Fantasies: Spirit Spouses, Saint-Saens and Dreamscapes

April 19

12:00pm

Primitive, 4th floor

Concert Program

Camille Saint-Saens

Fantaisie for Violin and Harp Op. 124

Adagio Molto in E-flat major

P. I. Tchaikovsky

Part One: Unite Part Two: Introvert Part Three: Stop, Start Part Four: Extrovert

Adagio Allegro Rondo

all pent up*

Esther Swift

*world premiere

Quintet for Flute, Harp and Strings

Jean Cras

Assez animé Animé Lent Très animé

From film to painting to music, art’s ability to transport us to other worlds has been a point of creation for many artists.

In its literal use in music, a fantasy, or fantasia, refers to a work of somewhat amorphous form that leans towards improvisation and free creation. It is not difficult, then, to see the relation to our concept of fantasy as a place of imagination and inspiration. A common tool in creating a sense of otherworldliness has been the harp. An instrument less commonly heard than strings or winds, the harp’s tone and quality lend an ephemeral character to music. This program features the harp in its many diffirent uses and capabilities.

Baule Blolo (Spirit Spouses)

The Baule(pronounced bow-lay) people in the Ivory Coast of West Africa believe there is an alternate world running parallel to the world of the living. The Baule call this world the blolo, or otherworld. 

Spirit spouses conform to Baule aesthetics, revealing a style where physical attributes are neither too pronounced nor too diminutive. Each sculpted spirit spouse has a distinct and individual personality known to its physical mate. Once the marriage between the physical mate and the spirit spouse takes place it becomes the physical mate's obligation to give offerings such as food, money, and genuine love to the spirit spouse on a regular basis. In turn, it becomes the obligation of the spirit spouse to cure whatever problem caused the creation of the marriage in the first place.


It is the spirit world, the point of origin for the spirits of newborns and the place where the deceased reside. The Baule also believe each of us has a mate in the blolo, and this mate can be enlisted to help us solve problems in our world, the world of the living.