The Burning Lands Introduction

Introduction

The Burning Lands
An Opera about Love and Loss

Autumn is closing in on three couples in their late 30’ies. A portrait of the intellectual middle class in the safe darkness of the red wine and the beers. Mike and Pate care for each other. Stina and David are still in love. Ingrid and Jack are divorced. Jean owns the summerhouse in which they enjoy their yearly weekend. And they all long for love. And share the sorrow. This is not Mozarth, this is Chopin. Waltzes with a desperate belief in hope and light. Wagner and Debussy, anti-classical chaos. This is not Beethoven, it’s Puccini. This is Neo-Romanticism.

The Sight, the Tast, the Hearing, the Brains, the Heart
A slice of roast lamb. The delicious smell of garlic sausage. The golden whisky and the morning after. The stars, the talking. An enchanted English autumn evening near the seaside. And the dead are there.

But still the Laughter Prevails…
The kids and the entertaining jester, Jack, are not exactly speechless. The smile and the pain are always present, side by side. And the ardent political arguments are cut to size by Jak’s impertinent sarcasms.

A modern Musical Tale
The generation who was late for the happy 60’ies and too early for the roaring 80’ies. The anti-EEC movement, Holism, Einstein, the cod quota in the North Sea. September 1992 for all it’s worth. The Burning Lands.

Official Press Photo, Stina and Mike

History

The Burning Lands was written in 1993 in Mojacar in the strange moonlike landscapes of Spanish province Almeria. The 800 pages score was written throughout 1994. This CD-ROM book contains the complete text and music from the first tour of The Burning Lands in 1996. The opera is an intense praise to love and its many faces. Since 1982, I had longed to write a modern, intelligent love story, but only in 1992 the plot and title became clear to me. I did an odd thing – I dramatized a poem! The Burning Lands was originally a poem written by me in 1990. It contained a little story of a woman, trying to hide her feelings behind “well-meaning lies”, a man travelling on a train to meet her and the dark picture of the “fertile ashes” of their love. This was a perfect starting point, so I created a group of people from my own generation, three couples, a single woman and a couple of kids. The secrete lovers, Stina and Mike are tormented by doubt and attraction to each other, yet fearing for their “ev’ryday empty safety”. They are never at ease with the crime of love, they yearn to commit, but never dare carry out in flesh and blood. Stina claims her pure spiritual love for Mike, while the deep bass and cello in the orchestra pumps with sexual excitement and fear. This is middle class Tristan and Isolde. This is you and me, real life weak heroes. This is the classical tragedy of fear of flying, which happens to rhyme with “dying”.

I hope the audience will look in the mirror of the Burning Lands and see their own lives reflected in the fate of the desperate lovers, Stina and Mike. Stina’s farewell is “This is for Eternity”. Love lives for ever.

H.W. Gade
Copenhagen Saturday the 25^th of November 2000

The Landscapes of Mojacar, drawing by the composer September 1993,
View from the Dining Room Window

The Author

H(enrik) W(ilhelm) Gade was born in 1953 in Copenhagen. After graduating from the Metropolitan Latin School in 1972, he began pursuing a career as a rock musician. His first record with the band Nekropolis was released in 1976. A few years later, in 1979, Gade had his debut as a musical theatre composer on the Café Theatre in Copenhagen with a Baudelaire cabaret. Over the years, H.W. Gade has released over 10 records and written about 30 songbooks and music primers. He is now mostly working with musical drama and has written 8 musicals/operas, the latest work being the science fiction opera "Stella" released in the spring of 1999. H.W. Gade plays the electric bass, the guitar and the piano. He still works with bands from time to time, as well as teaching guitar and bass. H.W. Gade is the great-grandson of world famous Danish composer Niels W. Gade (1817-90). He is the loving father of his 12-years old handicapped son Lukas.

Photo: H.W. Gade June 1996, Denmark. Photo courtesy by Finn "Skipper" Christensen

Technical Information

Copyrights

The Burning Lands / Det brændende land

ISBN 87-88619-95-8

3rd Edition, 1st Issue, Winter 2000

Document 1 of 2

Digital BooksÔ is a trademark of NORDISC Music & Text, DK-2700 Broenshoej, Denmark

Unless otherwise stated, all texts, songs and musical arrangements are by H.W. Gade © 1992-94. Changes in the original text and music H.W. Gade © copyright 1995/96. Concept, scenography and sketches by the composer © 1993/94.

1. The words and music of this work must never be changed or abbreviated in any way without the written consent of the composer himself. See also point 3 in this copyright claimer.

2. The visual visions/dreams of the work must never be excluded when the work is performed in public.

3. The composer will accept no censorship on the texts and the sexual, political or philosophical issues discussed within the work. The sexual parts and the love scenes must never be omitted or changed.

4. All acts, thoughts and dreams in this work came from real life. The characters, times and places have, however, been rearranged to suit the needs of the living. All names of persons and places are pure fiction and must not be confused with our physical reality. Where ever that may be!

What does it take to perform The Burning Lands?

The following list is a rough overview of the Personnel and scenography of the opera The Burning Lands. The scenography and the costumes are simple. The vocals can be sung by good amateur singers, but the are technically demanding. You do not need to have a live string orchestra, but can perform the opera with the MIDI music on the CD-ROM as accompaniment. But any real orchestra, even a small amateur school orchestra is much better than the machine music. You should at least have a real guitar (Mike), a couple of live violinists and a cello player (Stina’s instrumental themes).

Scenography and Playing Time

1^st Act
[0:50hours]

2^nd Act
[1:40hours]

Total Duration 2:30 hours

The Summerhouse

Projected Slide with changing day and night colours of the sky. Manipulated and hand painted photography by Skipper Christensen.

Inside the House

Add some furniture and 7 drunken grownups, and you have the Burning Lands!

Singers and Musicians

Characters marked with green are prominent parts vocally. All characters are interesting dramatically. The “clown” Jack should be a big man with Scottish or Irish accent. There are even two good part for two teenage girls.

VOICES

Soprano Patricia, Ingrid, Jean, Sarah, Sally, The unborn child

Alto Stina

Tenor Mike

Baritone David

Bass Jack

ORCHESTRA

Wind 2 transverse flutes

3 soprano saxophones

Brass 2 trumpets

2 trombones

Guitar 1 Spanish guitar

Strings 4 first violins

6 second violins

6 third violins

3 violas

3 cellos

3 double basses

Souvenirs from the Danish 1996 tour of The Burning Lands

Surrealistic Lunch
Photo with the special burning/melting technique
employed by Skipper in the scenography.
Here he has made a “melted” picture of the actors
having lunch while rehearsing in a summerhouse.

This is Dea Sigaard Stenbæk who played a fantastic Stina in 1996. Dea is a very gifted singer and as charismatic as the woman she portrays.

This is Søren Høyrup who played Stina’s husbond, David.

Here we have the lover himself, Mikkel Drexel Petersen. Besides being an actor, Mikkel sings with rock bands.

Here is Mike’s wife, Pat played by Anette Ernst.

Here is Vicki Attle…

who played Maria, daughter of Stina and David

…and here is Tina Houman

who played Sally, the daughter of Ingrid and John

And not to forget the proud owner of the summerhouse, Jean, who was played by Yvonne Bardrum

Here we have Annette Lang in a hot moment with Mike. Annette played the nurse Ingrid married to the man below (she later had a daughter with him in real life), Jesper L. Jensen who played the funny Jack.

Rehearsal. Jens take care of the light and the composer directs from the computer.

On tour

1^st Poster (“teaser” poster)

Final Poster

This is Skipper, our bellowed and funny photographer!

And here is “fast lightning’” Jens Damsager Hansen (where’s my sword?)

The composer at the beach, July 1996