composer
Isidora Žebeljan (Belgrade, 1967-2020) was the most outstanding and internationally acclaimed Serbian composer. She drew international attention with her opera Zora D. which was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation from ...
related works
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano Quartet (piano, violin, viola, cello)
Scoring:
vn vla vc pf
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
high g
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra; Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
alt str bc ; alt bc
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr cornetto viola
composition
Leonce and Lena (Leons i Lena) : Suite for oboe (doubling ocarina), percussion, piano, soprano, viola and contrabass / Isidora Žebeljan; lyrics by Georg Büchner
Other authors:
Buchner, Georg
(librettist)
Description:
Just as Georg Büchner reached for the structure of the old fairy tale in his drama Leonce and Lena, so Isidora Žebeljan looks to the sounds of Renaissance courts and squares in her suite in four movements (1998/2011), created from music she wrote for the Belgrade production of Büchner’s piece. The vocal and instrumental line-up, consisting of a soprano (mostly without lyrics), oboe, viola, double bass, percussion and piano (deputizing for a virginal or a zither), reminds one of a troupe of minstrels.
There are also evocations of the forms of the forlana (Ouverture) and the slow menuet (The King). Yet, as well as this homage to the past, we can sense an unrestrained spirit coming through, as a response of the rhythmical wildness of today to that of a long time ago (Travelling). The last movement returns to the echo of former times in a duet for soprano and oboe (My Tired Footsteps).
Borislav Čičovački