Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

La Passion de Jehanne (trombone and violin) is a varied transcription of Jehanne, (soprano and viola, 2007) which was commissioned by Australian entrepreneur, fitness specialist, artist, singer and author, Elisabetta Faenza Brandson (also known as Lis Brandson). The text for Jehanne is an excerpt from the final section of Ms. Faenza Brandson's libretto for the very successful rock opera, Jehanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc), and is intended to be a verbal expression of the state of spiritual illumination Jehanne experienced, just prior to being burned at the stake:

But that was not enough,
What I needed, what I lacked,
Was a vision for life,
For my own life,
Beyond the ramparts and the battle field.

For was this not my script,
The fulfilment of my own prophecy?
And were not these fellows,
But players in the story I had woven for myself?

Let not this archetype play on,
Of women, noble, gifted and strong,
Who martyr themselves for God, family or country.

Let a new story be told,
For I am tired of this plot,
Some five hundred years on.

Women raise your heads,
Dry your eyes,
And find yourselves a vision for living,
That radiates life.

The musical setting for this text was inspired by my interpretations of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish and Islamic musical traditions. The climactic phases of the composition comprise passages that recall the polyphonic sacred works of composers such as Gesualdo and Palestrina. Furthermore, variations of my "resurrection theme"-a melodic theme intended as a symbolic reference to the concept of "resurrection", encountered in several of my works-are articulated at a number of dramatic points of Jehanne. These are intended as musical portrayals of the rebirth and renewal of the female archetype Jehanne yearned for.