The Red Line
Encyclopedia
The Red Line is an opera
in two acts with music by Aulis Sallinen
to a libretto by the composer, which premiered on 30 November 1978 at the Finnish National Opera
.
Based on the 1909 novel Punainen viiva by Ilmari Kianto
(1874-1970), the opera – like the novel – is set in 1907, a watershed year in Finnish
history during which its first elections were held
, leading eventually to Finnish independence in 1917.
, London in 1979 and at the Metropolitan Opera
of New York in 1983. It has been revived several times in Helsinki and was recorded in November 1979 by Finlandia. A DVD of Finnish National Opera's 2007 stage production conducted by Mikko Franck
has been issued by Ondine
.
It is late autumn; a bear, symbol of the threat of brutal nature, is heard nearby; it has carried off one of their sheep. As Topi promises to slay the bear, he argues with his wife, both feel trapped by their poor life and realise that they have barely any food remaining for the family. Topi believes that things will change for the better.
Topi dreams that he has gone to the village to ask for help for children, but, admonished by the vicar for not attending church, aid arrives too late and his children are dead. Topi awakes, terrified by his dream, but takes some birds to exchange for grain and sets off to the village. Riika regrets having called Topi names.
A pedlar enters, Simana Arhippaini from Karelia, tells the children riddles and sings a ballad, but cannot answer their serious questions. Topi returns and gets Kunilla to read to him from a socialist newspaper, and talks about ‘an election’, a possible way of release from their toil and poverty without understanding the importance of it.
New Year
An agitator addresses an open-air meeting. Despite interruptions from a young priest, he proclaims social democracy and tells of freedom, equality and fraternity. The people are slowly aware of the meaning of the vote.
Neighbours join Topi and Riika to celebrate Twelfth Night. Riika reads from a socialist tract; all will be voting in the election but Topi, having only ever held axes and spades in his hands, wonders how he will make his mark — a red line — on the ballot paper. As they are discussing the future, dogs start barking, aware that the bear is turning in his sleep, but the people can't sense this.
Fifteenth of March
Outside the polling-booth a confrontation takes place between the young priest and his choir, and the socialist organiser and his group. The voters are checked as they enter to vote. Topi and Riika go in.
Later in the spring
Topi is at the logging camp; Riika anxiously clears fresh tracks in the snow for him every day, hoping for his return. She desperately longs for word that the election has changed their lives; but no one comes.
The children have all fallen ill from malnutrition. Kaisi tells Riika it is a punishment; when Topi returns they have all died. The vicar agrees to bury them for a reduced price, as they can all fit in a single coffin.
The message comes that the election has been won by the ordinary people. There is the promise of better clothes, food and health, but it is too late for Topi and Riika. Then dogs bark, warning of the bear, which has awakened. Topi goes to fight it, but he is killed and Riika finds him dead, and cries out in horror over his corpse, with blood pouring out of his throat, in a red line.
Bush describes the music as "expertly composed and elegantly orchestrated", and commends scenes 4 and 6, and the orchestral interludes. Another writer commented that in this "grim opera" the very intense dramatic effect of the music may be due to its generally low-key approach.
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...
in two acts with music by Aulis Sallinen
Aulis Sallinen
Aulis Sallinen is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. He writes in a modern, though tonal and not experimental music style. He studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen...
to a libretto by the composer, which premiered on 30 November 1978 at 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...
.
Based on the 1909 novel Punainen viiva by Ilmari Kianto
Ilmari Kianto
Ilmari Kianto , also known as Ilmari Calamnius and Ilmari Iki-Kianto, was a Finnish poet. He is best known for his books Punainen viiva and Ryysyrannan Jooseppi...
(1874-1970), the opera – like the novel – is set in 1907, a watershed year in Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
history during which its first elections were held
Finnish parliamentary election, 1907
The Finnish parliamentary election in 1907, in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, was the first parliamentary election in which members of parliament were elected to the new Parliament of Finland by universal suffrage....
, leading eventually to Finnish independence in 1917.
Performance history
Outside Finland, the opera was performed at several European opera houses, including Sadler's Wells TheatreSadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
, London in 1979 and at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
of New York in 1983. It has been revived several times in Helsinki and was recorded in November 1979 by Finlandia. A DVD of Finnish National Opera's 2007 stage production conducted by Mikko Franck
Mikko Franck
Mikko Franck is a Finnish conductor. He began to play the violin at the age of 5. By age 7, he reportedly preferred orchestral scores to all other reading matter. His first favorite score was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 which he used to conduct while listening to a recording on earphones...
has been issued by Ondine
Ondine (record label)
Ondine is a Finnish classical record label founded in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, where the company is still based, and today offers an extremely eclectic catalogue of both contemporary Finnish music, as well as recordings with major Finnish and international artists...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 30 November 1978, (Conductor: Okko Kamu Okko Kamu Okko Kamu is a Finnish orchestral conductor.Kamu was born into a family of musicians. His father played double bass in the Helsinki Philharmonic. He began violin studies at age two and entered the Sibelius Academy at age six. He formed his own string quartet, the Suhonen, in 1964 where he played... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Topi, a crofter | 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... |
Jorma Hynninen Jorma Hynninen Jorma Kalervo Hynninen is a Finnish baritone who performs regularly with the world's major opera companies. He has also worked in opera administration.... |
| Riika, his wife | 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... |
Taru Valjakka |
| Puntarpää, an agitator | 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... |
|
| Simana Arhippaini, a pedlar | 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... |
|
| Young Priest | bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende... |
|
| Kaisa, neighbour | alto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
|
| Jussi, neighbour | bass | |
| Tiina, neighbour | soprano | |
| Vicar | tenor | |
| Raappana, a cobbler | spoken | |
| Kunilla, his wife | spoken | |
| Epra | bass | |
| Neighbours, villagers, children | ||
Act 1
- Scene 1
It is late autumn; a bear, symbol of the threat of brutal nature, is heard nearby; it has carried off one of their sheep. As Topi promises to slay the bear, he argues with his wife, both feel trapped by their poor life and realise that they have barely any food remaining for the family. Topi believes that things will change for the better.
- Scene 2
Topi dreams that he has gone to the village to ask for help for children, but, admonished by the vicar for not attending church, aid arrives too late and his children are dead. Topi awakes, terrified by his dream, but takes some birds to exchange for grain and sets off to the village. Riika regrets having called Topi names.
- Scene 3
A pedlar enters, Simana Arhippaini from Karelia, tells the children riddles and sings a ballad, but cannot answer their serious questions. Topi returns and gets Kunilla to read to him from a socialist newspaper, and talks about ‘an election’, a possible way of release from their toil and poverty without understanding the importance of it.
New Year
- Scene 4
An agitator addresses an open-air meeting. Despite interruptions from a young priest, he proclaims social democracy and tells of freedom, equality and fraternity. The people are slowly aware of the meaning of the vote.
Act 2
Twelfth NightTwelfth Night (holiday)
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...
- Scene 5
Neighbours join Topi and Riika to celebrate Twelfth Night. Riika reads from a socialist tract; all will be voting in the election but Topi, having only ever held axes and spades in his hands, wonders how he will make his mark — a red line — on the ballot paper. As they are discussing the future, dogs start barking, aware that the bear is turning in his sleep, but the people can't sense this.
Fifteenth of March
- Scene 6
Outside the polling-booth a confrontation takes place between the young priest and his choir, and the socialist organiser and his group. The voters are checked as they enter to vote. Topi and Riika go in.
Later in the spring
- Scene 7
Topi is at the logging camp; Riika anxiously clears fresh tracks in the snow for him every day, hoping for his return. She desperately longs for word that the election has changed their lives; but no one comes.
The children have all fallen ill from malnutrition. Kaisi tells Riika it is a punishment; when Topi returns they have all died. The vicar agrees to bury them for a reduced price, as they can all fit in a single coffin.
- Epilogue
The message comes that the election has been won by the ordinary people. There is the promise of better clothes, food and health, but it is too late for Topi and Riika. Then dogs bark, warning of the bear, which has awakened. Topi goes to fight it, but he is killed and Riika finds him dead, and cries out in horror over his corpse, with blood pouring out of his throat, in a red line.
The music
Grove notes the careful structuring of mood via the music with lyricism in the opening scenes, pastiche folk music where needed and a choral confrontation between the old (folk melody) and the new (revolutionary fervour).Bush describes the music as "expertly composed and elegantly orchestrated", and commends scenes 4 and 6, and the orchestral interludes. Another writer commented that in this "grim opera" the very intense dramatic effect of the music may be due to its generally low-key approach.