Kaija Saariaho working on a composition, Paris.

Picture by Priska Ketterer, Luzern.

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA, is an opera/oratorio by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023), ‘La Passion de Simone‘, a musical journey in 15 stations based upon Simone Weil on whose life and writings the libretto is based, written by French/Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. All information are from Wikipedia and Kaija Saariaho’s memorial website.

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‘La Passion de Simone’

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A note by Kaija Saariaho

about ‘La Passion de Simone’

“I have been reading Simone Weil’s writings since I was a teenager, and the harsh asceticism of Weil’s world and her passionate pursuit of truth have appealed to me ever since. When I went to Germany in 1981 to continue my studies in compo­sition, one of the two books I packed in my suitcase was ‘Gravity and Grace‘, a book of Weil’s ideas in Finnish. (The other was a textbook on orches­tration.)

‘La Passion de Simone‘ involves many close people and a trusting collab­o­ration: meetings with the writer Amin Maalouf and the director Peter Sellars preceded the compo­sition of the original version, and during these meetings the various aspects of Weil’s work and life that form the textual material for the work were discovered. While I was fascinated by the tendency towards the abstract and the spiritual, Peter also drew attention to Simone’s social consciousness and political engagement. Amin highlighted the gap between his philosophy and his life, and created a picture of the fate of a small indi­vidual tackling big ideas. Because I expe­rienced the text and its themes person­ally, and because they so beauti­fully reflect many of the central issues of our existence more generally, I dedicated the work to my children after its completion in 2006. I still consider La Passion de Simone to be my most important stage work. My other operas have received more acclaim, but the uncom­pro­mising and gentle nature of this work is the most profound and translucent thing I want to convey to the world.

The work then took on a new character in 2013, when the musical theatre group La Chambre aux échos commissioned a version for chamber orchestra. Aleksi Barrière and Clément Mao-Takacs saw the potential in the piece and made suggestions for adapting the score, which imme­diately inspired me. The chorus was replaced by a vocal quartet, the recorded voice was replaced by a live actor, and a large orchestra with a small one, so that each musician became an important part of the performance. The music began to breathe more freely, with more warmth and, with the new production, the stage was filled with the shared energy of the performers, which spread to the audience. Whereas in the large version the audience follows Simone’s play of suffering through the solo soprano, now we share the ideas of the text and feel that they touch us all. The audience has become a community.”

Kaija Saariaho, 2022

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About the Work

La Passion de Simone is an oratorio (or opera) composed by Kaija Saariaho to a libretto in French by Amin Maalouf, first premiered in a staging by Peter Sellars in 2006. The work, subtitled “a musical journey in 15 stations”, centers on the life and writings of Simone Weil and was conceived in the Passion Play tradition with episodes in her life linked to the Stations of the Cross. It is composed for SATB chorus, soprano soloist, spoken voice, orchestra and electronic instruments.

Amin Maalouf’s libreto

la+passion+de+simone+-+libretto+am+-+eng

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2013-Orchestral version recording 

Dawn Upshaw (soprano)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Tapiola Chamber Choir
Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)

01. Premiere Station 0:00
02. Deuxieme Station 3:19
03. Troisieme Station 6:29
04. Quatrieme Station 11:13
05. Cinquieme Station 16:02
06. Sixieme Station 17:48
07. Septieme Station 22:42
08. Huitieme Station 28:00
09. Neuvieme Station 33:37
10. Dixieme Station 38:09
11. Onzieme Station 42:24
12. Douzieme Station 45:35
13. Treizieme Station 50:29
14. Quatorzieme Station 55:35
15. Ultime Station 59:16

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Chamber version (2013)

On a suggestion by director Aleksi Barrière and conductor Clément Mao-Takacs, the composer created a chamber version of the piece that has been more popular (both in terms of critical response and number of productions) than the original. It is the same length as the original version and the soloist’s vocal line and the spoken text are unchanged. But the orchestration is for 19 musicians and uses no electronic elements, and four solo voices replace the SATB chorus –a feature that Saariaho later reused and developed in her opera Only the Sound Remains, which she started composing soon after completing the arrangement of La Passion de Simone.

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This chamber version was premiered on 14 November 2013 in Bratislava, in the framework of the Melos-Ethos Festival for Contemporary Music, in a production conceived and realized by the French music theatre company La Chambre aux échos. The main character was performed by soprano Karen Vourc’h [fr], accompanied by a vocal quartet and an actress, and the chamber ensemble Secession Orchestra, conducted by Clément Mao-Takacs. The stage direction was devised by Aleksi Barrière. This “poignant production”,[3] which has been described as “superb in every sense” by the press,[4] has since toured worldwide with soprano Sayuri Araida in the main role, and was performed as the local premiere of the chamber version in France,[5] Finland[6] and the USA among others.

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Other stage productions were eventually created of this chamber version, among which: a new staging by Peter Sellars starring Julia Bullock (Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2015; Ojai Music Festival, 2016); the Australian premiere performance by Sydney Chamber Opera at the Carriageworks for the 2019 Sydney Festival, with soprano Jane Sheldon, conducted by Jack Symonds and directed by Imara Savage;[7][8] and a semi-staged performance conceived by conductor Christian Karlsen with Anne Sofie von Otter (Royal Swedish Opera, 2020).

The Ojay Performance in 2016

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