A young Norse woman dresses up as a man, sails to the distant island where her ancestors are buried and demands that her dead father hand over a powerful sword as her birthright.
No, it鈥檚 not a role-playing game. It鈥檚 Philadelphia-based composer Melissa Dunphy鈥檚, or The Incantation of Hervor, a set of three songs for mezzo-soprano, violin and harp whose texts tell a story as unusual as the sound-world Dunphy鈥檚 score creates for it.
Listen to my recent interview with Dunphy, along with excerpts from 贬别谤惫补谤补谤办惫颈冒补鈥�, here:
Philadelphia-based mezzo-soprano commissioned 贬别谤惫补谤补谤办惫颈冒补 for her recording , a collection of new musical works inspired by Nordic history and legends. Performed by Montalbano, violinist and harpist , 贬别谤惫补谤补谤办惫颈冒补 tells the story of the Nordic young woman Hervor and is based on texts from the Norse Poetic Edda.
鈥淭he songs are about this young woman and her journey to reclaim the sword of her father,鈥� Dunphy said, 鈥渁nd because she鈥檚 a woman, she has been staying at home with her mother and isn鈥檛 allowed to go off and do all of these things that she dreams of doing. So she decides to go out into the world as a man and find her way.鈥�
Over the course of the cycle, Hervor dresses as a man, changes her name to its masculine version (Hervarth), commands a Viking ship to take her to the island where her father rests in a haunted burial mound and fearlessly conjures his spirit, demanding the sword that, Hervor/Hervarth claims, no dead man should possess.
The songs鈥� stunning instrumentation gives voice to a journey unlike any other. The mezzo-soprano sings the gender-bending role of Hervor/Hervarth, accompanied by a Hardanger fiddle-style violin part and a harp part that extends the instrument from sounds reminiscent of a bardic lyre to frightening spectral noises created by all manner of extended technique, including one called a "thundergliss."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVJMuGLJFvU
Please join me for selections from Dunphy鈥檚 贬别谤惫补谤补谤办惫颈冒补 鈥� The Incantation of Hervor on The American Sound, as part of our series, featuring music by women composers during Women鈥檚 History Month. Tune in to The American Sound at 6 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Tuesday on Classical 101.
Then next month, members from will perform 贬别谤惫补谤补谤办惫颈冒补 at 3 p.m. April 15 in Capital University鈥檚 Huntington Recital Hall. Admission is free.
