{"id":1137,"date":"2016-01-28T21:09:19","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T20:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2016-01-28T21:09:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T20:09:19","slug":"nar-korpen-vitnar-when-the-raven-black-turns-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/nar-korpen-vitnar-when-the-raven-black-turns-white\/","title":{"rendered":"N\u00c4R KORPEN VITNAR\u00a0\/ WHEN THE RAVEN BLACK TURNS WHITE"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Raven Black turns White is a piece with four movements and three interludes for female folksinger and twelve musicians.
\nTHE FIRST, suggestive movement makes use of words from magic spells and incantations.<\/p>\n

Where the raven pales<\/p>\n

where the swan goes black<\/p>\n

where grey stones float –<\/p>\n

entice me<\/p>\n

(freely from traditional Swedish spells and incantations)<\/em>
\nTHE SECOND\u00a0movement is a lesson in curing a downhearted cow. The Virgin Mary, mild mother, is walking in the green fields, when she meets her gentle son.<\/p>\n

– What art thou seeking my beloved mother?
\n– I am seeking my humble bumblebee*, since my cow is so milkhearted, downhearted, liverhearted, lunghearted hearthearted, bloodhearted, bellyhearted and faring poorly.<\/p>\n

They agree, after consultation, to put some salt and malt in the mouth of the cow. That should bring her back to health!
\nThe music becomes more humoristic. The folksinger plays both the parts of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus. She portrays the latter singing in a “boyish, pubescent voice”.
\nTHE THIRD\u00a0movement is a song of praise, a psalm;
\nPraised art Thou thanks to whom\/We wake each day with joy
\nThese words are sung in a sorrowful tone, tentatively, and then there is a transition to
\nTerror pierces my heart\/ I tremble, full of angst
\nTHE FINAL\u00a0movement portrays a nightmare.
\nI had a bad dream\/ I stood before the sea\/ Suddenly the sun burned up
\nBirds screeching in the sky\/ the beating of their wings warning us of\/ Bad times to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My point of departure here was the “witch trials” held everywhere in Europe, from south to north, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. People, usually women, were groundlessly sentenced to burning at the stake for sorcery, witchcraft and having dealings with Satan. The trials took a particularly grotesque form in Northern Europe, where even children were used as both informers and witnesses, often tempted by offers of food.<\/p>\n

(In fact, the poem in the second movement about the downhearted cow, comes from the records of a trial held in the church at Tors\u00e5kers, in northeastern Sweden. I spent twenty of my summers in that area, beginning in 1980. Two hundred years earlier, seventy-one people were “tried” there, sixty-five women (every fifth woman in the parish) and four boys. All of them were executed and burned at the stake in July 1675.<\/p>\n

In creating this piece, I have imagined what it was like to be a woman in those days, what the world around her reflected, how close she was to nature, how she believed in all kinds of creatures, in the omnipresence of the magical and the mystical, the church (with the clergymen often being the driving forces of the witch trials), the powerful, the humorous. The women who were accused were often the most able ones, whose cows probably gave more milk than those of others in the community, the women who were able to cure illness, good at identifying medicinal herbs, and so on.<\/p>\n

Not until I had finished composing the piece did I find out that the nightmare text in the final movement was written by a contemporary Roma author, Rosa Taikon. This coincidental fact made the connection between incitement and persecution (witch trials) of individuals and peoples in our time painfully distinct and direct.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the Raven Black turns White was composed for the folksinger Ulrika Bod\u00e9n and
\n\u2013 Nordic Chamber Ensemble, (Sundsvall, Sweden)
\n\u2013 BIT 20 \u2013 Ensemble (Bergen, Norway) and
\n\u2013 OrchestrUtopica (Lisbon, Portugal)
\nKarin Rehnqvist 12 November 2007<\/em>
\nEnglish translation by Linda Schenck<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Texts<\/em><\/p>\n

1.
\nWhen the Raven Black turns White
\nwhen the raven pales
\nwhen the swan goes black
\nwhen grey stones float
\nentice me –
\nWhen the Raven Black turns White
\nwhere the swan goes black
\nwhere grey stones float –<\/p>\n

(freely from trad. Swedish spells and incantations)<\/em><\/p>\n

2.
\nRecitative for a downhearted cow
\nThe Virgin Mary walked out into the green field
\nshe met her blessed son so sweet
\nWhat art thou seeking my beloved mother?
\nI am seeking my humble bee*, since my cow is so
\nmilkhearted, downhearted, liverhearted, lunghearted
\nhearthearted, bloodhearted, bellyhearted
\nand faring poorly.
\nJesus and Mary considered
\nWe both wish to cure
\nWe’ll take malt and salt
\nPut them both in her mouth
\nShe’ll be cured all at once.
\nIn the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n

(Traditional Swedish spell for curing of downhearted creatures, quoted in the court transcription from Tors\u00e5ker in Sweden)<\/em><\/p>\n

*\u00a0The bumblebee was traditionally considered to be associated with milk and milking.<\/em><\/p>\n

Musicians:
\n– I chop and I chop and I chop
\n– I bind you, I bind you, I bind you
\n– I stanch you, I stanch you, I burn you<\/p>\n

(freely from trad. Swedish spells and incantations)<\/em><\/p>\n

3.
\nPraised art Thou
\nPraised art Thou thanks to whom
\nWe wake each day with joy
\nThe new day buds, bursts into bloom
\nAnd fades, like the one before
\nOh may we grasp these flashes
\nEach moment that’s in store.
\nOh may we pay clear notice
\nTo what God does expect
\nOf us and do our utmost
\nHis spirit to respect.
\nEach day to rise in prayer
\nAnd not lament our fate
\nBut see our way to days where
\nAccepting, we await.<\/p>\n

(J-O Wallin, from the Swedish Hymnal)<\/em>
\nTerror pierces my heart
\nI tremble, full of angst<\/p>\n

4.
\nI had a bad dream
\nI had a bad dream \u2013 ay ay
\nI stood before the sea
\nSuddenly the sun burned up
\nBirds screeching in the sky
\nThe beating of their wings warning us of
\nBad times to come.<\/p>\n

(Rosa Taikon)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I see the raven \u2013
\nI see the swan \u2013
\nEnglish translations by Linda Schenck<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Raven Black turns White is a piece with four movements and three interludes for female folksinger and twelve musicians. THE FIRST, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programme-notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79arM-il","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1111,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/raven-chant\/","url_meta":{"origin":1137,"position":0},"title":"RAVEN CHANT","author":"admin2","date":"January 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"for instrumental ensemble duration approximately 12 minutes \u00a0 The raven, with its black feathers and characteristic call, is a bird with mythological overtones. 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