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Four New Publications at the Open Journal of Astrophysics
It’s Satuday morning once again so here’s another quick update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. Since the last update a week ago we have published four papers, which takes the count in Volume 7 (2024) up to 114 and the total published altogether by OJAp up to 229. If we publish just one more paper between now and the end of the year, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years.
Anyway, in chronological order of publication, the four papers published this week, with their overlays, are as follows. You can click on the images of the overlays to make them larger should you wish to do so.
First one up is “Star formation beyond galaxies: widespread in-situ formation of intra-cluster stars” by Niusha Ahvazi & Laura V. Sales (UC Riverside, USA), Julio F. Navarro (U. Victoria, Canada), Andrew Benson (Carnegie Obs. USA), Alessandro Boselli (Aix Marseille U., France) and Richard D’Souza (Vatican Obs.). The paper, which is in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies, The paper presents a simulation-based analysis of a diffuse star forming component in galaxy clusters extending for hundreds of kiloparsecs and tracing the distribution of neutral gas in the cluster host halo.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay, which includes the abstract:
You can find the officially accepted version of the paper on the arXiv here.
The second paper to announce, published on 10th December 2024 in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, is “Cosmological Constraints from Combining Photometric Galaxy Surveys and Gravitational Wave Observatories” by E.L. Gagnon, D. Anbajagane, J. Prat, C. Chang, and J. Frieman (all of U. Chicago, USA). This article quantifies the expected cosmological information gain from combining the forecast LSST 3x2pt analysis with the large-scale auto-correlation of GW sources from proposed next-generation GW experiments.
You can see the overlay here:
The accepted version of this paper can be found on the arXiv here.
The third paper, also published on 10th December 2024, but in the folder marked Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, has the title “A potential exomoon from the predicted planet obliquity of β Pictoris b” and is written by Michael Poon, Hanno Rein, and Dang Pham all of the University of Toronto, Canada. It presents discussion, based on the β Pictoris system, of the idea that the presence of exomoons can excite misalignment between the spin and orbit axis (obliquity) in exoplanet systems
Here is the overlay
The final version accepted on arXiv is here.
Last of this quartet, published on 11th December 2024, and in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics is “Map-level baryonification: Efficient modelling of higher-order correlations in the weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich fields” and is by Dhayaa Anbajagane & Shivam Pandey (U. Chicago) and Chihway Chang (Columbia U.), all based in the USA.
The paper proposes an extension of the semi-analytic formalism to weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) fields directly on the full-sky, with an emphasis on higher-order correlations. The overlay is here:
You can find the official accepted version on the arXiv here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll do another update next Saturday, and that will probably be the last one of the year. If we publish just one more paper between now and 31st December, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years put together!
#arXiv231216289v2 #arXiv240304839v2 #arXiv240903822v2 #arXiv241205988v1 #AstrophysicsOfGalaxies #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #EarthAndPlanetaryAstrophysics #exomoons #exoplanets #galaxySurveys #starFormation #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #thermalSunyaevZeldovichEffect
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Four New Publications at the Open Journal of Astrophysics
It’s Saturday morning once again so here’s another quick update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. Since the last update a week ago we have published four papers, which takes the count in Volume 7 (2024) up to 114 and the total published altogether by OJAp up to 229. If we publish just one more paper between now and the end of the year, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years.
Anyway, in chronological order of publication, the four papers published this week, with their overlays, are as follows. You can click on the images of the overlays to make them larger should you wish to do so.
First one up is “Star formation beyond galaxies: widespread in-situ formation of intra-cluster stars” by Niusha Ahvazi & Laura V. Sales (UC Riverside, USA), Julio F. Navarro (U. Victoria, Canada), Andrew Benson (Carnegie Obs. USA), Alessandro Boselli (Aix Marseille U., France) and Richard D’Souza (Vatican Obs.). The paper, which is in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies, The paper presents a simulation-based analysis of a diffuse star forming component in galaxy clusters extending for hundreds of kiloparsecs and tracing the distribution of neutral gas in the cluster host halo.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay, which includes the abstract:
You can find the officially accepted version of the paper on the arXiv here.
The second paper to announce, published on 10th December 2024 in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, is “Cosmological Constraints from Combining Photometric Galaxy Surveys and Gravitational Wave Observatories” by E.L. Gagnon, D. Anbajagane, J. Prat, C. Chang, and J. Frieman (all of U. Chicago, USA). This article quantifies the expected cosmological information gain from combining the forecast LSST 3x2pt analysis with the large-scale auto-correlation of GW sources from proposed next-generation GW experiments.
You can see the overlay here:
The accepted version of this paper can be found on the arXiv here.
The third paper, also published on 10th December 2024, but in the folder marked Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, has the title “A potential exomoon from the predicted planet obliquity of β Pictoris b” and is written by Michael Poon, Hanno Rein, and Dang Pham all of the University of Toronto, Canada. It presents discussion, based on the β Pictoris system, of the idea that the presence of exomoons can excite misalignment between the spin and orbit axis (obliquity) in exoplanet systems
Here is the overlay
The final version accepted on arXiv is here.
Last of this quartet, published on 11th December 2024, and in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics is “Map-level baryonification: Efficient modelling of higher-order correlations in the weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich fields” and is by Dhayaa Anbajagane & Shivam Pandey (U. Chicago) and Chihway Chang (Columbia U.), all based in the USA.
The paper proposes an extension of the semi-analytic formalism to weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) fields directly on the full-sky, with an emphasis on higher-order correlations. The overlay is here:
You can find the official accepted version on the arXiv here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll do another update next Saturday, and that will probably be the last one of the year. If we publish just one more paper between now and 31st December, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years put together!
#arXiv231216289v2 #arXiv240304839v2 #arXiv240903822v2 #arXiv241205988v1 #AstrophysicsOfGalaxies #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #EarthAndPlanetaryAstrophysics #exomoons #exoplanets #galaxySurveys #starFormation #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #thermalSunyaevZeldovichEffect
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Four New Publications at the Open Journal of Astrophysics
It’s Satuday morning once again so here’s another quick update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. Since the last update a week ago we have published four papers, which takes the count in Volume 7 (2024) up to 114 and the total published altogether by OJAp up to 229. If we publish just one more paper between now and the end of the year, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years.
Anyway, in chronological order of publication, the four papers published this week, with their overlays, are as follows. You can click on the images of the overlays to make them larger should you wish to do so.
First one up is “Star formation beyond galaxies: widespread in-situ formation of intra-cluster stars” by Niusha Ahvazi & Laura V. Sales (UC Riverside, USA), Julio F. Navarro (U. Victoria, Canada), Andrew Benson (Carnegie Obs. USA), Alessandro Boselli (Aix Marseille U., France) and Richard D’Souza (Vatican Obs.). The paper, which is in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies, The paper presents a simulation-based analysis of a diffuse star forming component in galaxy clusters extending for hundreds of kiloparsecs and tracing the distribution of neutral gas in the cluster host halo.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay, which includes the abstract:
You can find the officially accepted version of the paper on the arXiv here.
The second paper to announce, published on 10th December 2024 in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, is “Cosmological Constraints from Combining Photometric Galaxy Surveys and Gravitational Wave Observatories” by E.L. Gagnon, D. Anbajagane, J. Prat, C. Chang, and J. Frieman (all of U. Chicago, USA). This article quantifies the expected cosmological information gain from combining the forecast LSST 3x2pt analysis with the large-scale auto-correlation of GW sources from proposed next-generation GW experiments.
You can see the overlay here:
The accepted version of this paper can be found on the arXiv here.
The third paper, also published on 10th December 2024, but in the folder marked Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, has the title “A potential exomoon from the predicted planet obliquity of β Pictoris b” and is written by Michael Poon, Hanno Rein, and Dang Pham all of the University of Toronto, Canada. It presents discussion, based on the β Pictoris system, of the idea that the presence of exomoons can excite misalignment between the spin and orbit axis (obliquity) in exoplanet systems
Here is the overlay
The final version accepted on arXiv is here.
Last of this quartet, published on 11th December 2024, and in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics is “Map-level baryonification: Efficient modelling of higher-order correlations in the weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich fields” and is by Dhayaa Anbajagane & Shivam Pandey (U. Chicago) and Chihway Chang (Columbia U.), all based in the USA.
The paper proposes an extension of the semi-analytic formalism to weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) fields directly on the full-sky, with an emphasis on higher-order correlations. The overlay is here:
You can find the official accepted version on the arXiv here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll do another update next Saturday, and that will probably be the last one of the year. If we publish just one more paper between now and 31st December, we will have published as many papers in 2024 as we have in all previous years put together!
#arXiv231216289v2 #arXiv240304839v2 #arXiv240903822v2 #arXiv241205988v1 #AstrophysicsOfGalaxies #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #EarthAndPlanetaryAstrophysics #exomoons #exoplanets #galaxySurveys #starFormation #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #thermalSunyaevZeldovichEffect
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#DomesticAirTraffic rises 5.7% to 1.31 cr in Aug 2024.
#OnTimePerformance #OTP
1. Akasa Air : 71.2%
2. Vistara : 68.6%
3. AIX Connect : 66.8%
4. IndiGo : 66%
5. Air India : 66%
6. Alliance Air : 55.3%
7. SpiceJet : 31%
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/domestic-air-traffic-rises-5-7-to-1-31-cr-in-aug/ar-AA1qvW81?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a73dc5ea5a4641e1acb3b86e5adea3fa&ei=40 -
CelcomDigi launches 5G and AI-powered experience centre in Subang Hi-Tech #5g #5gmalaysia #ai #aicentre #celcomdigi #celcomdigiaix #news #telco
https://soyacincau.com/2024/07/09/celcomdigi-aix-subang-high-tech-ai-5g-centre/
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Tübingen, Rome and Aix-Marseille universities offer joint triple Master’s in Palaeolithic #Archaeology as pilot project of the CIVIS University Alliance: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/news-and-publications/press-releases/press-releases/article/a-study-program-with-three-degrees/ #StudyProgram #Archäologie #Masterstudiengang
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@swagpussc (...continued)
Often forgotten by people is the period in between. The people who cloned Linux and the (GNU) "shell" around it often worked from samizdat doco about 1970s Unix.In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were a whole bunch of commercial #Unix flavours: #Xenix, HP/UX, #AIX, #SunOS, #Ultrix, OSF/1, AT&T System 3, AT&T System 5, ...
#Illumos, which came from #Solaris, which came from SunOS, is actually still around.
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@swagpussc (...continued)
Often forgotten by people is the period in between. The people who cloned Linux and the (GNU) "shell" around it often worked from samizdat doco about 1970s Unix.In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were a whole bunch of commercial #Unix flavours: #Xenix, HP/UX, #AIX, #SunOS, #Ultrix, OSF/1, AT&T System 3, AT&T System 5, ...
#Illumos, which came from #Solaris, which came from SunOS, is actually still around.
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@swagpussc (...continued)
Often forgotten by people is the period in between. The people who cloned Linux and the (GNU) "shell" around it often worked from samizdat doco about 1970s Unix.In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were a whole bunch of commercial #Unix flavours: #Xenix, HP/UX, #AIX, #SunOS, #Ultrix, OSF/1, AT&T System 3, AT&T System 5, ...
#Illumos, which came from #Solaris, which came from SunOS, is actually still around.
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@swagpussc (...continued)
Often forgotten by people is the period in between. The people who cloned Linux and the (GNU) "shell" around it often worked from samizdat doco about 1970s Unix.In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were a whole bunch of commercial #Unix flavours: #Xenix, HP/UX, #AIX, #SunOS, #Ultrix, OSF/1, AT&T System 3, AT&T System 5, ...
#Illumos, which came from #Solaris, which came from SunOS, is actually still around.
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Julia Bullock sings Anne Trulove in #TheRakesProgress: ‘Anne is a very mature woman’
Julia Bullock (c) Christian Steiner
At the first opportunity he abandons her. He leads a debauched life, marries someone else and ends up in the madhouse. Yet Anne Trulove keeps loving Tom Rakewell, the main character in The Rake’s Progress. On 1 February, Dutch National Opera will present its fourth production of Stravinsky’s opera, staged by Simon McBurney.
It’s a collaboration with Aix-en-Provence, where the opera was premièred in July 2017. The same vocal cast performs in Amsterdam, accompanied by the Dutch Chamber Orchestra under Ivor Bolton. The young American soprano Julia Bullock sings the role of Anne Trulove. Bullock: ‘Anne faces her emotions, learns from them and continues. She is a very mature woman.’
Reading the libretto of W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman I can’t help asking myself what on earth Anne sees in the weakling Tom. Julia Bullock laughs exuberantly at my bewilderment, but then carefully chooses her words. ‘Tom is an intelligent, ambitious and warm person; Anne is attracted by his energy, his liveliness. The opening scene at once offers various dynamics, but most important is the dynamics between Tom and Anne. They express their mutual love. And whatever this implies, it must be presented as sincere and real’.
Tom is an unfaithful rake, who is seduced by Nick Shadow to lead a debauched life in London. Yet Bullock abstains from condemning him outright. ‘He is someone with great ambitions, getting the chance to realise them. If you get every conceivable possibility handed to you on a silver platter, this brings along quite a lot of temptations. This applies to everyone, but some can handle this better than others. Tom is less stable and self-confident than Anne, though I do not believe she is trying to save him.’
‘I consider it important to convey that their love relationship really goes deep, that their concern for each other is sincere. Despite the unholy path he follows, she remains faithful to him.’ Anne’s behaviour set Bullock thinking about her own life: ‘I recently got engaged myself. If Christian were going through a difficult time, or even if we were splitting up, I would still like to be there for him.’
The soprano finds a new challenge in every piece: ‘I learn from each composer and from any character I perform. Anne is a remarkable person. She copes with the many difficult personalities and situations that come her way. Moreover, she has the gift of constantly growing her compassion and love. Anne is certainly not a silly girl, but a mature and thoughtful human being.’
Once more Bullock’s contagious laugh fills the room: ‘It’s refreshing to have to train that muscle in myself while working on this piece. The more so because of the intimate way director Simon McBurney works. This sometimes leads to tensions, but there is great mutual respect. Perhaps he goes home and gets really furious at his performers, but during rehearsals he is very patient. I regularly cry out: this is not going to work! Yet we always find a solution. Simon was a performer himself and acquaints you step by step with the character you are interpreting.’
‘As for Anne, of course she has intense and also negative feelings. Sometimes she is extremely angry, bitter or deeply sad. Simon helps me to shape all these layers emotionally, psychologically and physically. He strives for authenticity, it must never be artificial. Thus I learn to internalize my character and make contact with the Anne inside me. She is able to admit strong emotions; she learns from them and goes on. Tom, on the other hand, carries circumstance after circumstance with him. I think that’s also what is haunting him and ultimately driving him mad. If you can’t let go of a trauma, you will disassociate from yourself, because it becomes too hard to bear.’
Tom imagines being Adonis and ends up in the madhouse. Anne plays along with this delusion at first and pretends to be Venus, but leaves him alone in the end. Is she choosing for herself after all? Bullock: ‘You could say that, but what can she do really? No matter how important her presence is to Tom, in his new world Anne remains peripheral. She may have been tempted to be part of their love story again, but he is in a place where she just cannot follow him. Once again, it testifies to her adulthood that she acknowledges this.’
But what development does Tom make? After all, the title of the opera is The Rake’s Progress. ‘You should ask Paul Appleby, who sings his role,’ says Bullock, thoughtfully raking her fingers through her curls. ‘For me, his progress lies in a form of self-realisation. Tom reaches a point where he sees who he was, what he wanted to achieve and where he ended up landing.’
‘He wanted to take up an elevated position throughout his life, hence the fantasy of the gods. But that’s not the sort of place a human being can function within, at least not permanently. We can have moments of ecstasy, but Tom wanted to always be in this heightened reality, this heightened world. Towards the end he increasingly reaches that insight. He is not totally lost, but accepts the reality of his life. You hear this in the music, which ends calm and simple. Tom has finally found his peace, he is not wrestling anymore.’
Like this blog? Buy me a coffee or tea via PayPal (friends option), or a direct transfer to NL82 INGB 0004261694, TJM Derks Amsterdam. Thanks!!
#AnneTruelove #DutchNationalOpera #IgorStravinsky #JuliaBullock #NederlandsKamerorkest #SimonMcBurney #TheRakeSProgress
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Louis I, who died OTD in 1362, reigned as King of Naples, Count of #Provence and Forcalquier, and Prince of Taranto https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/france/aix-en-provence/?s=mb #travel #France #history
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Do you use Eclipse #Temurin by @eclipseadoptium on #AIX or Linux on ppc64le/s390x architectures?
If so, there is a plan to look at moving them to be headless builds in the future.
See https://adoptium.net/en-GB/news/2026/05/headless-platform-changes for details and to provide any feedback on the proposal.
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Do you use Eclipse #Temurin by @eclipseadoptium on #AIX or Linux on ppc64le/s390x architectures?
If so, there is a plan to look at moving them to be headless builds in the future.
See https://adoptium.net/en-GB/news/2026/05/headless-platform-changes for details and to provide any feedback on the proposal.
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Do you use Eclipse #Temurin by @eclipseadoptium on #AIX or Linux on ppc64le/s390x architectures?
If so, there is a plan to look at moving them to be headless builds in the future.
See https://adoptium.net/en-GB/news/2026/05/headless-platform-changes for details and to provide any feedback on the proposal.
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Do you use Eclipse #Temurin by @eclipseadoptium on #AIX or Linux on ppc64le/s390x architectures?
If so, there is a plan to look at moving them to be headless builds in the future.
See https://adoptium.net/en-GB/news/2026/05/headless-platform-changes for details and to provide any feedback on the proposal.
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https://www.cyclingeu.com/617432/i-won-again-ironman-70-3-aix-en-provence/ I won again | Ironman 70.3 Aix-en-Provence #Bicycling #BicyclingFrance #BicyclingSouthOfFrance #Biking #BikingFrance #BikingSouthOfFrance #blummenfelt #Cadex #Cycling #CyclingFrance #CyclingProvenceFrance #CyclingSouthOfFrance #Deboer #France #giant #ironman #OlympicGames #SouthOfFrance #SuperleagueTriathlon #training #triathlon #worldtriathlon
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Nearly 300 apply as French university offers US academics ‘scientific asylum’
Aix-Marseille University generates interest amid a US crackdown and calls for a ‘scientific refugee’ status: -
To continue the story of my exploration of the #IBM #Power5 in a time before I got job working with it.
Installed Virtual I/O Server (#VOIS) which I felt then was way ahead of vmware during this time. Really nicely integrated software with hardware with the virtual terminals of each OS accessible from VIOS CLI
Installed #AIX v5 and later 6 and of course I also had to try out #Linux on #Power / #PowerPC even though it's the familiar stuff, but always fun to run it on more exotic hardware.
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Je serai ce mercredi 28 juin au #Pharo à #Marseille (Université d'Aix-Marseille) pour les rencontres des "sciences de la #durabilité et (in)actions : repenser nos pratiques". Je
parlerai, dans la session de @labos1point5, du #laboratoire d'#astrophysique de Marseille, un laboratoire #spatial (CNES) en transition.Ces rencontres sont organisées par #FutureEarth. Programme complet ici : https://france.futureearth.org/french-global-hub/les-rencontres-sciences-de-la-durabilite/
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@swagpussc (...continued)
Often forgotten by people is the period in between. The people who cloned Linux and the (GNU) "shell" around it often worked from samizdat doco about 1970s Unix.In the 1980s and early 1990s, there were a whole bunch of commercial #Unix flavours: #Xenix, HP/UX, #AIX, #SunOS, #Ultrix, OSF/1, AT&T System 3, AT&T System 5, ...
#Illumos, which came from #Solaris, which came from SunOS, is actually still around.
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George Benjamin on Lessons in Love & Violence: ‘Martin Crimp wrings music from me’ #HF18
The world premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love & Violence unleashed a true flood of 4 and 5 star reviews. Martin Crimp wrote the libretto, as he had done for Benjamin’s earlier operas Into the Little Hill and Written on Skin. Crimp was the first librettist who managed to tap into Benjamin’s compositional vein. On Monday, June 25, Lessons in Love & Violence will have its Dutch premiere at Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam. The composer will conduct the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra himself, Barbara Hannigan sings the female leading role.
Lessons in Love & Violence, with Barbara Hannigan (c) ROH/Stephen CummiskeyBecause of his sensual, colourful sound tapestries, George Benjamin (1960) is often called a kindred spirit of Claude Debussy. Although he had been dreaming of becoming an opera composer since his teenage years, it was not until 2006 that he presented his first, the one-act play Into the Little Hill. Martin Crimp’s libretto was based on the saga of Hamelin’s rat-catcher. Only two singers, a mezzo-soprano and a soprano, take on all the roles. This assignment of the Paris Festival d’Automne was an instant success. A cd recording conducted by the composer won a Diapason d’Or in 2017.
In 2012 the second collaboration between Crimp and Benjamin, Written on Skin, created a sensation during its premiere at the Festival d’Aix en Provence. In the ghastly libretto, a ruler forces his adulterous wife to eat the heart of her lover. Written on Skin is considered the undisputed masterpiece of twenty-first century opera. The Dutch audience and members of the press greeted the first performance in the Netherlands with similar enthusiasm. Certainly not a matter of course for contemporary opera.
For his third opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, George Benjamin once again collaborated with librettist Martin Crimp and director Katie Mitchell. Having based Written on Skin on a folk tale from the Provence, this time Crimp sought inspiration in his homeland. The once again gruesome story full of murder and slaughter is loosely based on the life of King Edward II.
Why did you wait so long to compose your first opera?
For years, a quarter of a century to be precise, I was looking in vain for a suitable librettist. I had a list of about fifty themes and spoke to many poets, playwrights, film and theatre directors. I asked them all for advice, but simply didn’t find anyone who could tap into my creative vein. With one or two I took a minuscule step in the direction. We cautiously discussed possible projects, but that was all. Never, really never did we even come near a real cooperation.
At one point, some fifteen years ago I had given up. Not necessarily in despair, but it occurred to me that I would never find a way to write for the stage. Until a few years later I got to know Martin Crimp, who serves me better than I had ever dared to hope for. My fellow teacher Laurence Dreyfus subtly brought us together by organising a joint lunch. The moment I met Martin, I felt: this is someone I can work with!
What does Crimp have that other librettists don’t?
First of all, it is a very delicate matter to work with someone, especially when it comes to something as intense as opera. You invest a large part of your creative personality in the other, you give him access to your world. That applies to both sides. Martin is the ideal partner for me, generous and sensitive.
Moreover, he is a wizard with words. I am a great admirer of the structures he builds and the powerful emotions he expresses in his plays. His use of language is so special, original and idiosyncratic that it stimulates my imagination enormously. Since I got to know him, my creativity has increased considerably. Including Lessons in Love and Violence, this has now yielded some 4.5 hours of music.
In 2012 you told me that Crimp lifted the text off the ground, as it were. How are we to understand this?
His lyrics are essentially very simple. They are about love, hatred, power, death – in short, the essential things of life and of human interaction. He uses few long words and the sentences themselves are often short, as well. That makes them ideally suited for singing. His language is completely understandable, but at the same time there is something peculiar about it. It’s not the way people normally speak. Underneath the easily digestible surface lies something weird, something scary that I find attractive.
It’s hard to say precisely what this is, but when you read three sentences from him you know they are his. The words of the characters are part of a passionate and spontaneous drama as well as of an architectural construction, almost like a crystal. This ambivalence between comprehensibility and artificiality invites me to write music. As if you were giving electricity to a lightbulb. If his texts were normal and predictable, how and why would I set them to music? Martin’s words inevitably wring music from me.
Both Into the Little Hill and Written on Skin contain a lot of cruelty. What is the attraction of morbidity?
I fear that Lessons in Love and Violence is even more fierce, cruelty is part of our lives. This was already the case with the Greeks, who invented the theatre. I have always found opera considerably more moving than any other art form. More gripping than literature, painting or concert music. Opera – if it works – has an overwhelming emotional eloquence. You have to tap into that ability, both in the choice of subjects and in the way in which you shape the themes and stories.
When Martin and I started working together, he asked me to make a list of the reasons why people sing. I had to dig deep to think of all the possible circumstances that make people burst into song. Both in real life and on stage. You don’t sing when everything is normal, but at moments of extreme happiness or total despair. The operas that are most dear to me – Kát’a Kabanová; Boris Godunov; Pelléas et Mélisande; Wozzeck – do not shy away from the deepest and most essential events in our lives.
That also includes horrible things. If – and I really mean if – you manage to create something coherent, to see something through to the bitter end, then even the most terrible story potentially brings great joy. Because you don’t collapse under the load, but face it. It’s much less satisfying to avoid something dark because you can’t handle it. Paradoxically, the very opposite is a source of happiness.
What are the dark things in ‘Lessons in Love and Violence’?
I won’t give away too much, but it is loosely inspired by the life of the British King Edward II, his lover Gaveston and his wife Isabel. It takes place at about the same time as Written on Skin. Only this time we haven’t tried to evoke a medieval atmosphere.
In ‘Written on Skin’, the characters are simply called ‘the ruler’, ‘the boy’, only the wife has a name. Does ‘Lessons in Love and Violence’ have the same approach?
That’s something Martin does. It is not just a peculiarity, by the way, but also has real meaning. When the woman in Written on Skin sings: “My name is Agnès!”, that is a turning point in the opera, she rebels against her husband. That would not have been possible if she had been called by her name from the outset. In Lessons in Love and Violence, about half of the characters are referred to by a generic description. After our talk, for example, I will rehearse with “the stranger”.
You will work again with Katie Mitchell, who also directed ‘Written on Skin’. What do you value in her?
She has a great deal of attention to detail and her work is very coherent. She has no vanity and can read and write with Martin, with whom she has been working for over twenty years. She gets to the heart of what she directs and is completely subservient to the text. Katie doesn’t want to impose things that are foreign to the work, but brings it to life in a powerful and clear way. I find this absolutely admirable.
I also appreciate her receptivity, her sensitivity to music and her emotional response to it. You hear so often that a director mutilates a new opera because he or she decides to go in a different direction. Intent on realizing their own Creator’s Dream, they distort the desires and dreams of the composer and librettist. That’s terrible, when a pieces has taken 4 to 5 years to create. That’s unthinkable with Katie. She’s completely, passionately loyal to the ideas behind the work, and the nature of the work. I can’t stress enough how happy I am with her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-YeMyESTAs
George Benjamin: Lessons in Love & Violence, 25 June to 5 July, Dutch National Opera/Holland Festival.
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