"The story of the soldier" premieres at the UDA
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the world premiere of "The Soldier's Story", the work of the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and the Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz was premiered nationally on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 September 2018 at the General Auditorium of the University of Azuay.
The performance was an initiative of the Contemporary Ensemble of the Cuenca Symphony Orchestra and the Theater Company of the UDA.
"The Story of the Soldier" is a work to be read, played and danced; an artistic fusion in which Stravinsky and Ramuz put together several traditional Russian stories in which the devil's deception of humans was common, influenced by the work Faust by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The plot of the work consists of a soldier who returns to his town after the war and is deceived by the devil, who suggests changing his violin for a magical book with which he will be able to know the future. He accepts the deal and spends three days with the devil to teach him to play the violin and to learn to interpret the content of the book.
But when the soldier returns to his village, nobody recognizes him and he realizes that three years have passed. The violin represents his soul and his past life, something very important within the work, because when the devil takes away the violin it also steals his soul. Then the soldier uses his book to become rich, but feeling unhappy with his fortune, he tries to recover the violin playing cards against the Devil.
"Inside the construction of a violin, there is a piece of wood that is inside it that is called the soul. We investigated this for the work and when we talked with a luthier he told us that if the soul is removed from the violin, it does not sound or sound as if it were drowned or even risk breaking the wood, "said José Antonio Carrión, Musical Director of the Symphony Orchestra. from Cuenca.
In the work the soldier has the opportunity to cure the princess of a distant town whose king has offered his daughter's hand to heal her, and so wins his hand, but in their insatiable pursuit of true happiness, they abandon the kingdom and they cross a limit established by the Devil, and this one punishes him taking the soldier definitively.
"The history of the soldier" highlights the importance of each decision made in life, and the responsibility that each act entails. The final reflection of the work invites us to question the consequences of our actions as human beings.
"This work is one of the most important of the twentieth century in terms of technique and composition. The process has been quite extensive and we have managed to obtain a magnificent group of musicians, where I consider that the seven that make up the work are the best musicians in Cuenca at the moment, "expressed Carrión.
The musicians were Paulo Morocho (clarinet), Germania Gallegos (bassoon), Adam Phillips (trumpet), Dino Paccha (trombone), Marco Saula (violin), Christian Torres (double bass) and Patricia Martínez (percussion).
While the Theater Company, directed by Jaime Garrido, was made up of six actors: Francisco Aguirre playing the devil, Carlos Loja as the soldier, Carmen Alvarado as the narrator, Samantha Villota as the princess, María Elvira Villacís and Belén Campoverde as the maidens
"There are adaptations that had to be carried out, for example the narrator does not have time or space in the original work, so in that logic I adapted to be a narrator, waitress of the tavern and in this way she goes telling the book that He had met, "Jaime Garrido explained.
"In addition other changes were made, where the narrator tells us the vast majority of events, but in this adaptation I had the characters themselves describe what happened to them, so the narrator lost a bit of protagonism, however the characters assumed a role much stronger, "he added.
When the actor Francisco Aguirre is asked, how many times have you represented the devil? He answers the following: "From what I remember, about five times. Each devil is different, there are some devils that are more caricatured, because this devil has a more real personality, with a more realistic construction of the character ". Aguirre finely clarified that the devil has several associations in all peoples and cultures.
Costume design was in charge of Silvia Zeas, the scenography of Mauricio Pesántez and the graphic design of Cristian Albarracín. The author's rights and permits for the presentation in this format, were granted by: G. Schirmer, INC. Rental and Performance Library.
