Voice; Viola (Soprano)
SKU: PE.EP73727
Composed by Emily Howard.
Mixed Instruments -
Soprano and Viola; Solo
Small Ensembles; Vocal.
Edition Peters.
Contemporary. Score. 28
pages. Edition Peters
#98-EP73727. Published by
Edition Peters
(PE.EP73727).
ISBN
9790577024004.
Ombr
a (2022) is a 40'
dramatic vocalise for
mezzo-soprano and viola
in three parts, first
performed as part of The
Wernicke's Area, a mixed
media installation led by
ANU Productions at the
Irish Museum of Modern
Art. The work can be
performed in its acoustic
version or accompanied by
sound design, created by
Bofan Ma, based on the
original immersive sound
design from The
Wernicke's Area.
The work responds
to the story and medical
condition of Debbie Boss,
wife of ANU's co-artistic
director and visual
artist Owen Boss. In 2014
Debbie was admitted to
hospital for surgery to
remove a previously
undiagnosed meningioma
tumour from a part of the
brain known as the
Wernicke's Area. Since
the surgery her everyday
life has been affected by
epilepsy. When Debbie
suffers a seizure the
symptoms manifest as
audio hallucinations and
aphasia: a loss of
comprehension of both
heard and spoken
words.
Ombra takes
inspiration from a series
of diaries kept by
Debbie, a trained soprano
who can no longer
remember the lyrics to
even the simplest of
songs. Responding to
George F. Handel's 'Ombra
mai fu', which was
Debbie's favourite aria
to perform, as well as to
the mirage-like sounds of
an AI-inflected Dublin
cityscape, Ombra is a
mental theatre, embodying
an inward, ever circling
wonder about meaning and
comprehension.
In
Ombra I, mezzo-soprano
and viola unite in an
intense unison
exploration of a brief
melodic fragment from
'Ombra mai fu'. A set of
8 short dramatic
vignettes form Ombra II.
In Ombra III, Handel's
original melody is
foregrounded with an
instruction in the score
'Repeat ad infinitum'. As
mezzo-soprano alternates
between singing, humming
and silence, viola is
instructed to play at
times with gradual or
sudden transitions
between p e dolce sempre
and sounding 'like
concete being grated', a
final reference to the
diaries.
Ombra is
dedicated to
Debbie.
Commission
ed by ANU Productions as
part of The Wernicke's
Area, funded by the Arts
Council.