the relationship.

In solitude she had continued more and more to concentrate on her self-portraits. Nowadays these portraits, almost a total of 40 together, form the key essence of her art. In these portraits the aging artist with frankness had recorded the gradual deterioration of her appearance and life. However, the pride and self-consciousness emanating from these portraits and the mysterious facial expression remains the same, but their intensity – if possible – is increasing towards the end of her life.

The Choir War begins. The theme of the contest is the art of Helene. According to the rules the contestants will be able to choose any style, from gospel and barbershop to classical, folk and rock, and will be marked on their “personality, passion, power and performance” by the panel of experts.

The choirs exultantly in turns start to praise the art of Helene, and her fame increasing over the world. Helene as an individual is vanishing and she is becoming an icon for other purposes.

The scene ends in a still life arrangement (silence and no movement). The focus is on a very large self-portrait of Helene. Its look is more mysterious than the smile of Mona Lisa. It says if you want to know my secret try and find it in my paintings. In them I have told everything. The life has been my opera.

Note: The symbolic meaning of stairs: Act 1: A menacing memory, Act 2: Hindrance to move for handicapped, Act 3: Ascension to fame

Alan Turings test

ACT 1

Scene Schooldays at youth, first love

Teachers at Sherborne were not delighted about Turings mathematical skills. They liked classical education more, instead of science. So Turing must have suffered much and had pressure because of the teachers. Headmaster contacted Turings parents: "I hope he will not fall between two stools. If he is to stay at Public School, he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be solely a Scientific Specialist, he is wasting his time at a Public School". (wikipedia)

Nothing could stop Turings interest in mathematics. He even understood Einsteins works at the age under 20 and was seeing the connection of Einsteins work to Newtons laws of celestial mechanics.

Turing's fellow student, Christopher Morcom was Turing's first love. Morcom died suddenly only a few weeks into their last term at Sherborne, from complications of bovine tuberculosisTuring becomes an atheist. He becomes very materialisticand starts to think about machines and human brain. And especially brain as a machine.

This becomes his obsession.

ACT 2

Scene 2:scientific work

Alan Turing is searching in Kings College mathematics and machines. He invents the universal Turing machine, that is a model to solve some problems of computability. He is thinking about programming machines and computers. He thinks perhaps too is the human also too just a machine - and how to observe a human action if it is man made or machine made. This idea haunts hime day and night, night and day. His materialism is an escape to the land of mathematics and he gets better and better.

Scene 3

World war 2 starts and England needs Turing to solve encrypted messages of the nazis. He invents a method to solve the problem and thus changes perhaps the way the war is going. The machine that made the coding was called Enigma.

Choirs of nazi soldiers sing their war secrets - choir of allied soldiers echo the secrets in their language. And there is only one man in the middle: Alan Turing, as a war hero, opening the messages.

ACT 3

Post war development of computers and research of the problems concerning man and machines and thinking are the works that take Turing daytime. Evenings and night times he meets men secretly and is searching for human love.

But one of his lovers betrays him and as a thief is robbing Turings apartment. Turing calls for police and in investigations police finds out that Turing is homosexual and that the robber was his lover. He is criminal, because law said so those days when homosexuality was a crime.

Turing test in this opera is: Do they let Turing be human or do they treat him like a machine.

Turing is convicted and he must take massive amounts of femininen hormones to chemically castrate him. This turns him to a man who has breasts and collapses his mind, because hormones affect also human behaviour and thinking. Is this hormone treatment disturbing him as a machine or as a man, he must be thinking.

He gets depressed, and eats a poisoneus apple.

He dies in his room at the age of 42.

EPILOG

Homosexuality is no more crime.

Computers are an essential part of nowadays life. One of the creators of computer era was Alan Turing.

Network community is making an opera in Internet.

Prime minister Gordon Brown apologizes this mans treatment on 10 September 2009.

reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

2012 is the Alan Turing Year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing_Year

Love N Music

Synopsis

Place and time

Modern Day World

I ACT

Scene 1 Somewhere in to days world,

Four young people seek to change the world for the better by the use of their artistic talents,

These people have never met in person,but share a common dream between them,

Their hope is to meet other people of like mind,

Anne works in a music store part time,but dreams of being a professional singer and music teacher,

Trisha is a student of the arts and philosophy,

Dave is a carpenter,write songs in his spare time,

John is a farmer, poet playwrite and composer,

Then one day their dream of meeting like minded people suddenly happens,with the flutter of dove wings and a flash of light the four young people find themselves in a castle together,

End of scene 1

Scene 2

They feel quite @ home in each others company,
Like as if they all ways knew eachother,
They know they are in the castle for a mission

II ACT

Scene 1

They talk out ideas for a musical and exchange contact info,
Gentle music starts playing,and doves fly about
Then in a flash of light they find themselves back home

Scene 2

They contact each other and meet up in real life
Put together their musical to be played @ the castle ball,

III ACT
They are the last act to be playing @ the castle ball on the night,
The curtain comes down on the act before them,
Now it is their turn to hit the stage
The four of them are on stage now with backing
singers
dancers and musicans all in place

The curtain goes up and the crowd are on their feet singing
and clapping to the sound of the music and song,
Calling out for more as the band comes to the end of their set