FULL Voices of Light (Einhorn) & The Passion of Joan of Arc (C.T.Dreyer) San José CA 2024 Amy Young, Jacque Scharlach, Christopher Bengochea, Truesten Tautalo

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Voices of Light, The Passion of Joan of Arc (C.T.Dreyer) Silent Movie  
• Composer: Einhorn Richard  
• Libretto: The text incorporates accusations from Joan of Arc's actual contemporary accusers  
• Venue & Opera Company: Hammer Theater, San Jose, CA, San Jose State University, School of Music & Dance  
• Recorded: October 5, 2024
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers: Amy Young, Jacque Scharlach, Christopher Bengochea, Truesten Tautalo
• Conductor: Fred Cohen  
• Orchestra: SJSU Symphony Orchestra  
• Chorus: SJSU Concert Choir, San Jose Symphonic Choir  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Fred Cohen  
• Date Published: 2024  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Designed to accompany the 1920 classic silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Voices of Light is a musical composition that serves as a meditation on the life and legacy of Joan of Arc.

  The piece is scored for vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, and a unique bell, with a libretto that draws from medieval texts, primarily those of female mystics, including Joan herself. The work explores the complex emotions and societal transgressions of Joan, an illiterate peasant girl who became a military leader and was later canonized as a saint. The film depicts Joan’s trial and execution, capturing her steadfast faith in the face of intimidation and her ultimate martyrdom.   The production of Voices of Light is a unique joint venture between the SJSU School of Music and the Silicon Valley Arts Coalition, featuring the SJSU Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir, members of the San Jose Symphonic Choir, and vocal soloists.  Fred Cohen conducts.

  Voices of Light is a 1994 musical composition by Richard Einhorn. It was inspired by the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer; live performances of the composition have accompanied screenings of the film. The libretto is based on excerpts from a variety of ancient writings, most of it from medieval female mystics. The text incorporates accusations from Joan of Arc’s actual contemporary accusers. The language of this work is a mix of Latin and Middle French.

  It is scored for a small orchestra, chorus, and soloists.

  In the 1980s, Richard Einhorn was developing a large piece on a religious subject when a friend suggested Joan of Arc as the subject. While sifting through the archives of the Museum of Modern Art, he found a still from the movie The Passion of Joan of Arc. After watching the film, he set to work on the entire piece.

  In preparation, Einhorn visited her hometown of Domrémy-la-Pucelle in France. According to a 2017 interview with the Criterion channel, Richard Einhorn visited the church where she prayed which is still standing, located near her home. He took along a recorder and recorded the sound of the church bells. These bells are relevant to her story as Joan said the bells triggered the voices from the angels. The bells that can be heard in the original recording are these very bells from her church the way they would have sounded to her.[1]

  The piece uses a multi-layered approach intended to resemble the polyphonic music of Joan’s own time. The first layer is the slowed down Gregorian chant. A one minute chant now becomes fifteen minutes. There are multiple texts then sung over the slowed down chant. This creates the polyphony.[2]

  The piece premiered in February 1994 as live accompaniment to the Dreyer film at the Academy of Music in Northampton, Massachusetts, performed by the Arcadia Players and the Da Camera Singers under the direction of Margaret Irwin-Brandon.

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