Foto: Markus Gårder
The Sun and
the Northern Star
What was called the Narva Ballet, the magnificent victory performance probably staged in Stockholm in 1701 to celebrate Karl XII’s victory at Narva, is a seminal work in the history of Swedish music. Previously, the entire work was attributed to the composer Anders Düben, but the latest research relating to Per Axlsson among others indicates that Düben composed only some parts of the Ballet, and that the majority of the ballet music was in fact originally composed for the French pastorale Le Desespoir de Tirsis by Jean
Desfontaines, a virtually unknown composer in opera circles, with a small part of the music having also been composed by the great Lully. These discoveries mean that, for the first time since its première performance, we now have the opportunity to perform the work as it was intended, with the high-quality music of all three of these composers: Anders Düben, Jean Desfontaines and
Jean-Baptiste Lully. The work’s original merry libretto – a libretto written to fire the imagination – has thankfully been preserved in both Swedish and French.
Dancers
Adrian Navarro – barock dancer and mentor
Aleksandra Pawluczuk
Mathias Terwander Stintzing
Singers
Ingrid Berg – soprano
Frida Bergquist – mezzo soprano
Nana Bugge Rasmussen – mezzo soprano
Philip Björkqvist – bass baritone
Kajsa Lindberg – soprano
Richard Lindström – baritone
Annastina Malm – mezzo soprano and mentor
Jakob Nilsson – tenor
Martin Vanberg – tenor and mentor
Orchestra
Francesco D´Orazio – violin (concertmaster)
Anna Paradiso Laurin – harpsichord, musical coach
Gunnhild Tönder – harpsichordist, musical coach until premier
Torun Fredberg – violin
Julija Morgan – violin
Christopher Sandberg – violin/viola
Arsema Asghodom – violin/viola
Sofia Hansson – viola
Mikkel Schreiber – viola
Maria Isabella Vescovi – barockcello, viola da gamba
Jessica Fällgren – double bass
Alessandro de Carolis – recorder
Mónica García Salamero – recorder
Lisa Buckland Kortleitner – oboe
Joanne Houghton – oboe
Mariana Paras Pena – bassoon
Edward Szost – lute
Niels Pfeffer – harpsichord
