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Program Notes for Some Things Should Not Move

 In March 2008 I moved into an apartment in the center of Vienna—essentially an artist’s studio with a bathroom and kitchen, in a renovated building that was, in the distant past, a monastery. Abstract paintings by the owner hung everywhere, and since the apartment was circular, I found myself surrounded by these works of art. I was there on sabbatical, to write my cyborg opera, Sucktion. My daughter travelled with me as an exchange student, staying with a family nearby in the suburb of Mauer while attending a Rudolf Steiner high school.

After some weeks of living and working in this apartment, I became aware of uncanny incidents that became increasingly intense.  Perhaps the strangest manifestations of unusual activity were subtle changes in the paintings themselves: colors would shift, shapes would alter. The transformations going on in the work of art hung near the bed where I slept were the most disturbing, and I had to remove it—not a good idea. That’s when things began to get interesting. What happened next will be revealed in my monodrama-in-progress, for soprano and chamber ensemble. The soprano in the monodrama will impersonate three characters: the Composer, her Daughter, and a Viennese Psychic.  My daughter, Yvonne Eadon, is writing the libretto.

 This extended aria from the monodrama touches upon the Composer’s initial thrill at finding herself in Vienna, a city of deep musical history.  Her first inklings of the bizarre events going on in the dead of night in her new abode also come to light. As she drifts into sleep, a prophetic dream becomes so acutely fierce that she abruptly awakens. She is in the midst of a lengthy psychic battle, and this aria, Some Things Should Not Move, is the sneak preview.

I’m grateful to Jeff von der Schmidt, Jan Karlin, and the Irvine Foundation for making it possible to compose this work.

-                                     --Anne LeBaron