Saariaho INNOCENCE (Vocal Score) by ScoresOnDemand

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Kaija Saariaho Innocence

An Opera in Five Acts

Original Finnish Libretto by Sofi Oksanen

Multilingual Libretto by Aleksi Barrière

Vocal Score

Piano reduction by Raimonds Zelmenis

Chester Music

Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence was jointly commissioned by the Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Dutch National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and San Francisco Opera.

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The first performance took place on 3 July 2021 at the Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, given by Magdalena Kožená, Sandrine Piau, Tuomas Pursio, Lilian Farahani, Markus Nykänen, Jukka Rasilainen, with Simon Stone (stage director), the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki.

Duration: c. 1 hour 45 minutes to be presented without interval

CH88171 EAN 5020679003411

Music Setting by Raimonds Zelmenis

Published in Great Britain by Chester Music Limited (Part of Wise Music Group)

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No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of Chester Music Limited.

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Act I

Prelude ..………………..………............................1

Scene 1: The Aftermath ...…………….……...........9

Scene 2: The Wedding .…………..…….................17

Scene 3: The Aftermath ..…………...…….............29

Scene 4: The Wedding ..………..………................40

Act II

Scene 5: The Wedding …….………......................51

Scene 6: The Aftermath …………………...............56

Scene 7: The Wedding …….………......................62

Scene 8: The Aftermath ……..………................... 75

Scene 9: On That Morning ……..………...............83

Act III

Scene 10: The Wedding .....………......................90

Scene 11: It .................…………………...............106

Scene 12: The Wedding .….………......................127

Scene 13: The Aftermath .…..………................... 142

Scene 14: The Wedding .….………......................162

Act IV

Scene 15: On That Night .....………......................168

Scene 16: The Wedding .….………......................180

Scene 17: Before The Shooting .…......................188

Scene 18: The Wedding .….………......................194

Scene 19: Before The Shooting .…......................202

Act V

Scene 20: The Wedding .....………......................208

Scene 21: A Gang of Three/Before The Wedding 228

Scene 22: The Wedding .….………......................229

Scene 23: After The Shooting .………................... 235

Scene 24: The Wedding .….………......................240

Epilogue

Scene 25: The Future ......….………......................264

Characters and their native languages

At the wedding (sung roles)

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The Waitress (Tereza) – Czech – mezzo-soprano

The Bride (Stela) – Romanian – lyric soprano

The Mother-In-Law (Patricia) – French – coloratura soprano

The Bridegroom (Tuomas) – Finnish/French – tenor

The Father-In-Law (Henrik) – Finnish – baritone

The Priest – Finnish – bass-baritone

Chorus (about 32 singers)

The communication language is English.

In the realm of memories (spoken and sung roles – all amplified)

The Teacher (Cecilia) – English – singer

Student 1 (Markéta) – Czech/Finnish – folk singer

Student 2 (Lilly) – Swedish – singer/actor

Student 3 (Iris) – French – actor

Student 4 (Anton) – German – actor (musical skills needed)

Student 5 (Jerónimo) – Spanish – actor (musical skills needed)

Student 6 (Alexia) – Greek – actor

These characters may be speaking to each other, or to themselves. Child actors may be used to represent the characters at the time of their memories. However, in no way should the Shooter be represented on stage.

Original Finnish Libretto by Sofi Oksanen

Text Dramaturgy and Multilingual Libretto by Aleksi Barrière.

Translations created with the assistance of Camilla Hoitenga (English), Linda Dušková (Czech), Carlos Alberto Pérez Tabares (Spanish), Isabelle Kranabetter (German), Viktor Sjöström (Swedish), Eleni Podara (Greek) and David Kozma (Romanian), and the cast and crew of the premiere.

Notation

Accidentals apply throughout the bar to notes in the same octave and the same stave

Trills should always be played up a semitone, unless otherwise specified

Singers

 air (inhale – exhale) / breathy tone

x whispered

Synopsis

The wedding takes place in Helsinki in the 21st century, on a summer evening.

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There has been a shooting at an international school in Helsinki: ten students and one teacher have been killed. A student of the school shot them with a weapon he stole from his father’s cupboard. Because he was underage at the moment of the deed, he didn’t face criminal charges, but was handled by Child protection and then processed to psychiatric care.

Ten years later, the shooter’s younger brother is getting married to a woman he met in Romania. The bride doesn’t know about the past events. This younger brother wanted to marry someone who wouldn’t see him first and foremost as the shooter’s brother. The family has decided it would be better to hide the shooter-brother’s existence from the bride.

One of the waiters of the company organizing the wedding’s catering has fallen ill, and a waitress called as a replacement happens to be the mother of one of the shooting’s victims. It is only upon arrival that she understands to whose wedding she has been sent, and she is even more shocked when she understands from an overheard conversation that the shooter has recently been released and has started a new life under a new identity. He has not been invited to the wedding though, because the bridegroom doesn’t want to see his brother ever again.

This is too much for the waitress. As she is serving the wedding cake, she snaps, and demands explanations for the shooter’s actions from his parents. The waitress’s unforeseen behaviour forces the family to tell the bride about the tragedy. Her reaction is not the one they had expected: she is ready to forgive the lies she has been told, because it is her husband she fell in love with, not his family.

Nevertheless the bridegroom leaves his wife. This fortuitous encounter has revealed to him that he is unable to escape from his past and his family, even though he has been trying so very hard to do so.

The bridegroom considers himself responsible for the tragedy. He knew his brother was secretly practising shooting and even took part in those sessions. He did so, because he admired his elder brother and craved for his approval. To him it was a game, but had he told someone about it, the tragedy could have been avoided. He has kept this secret to himself all this time.

The story is not centred on the shooter’s motivations and psyche, but rather on the victims and on how the rampage has impacted their lives. The plot brings to light people who have been influential to the deed, and none of them is innocent.

Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière

Sound Design

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A performance of Innocence requires the enactment of the sound design crafted under the supervision of the composer, aimed at balancing acoustic sound sources and creating effects of spatialization and reverberation adjusted to the venue’s acoustics. A full technical rider for this sound design, created by sound engineer Timo Kurkikangas, is available from the publisher upon request.

- The voices of performers using unusual vocal techniques are amplified. This amplification is designed to blend with the orchestra’s sound in the same way the singing voices do naturally: its volume should therefore never be pushed to a level that sounds artificial.

- The main singers are also amplified for very discreet, delicate support, calibrated during performance to also not sound artificial.

- The choir and orchestra are also amplified, processed with reverb, and spatialized, to achieve a perfect balance with the other sonic components.

To achieve the most immersive and natural effect, the sound design requires live calibration during performances, the use of a sound localization calculation engine to match the positions of the performers on stage, and a specific placement of speakers on stage and in the house adapted to each venue. It should be implemented by a sound engineer familiar with the piece or the composer’s other music.

Kaija Saariaho

About the surtitling of Innocence

The basis for any surtitling or subtitling of this work should be the official English translation of the libretto contained in the score. This translation has also served as a basis for the French and German translations, which have been reviewed and amended by the creators.

In case one of these three versions is used in surtitles and requires adaptations (to a local dialect, or to fit into the displays) these adaptations need to be run by the creators via the publisher before the premiere. So does any other adaptation in any other language.

Because of the quantity of text, we would strongly encourage physically inserting the surtitles more organically into the staging than is customary in opera, to allow for a more comfortable reading experience. This also entails avoiding cuts in the text as much as possible, so as to follow the flow of the delivery on stage and not distract the audience with discrepancies between what is heard and what is read.

The full perception of multilingualism is intrinsic to the experience of Innocence. In an ideal situation, all text is displayed in the original languages as well as in translation, allowing for a better perception of language shifts and of nuances in text. In a situation where this is not possible and where the surtitles are monolingual, it is preferable to indicate the language that is being sung by using different text colors for each of the nine languages.

The text sung by the choir should also be surtitled and preferably styled in a specific way, italics being the most common solution. It may be omitted when the choir is merely echoing the voice of a protagonist (e.g. in scenes 6, 8, 10...). But when the choir provides a haunting counterpoint to the main action, the surtitles should reflect that superposition: for instance, the names of the victims being recited over the dialogue in scenes 12 and 20, or each occurrence of the names of Stela and Tuomas.

The inclusion or omission of scene numbers and titles, and of stage instructions, is a choice left to the directorial team.

Aleksi Barrière

KAIJA

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Nervoso

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I

Scene 1: The Aftermath

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Nomepuedosubirauna

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Nopuedoiralteatro,

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Nuärdomplatsernadärjagso

Molto giocoso, espressivo e = 160

(The Waitress ﬁlls glasses, the guests raise a toast. The Bride stands up.)

(Vibr.) (Tpts) (Str.) (Tbnes)

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