The Finnish Prisoner
Encyclopedia
The Finnish Prisoner is an opera
by Orlando Gough
, first performed in 2007. Stephen Plaice wrote the English-language libretto
based on the true story of Finnish prisoners of war incarcerated in England during the Crimean War
.
, in the Åland Islands
in the eastern Baltic
off the coast of Finland, was destroyed during the Crimean War
, many hundreds of prisoners were taken, some 340 of whom were taken to Lewes
, in Sussex
, England. While the officers were Russian, the men were mostly Finnish conscripts – Finland was part of the Russian Empire
at the time. The officers were housed with local families, allowed complete freedom of movement, and integrated themselves into local society. The men, confined in the Naval Prison, were given facilities to produce wooden toys for sale to the public. The prison, which was open to visitors, became a major tourist attraction, and both the toys and their makers were hugely popular with locals and tourists alike. When peace was concluded, and the time came for the prisoners to return home, the commanding officer addressed the townsfolk in gratitude for their hospitality.
While in captivity, 28 prisoners had died of disease, and in 1877 Tsar Alexander II of Russia
arranged for a monument
to be erected in their memory, which still stands in the churchyard of St John sub Castro
, near the site of the Naval Prison. A popular Finnish folk-song, Oolannin sota (Crimean War), evolved from the earlier Ålandin sota laulu (Åland war song) which tells of their capture and imprisonment in Lewes and is thought to have been written by one of the Lewes prisoners during his internment.
of The Finnish Prisoner. It was composed by Orlando Gough
, scored for a four-piece "orchestra" of violin, accordion
, bass clarinet
and vibraphone
, and for three choruses, including a chorus of children. The opera received its world premiere in Lewes in July 2007, in a venue very near the site of the Naval Prison, in front of a sell-out audience including Finland's ambassador to London. The production was previewed in The Guardian
and covered by television channels from three countries as well as by local press and media. It was directed by Susannah Waters
with a cast of professional singers including members of the Finnish National Opera
and locally recruited amateur choruses. The highlight of the premiere was what Mark Pappenheim's review in Opera
called the "hair-raisingly deep-toned rendition" of Oolannin sota by the Finnish singers, whose style Waters had described in rehearsal as "simple, open-throated singing free of operatic airs".
. Pappenheim describes it as dealing with "the power of love and lust to reach out across the gulfs of language, race, time and space".
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh and Ashley Page of The Royal Ballet. He is artistic director of The Shout, which he...
, first performed in 2007. Stephen Plaice wrote the English-language libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
based on the true story of Finnish prisoners of war incarcerated in England during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
.
Background
When the Russian fortress of BomarsundBomarsund, Åland
The Battle of Bomarsund was fought by an Anglo-French task force against Russian defenses at Bomarsund during the Crimean War.-Background:Bomarsund is a 19th century fortress which had started to built in 1832 by Russia in Sund on the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea...
, in the Åland Islands
Åland Islands
The Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland...
in the eastern Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
off the coast of Finland, was destroyed during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, many hundreds of prisoners were taken, some 340 of whom were taken to Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
, in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, England. While the officers were Russian, the men were mostly Finnish conscripts – Finland was part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
at the time. The officers were housed with local families, allowed complete freedom of movement, and integrated themselves into local society. The men, confined in the Naval Prison, were given facilities to produce wooden toys for sale to the public. The prison, which was open to visitors, became a major tourist attraction, and both the toys and their makers were hugely popular with locals and tourists alike. When peace was concluded, and the time came for the prisoners to return home, the commanding officer addressed the townsfolk in gratitude for their hospitality.
While in captivity, 28 prisoners had died of disease, and in 1877 Tsar Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
arranged for a monument
Russian Memorial, Lewes
The Russian Memorial is an obelisk in the churchyard of St John sub Castro in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England . It was erected in 1877 at the behest of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, in memory of 28 Finnish soldiers of the Russian Army of the Crimean War who died while prisoners of...
to be erected in their memory, which still stands in the churchyard of St John sub Castro
Church of St John sub Castro, Lewes
The Church of St John sub Castro is an Anglican church in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England . It was built in 1839 on the site of an 11th-century Saxon church, and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building...
, near the site of the Naval Prison. A popular Finnish folk-song, Oolannin sota (Crimean War), evolved from the earlier Ålandin sota laulu (Åland war song) which tells of their capture and imprisonment in Lewes and is thought to have been written by one of the Lewes prisoners during his internment.
Production
Stephen Plaice, at the time writer-in-residence at the modern Lewes Prison, came across the story and used it as the basis for the librettoLibretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
of The Finnish Prisoner. It was composed by Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh and Ashley Page of The Royal Ballet. He is artistic director of The Shout, which he...
, scored for a four-piece "orchestra" of violin, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
and vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, and for three choruses, including a chorus of children. The opera received its world premiere in Lewes in July 2007, in a venue very near the site of the Naval Prison, in front of a sell-out audience including Finland's ambassador to London. The production was previewed in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and covered by television channels from three countries as well as by local press and media. It was directed by Susannah Waters
Susannah Waters
Susannah Waters is a British soprano. Born in London, England, she attended both Bennington College and the Guildhall School of Music.She made her New York debut early in her career, as Belinda in Dido and Æneas at Symphony Space , a production that toured to New Orleans...
with a cast of professional singers including members of the Finnish National Opera
Finnish National Opera
The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...
and locally recruited amateur choruses. The highlight of the premiere was what Mark Pappenheim's review in Opera
Opera (magazine)
Opera is a monthly British magazine devoted to covering all things related to opera.Based in London, the magazine was founded in 1950 by George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood. It was launched at the house of Richard Buckle, under the imprint 'Ballet Publications Ltd'...
called the "hair-raisingly deep-toned rendition" of Oolannin sota by the Finnish singers, whose style Waters had described in rehearsal as "simple, open-throated singing free of operatic airs".
Roles
| Role | Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
Premiere cast, 11 July 2007 Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : John Harcorn |
|---|---|---|
| Cora Combe, 21st-century young woman | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Marcia Bellamy |
| Lily, Cora's great-grandmother | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Joanna Songi |
| Matts, Finnish prisoner | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Jarmo Ojala |
| John Triptolemus, photographer | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Stephen Chaundy |
| Prison warder/Traffic warden | baritone | Andrew Rupp |
| Finnish prisoners | tenor and bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Members of the Finnish National Opera Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties... |
| Director | Susannah Waters Susannah Waters Susannah Waters is a British soprano. Born in London, England, she attended both Bennington College and the Guildhall School of Music.She made her New York debut early in her career, as Belinda in Dido and Æneas at Symphony Space , a production that toured to New Orleans... |
|
| Designer | Num Stibbe | |
| Lighting | Clare O'Donoghue | |
Synopsis
Cora carries a picture of her great-grandmother as a young woman back to her car, which is parked on the spot where a cell of the Lewes Naval Prison once stood. She unlocks the car, an act which triggers the first manifestation of parallel realities specific to that site but 150 years apart: the apparition of Matts, a Finnish soldier who once occupied that cell. The action switches between past and present: characters appear as people in their own time and as ghosts in the other. While Cora dates John, he ill-treats her because he cannot have the 19th-century Lily, a clergyman's daughter and Cora's great-grandmother; Lily in turn is in love with Matts. All are watched over by the benevolent authority figure of the prison warder/traffic wardenTraffic warden
A traffic warden is a non-warranted officer employed by a statutory authority in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Ireland, to assist in regulating the flow of traffic.- Ireland :...
. Pappenheim describes it as dealing with "the power of love and lust to reach out across the gulfs of language, race, time and space".