L’Histoire du Soldat
UBC School of Music 2019
This was a very interesting but uncomfortable performance for me to watch as I had never seen such a combination of art forms in a performance. There was a small ensemble of a few string and wind instruments, a narrator, and animated projections on screen. The performance started with the narrator beginning the story and at times the ensemble joining in or the ensemble playing by itself.
I noticed how the ensemble seemed to at times act like in an aria where it would follow the voice of the narrator and the story such as playing a sharp note when there was a crisis or turn of events. At times the ensemble also seemed to act like in an recitative where it would play equally along with the narrator. This was especially noticeable to me when the narrator talks of the soldier trudging along home, the ensemble played in a way that resembled slow, steady footsteps as the narrator extensively describes the soldier’s way home.
The music also perfectly complimented the devil’s character whenever he appeared. The shrill sound of the violin accompanied with the unsettling, persistent beat had me anxious and uncomfortable each time the devil did something. I really did not like any of the music played in this performance as it really unsettled me. I suppose the minor key contributed to the eerie nature of the music a lot but there were many other points that just made it hard for me to enjoy it. Although I did not like the way at times the music sounded extremely frantic and had my heart beating just as frantically, I also did not enjoy when it was sombre and slow such as the soldier trudging. The way the music was drawn out slow but with a steady unsettling melody was not pleasant to me at all.
The projections were another part of the music that contributed to the overall strange atmosphere of the entire performance. A lot of the storyline was complimented with animations projected on screens where unrealistic, cartoon characters would perform repetitive movements. When the soldier was walking home, we would see him appear throughout the screen doing the same walking movements. When the devil appeared, we would see him pop onto the screen repeatedly like flashing lights. When the princess began dancing, she kept replaying these robotic and unnatural dance moves. All these strange animations combined with the already unsettling music only served to create an even more unenjoyable performance for me.
At the end of the performance, I never quite figured out the plot and the moral of the story. It all seemed quite bizarre and confusing how the devil came about and what happened to the soldier in the end. I tried to read up on this piece, and I am still not sure but it seems that it has something to do with not being able to have everything. So the soldier could only have his wife, the princess, and should not desire to be with his mother too.