GALWAY EARLY Music Festival takes place from Thursday May 9 to Sunday 12 and among the highlights is Sonnets For The Cradle, a multi-media event based on classic fairytales.
The show is directed by Ireland’s foremost recorder soloist, Laoise O’Brien, with original artwork by tapestry weaver, Lorna Donlon whose response to the stories, rhymes, and music are rendered as beautifully crafted collages and imaginative items that highlight the hidden messages in the tales.
This music and art project takes a look at the dark side of fairy tales.
“I gathered music to make a fine story with heroes and villains, kings and queens, monsters and fairies, really as much as I could fit into 40 minutes of music,” O’Brien explains. “These tales didn’t always have the happy endings that they now have. Their themes are abandonment, loss, neglect, and impossible challenges answered by cleverness, humour, and hope.
“I had a little boy four years ago and I started reading nursery rhymes to him and became curious as to where they all came from. Then I mentioned it to Lorna and she has always been interested in children’s literature so we decided to do something together on it.
“Once I started I realised it was an enormous subject, and I had to find some way of whittling it down so it ended up being more personal insofar as I focused on the stories that either myself or my son personally liked. My own interest musically is in music from the 15th to 17th centuries I focused on early stories and rhymes.”
So what are the tales that feature in the show?
“The Pied Piper of Hamelin is there,” O’Brien replies. “It was based on a true event, which was the disappearance of about 130 children from the German village of Hamelin in 1284. There are a lot of theories as to what happened and the one I like is that they might have been caught up in an episode of dancing mania which was something that happened in the Middle Ages.
“We also have the tune ‘Liliburlero’ which is connected to a number of nursery rhymes such as ‘Rockaby Baby’ and ‘There Was an Old Woman Who Was Tossed Up in a Basket’. ‘Three Blind Mice’ is there, that’s one of the few nursery rhymes we recorded and it’s a much more sinister version than the well-known one. It was first published in 1609, and it’s in a minor key and is very dark.
“Sleeping Beauty is also there and there are a few pieces from Purcell’s Fairy Queen. There’s another tune ‘Over The Hills and Far Away’ which was a recruiting song in the 18th century but we also know its melody as ‘Tom Thumb the Piper’s Son’.”
As well as O’Brien’s music and Donlon’s artwork, there will be a narrative performed by actor Bob Kennedy.
“Bob has written a script that threads everything together,” O’Brien explains. “We also have a great lighting designer and will be incorporating Lorna’s images into the show, so as well as the exhibition they will be used in the performance.
“There is a lot of darkness in the subject matter, when people hear the idea they think it is going to be like the Disney fairytales but most of the stories are heartbreaking and dark, they didn’t always have happy endings and we’ve focused a bit on that side of it so the performance is for adults rather than children.”
The multi-media concert of Sonnets for the Cradle is on Friday May 10 at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc, Middle Street. The art exhibition runs from Friday 10 to Friday 17 in the Rehearsal Room, An Taibhdhearc, during opening hours.
For tickets see www.galwayearlymuisc.com or contact An Taibhdhearc on 091 - 562024 or email eolas@ taibhdhearc.com
