An interview with Lucas Wiegerink about his children's opera “Het Lijflied”

“Het Lijflied”

Lucas Wiegerink descends into the human body in a children's opera

Composer Lucas Wiegerink discovered that there is music in the sounds of our body, from the pumping of the heart, the gurgling of the stomach to the newly discovered sound signals with which microbes in our bodies communicate. He incorporated those sounds into a catchy opera for children: 'Het Lijflied'. Dimitri van der Werf talked to Lucas Wiegerink about his opera and about composing for children, who, according to him, can still handle everything: from Boulez to Stockhausen.

With “Het Lijflied”, Lucas Wiegerink wrote an ode to our body, a busy engine room in which ingenious processes are continuously taking place. As we go about our daily lives, legions of white blood cells fend off attacks from viruses and bacteria. The story of the opera (for 5 years and older): the girl Ina can, through an unspecified miracle, travel through her own body, where, with the white blood cell Bolletje as a guide, she meets her organs and discovers that she is in love. Her inner world turns out to be a living universe, where everything is connected. That journey is remarkably beautifully depicted, thanks to the designs of Lobke Houkes and the renowned costume studio of Opera Zuid. The musicians are part of the stunning stage setting. A percussionist, clarinetist and cellist play in an electronic soundscape, which Lucas Wiegerink made with Roel Snellebrand. Four singers appear on stage. Alma Terrasse wrote the libretto and directed it.

Lucas Wiegerink did not have to step far from his comfort zone to write an opera about our bodies. “The human body has always fascinated me. During my high school years, I memorized the names of all 206 bones and bones. As a child I cherished life. I have been rescuing insects for as long as I can remember. I pulled flies out of spider webs and released them again, because I thought death was such a strange idea. I haven't killed any mosquitoes in a long time. I still prefer to catch them with a cup.”

“Six years ago I started talking to the microbiologist Ruth Schmidt at the Art Science Academy, where artists and scientists can meet each other. She made me aware that our bodies are full of sounds. We can easily hear our heartbeat, hear our stomach gurgling. We have also listened to the flow of our blood on an ultrasound. But there are also sounds that we have no idea about. Hundreds of millions of microbes live in our bodies. You can visualize them with an electron microscope. They look beautiful! Nowadays they can detect the sound of a single microbe, they appear to communicate with sound signals! I'm not sure if humans have souls, but if so, then microbes must be animated too. Sometimes you can feel lonely. Then I like to think that you are actually not alone. But it does mean that you don't just take care of yourself. Our body is a house full of life.”

From low hum to thin flageolets

Lucas Wiegerink has set the inner life in our body to music. The organs come one by one. “First I show the sound of an organ as it really sounds, in electronics. Then I zoom in on that sound. This creates music that I associate with the organ. Sometimes the music is an extension of one's own body sound, such as the fits and starts of an intestine, but sometimes it is also symbolic: romantic nineteenth-century music sounds near the heart.”

“One of the main characters is the white blood cells Bolletje, which protects the body against viruses. A cheerful figure that children can feel safe with. I often give him jazzy music. But when he goes to battle against viruses, march music with snare drum sounds: a theatrical reference, a classical musical symbol.”

How did you arrive at the instrumentation of electronics, percussion, clarinet and cello?

“It was immediately clear to me that I wanted a percussionist in the ensemble. You can easily have a percussionist play rustling sounds, or imitate the bubbling of the intestines by blowing a bubble into a bowl. You can make drops sound with a temple block. A percussionist can play rich harmonies on the marimba and vibraphone, which is nice for the singers. To imitate belching, I thought of the bass clarinet. That's why I also wrote a clarinet part in the score. With both bass clarinet and clarinet you have an enormous range, from very low – a primal sound – to very high. The clarinet can also play multiphonics very beautifully, with which I could express the brain waves well. The cello also has a wide range, from low hum to thin flageolets. Because the performance is mainly attended by children, I wanted to show them completely different instruments and introduce them to a rich palette of sounds, colors and voices. Children are really interested in those instruments. One child only looked mesmerized at the percussion during the performance. He might become a percussionist later.”

“After putting together the ensemble for the opera, I realized that, with the exception of the percussion, I had chosen the same instruments as in my composition “Microsonic” from six years ago, in which I played the first time, shortly after my conversations with the microbiologist. composition based on the sound signals of microbes. I thought that was quite striking.”

Is it difficult to compose for children?

“Children can really handle anything, because they are not yet limited, like us, by a dominant musical taste. Most children enter a performance very openly, you can even present them to Stockhausen or Boulez. They just don't have such a large attention span yet. So a 55 minute opera is long enough. I brought out the Harry Bannink in myself – I love his songs – to compose short scenes. We deliberately opted for short sentences in the text.”

“I challenge children with my music. Not everyone can follow everything, but there are enough parts that are funny for all ages, such as the growling stomach and the farts. You naturally take their experiences into account. It is even less developed than in adults, but their fantasy world is much larger.”

“It is remarkable how differently the performance is received. The audience in the Meervaart in Amsterdam responded very enthusiastically! There was even applause during the performance. In Leiden I heard children singing songs from the opera. Then I think I was really able to plant a seed to get them to love opera. But in Arnhem, my own city of all places, a family walked out of the room. For some children the opera is a bit exciting. There are explosions and smoke coming from the scene. When they sit in the audience with their parents, they cling to them. When they go to the theater with their class, they are much cooler. Because then they want to prove themselves to each other. That's nice to see!”

“You can try to make a performance that all children like. But I see children as individuals and not as a mass. They all have different attention spans and different interests. That's fine. I also wanted to write something that I personally find valuable: an opera with the same length as Ravel's “L'enfant et les sortilèges”, one of my favorite pieces. I have also composed a fairy tale, you can be enchanted by it or it won't do anything to you.”

An inspiring collaboration with Opera Zuid

“It was inspiring to work with Opera Zuid. Before the corona crisis broke out, I was already working on the project and had already gathered a team around me: the copywriter, director and designer. Waut Koeken, the intendant of Opera Zuid, invited me for an interview. He was enthusiastic but had no opportunity at that time to stage the opera. It later turned out that Opera Zuid had some money left over due to the corona crisis and we were invited to present a pilot. That went down well. Opera Zuid found theaters for Het Lijflied throughout the country and secured De Nationale Opera and November Music as co-producers, so that my opera could get off the ground.”

“Waut Koeken has supported the project enormously. Usually you don't hear anything back when you, as a composer, approach a programmer or intendant. He responded to my emails and entered into a constructive dialogue with us, and he also provided valuable feedback during rehearsals.”

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