Rūta Vitkauskaitė

Programme Note

I have been wishing to use the texts from Gaelic Hymns and Incantations for a long while now, after acquiring a book by Alexander Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica. Earlier in my compositional path, I wrote a vocal work using Lithuanian healing spells, which was dedicated to Covid times and healing, and later, while reading through the Gaelic collection of hymns and incantations, it really resonated with my already growing interest in such chants. When visiting the Outer Hebrides a few years ago, coming across a still-standing black house and spending a week talking to the locals of the wonderful village of Bragar, I deeply understood the meaning of the fireplace that was traditionally right in the middle of the house—the most important and sacred place: peat, kindling, the blessing of the fire, and the mysterious aura surrounding it, from which the Gaelic tales and songs were born.

So my piece, Song of the Shadows, is about that—trying to summon that spirit that is so fragile and rarely encountered in our modern world. I am using authentic Gaelic incantations for blessing the fire, and I also use an authentic Latin spell that has been used in traditional Lithuanian culture to prevent one’s house from burning down. The piece invites audience participation at the start and at the end, creating an environment of semi-present spirits in the house, and you will see the singer walking in a triangle, imitating the original ritual of laying the peat in the fireplace.