Mither Kirk (2017)
Three Singers, Viola, Cello, Organ and Electronics
Mither Kirk tells the story of a fictional family in 1597 that fall victim to the witch-trials that scoured Aberdeen at this time. It begins with Aileen, begging for her sick daughter Aggie’s recovery. Not satisfied with the priest’s prayers, she moves into another room and reads from an occult book in the hope that summoning Satan (or anyone) will suffice for Aggie. Miraculously, Aggie is restored to full health (whether by the priest’s prayers or Aileen’s sacrilegious interception is never made clear). She happily wanders and plays, while her mother starts gathering herbs, chanting strange cantrips as she goes. Concerned, Aggie prays for her mother’s sanity and starts to take the herbs off Aileen. Her mother slaps her with a wild curse and runs off. Later, a laird’s ship is discovered to have been sunk off the coast with all lives lost. Along with this news, Aggie brings along the priest, who, after looking around at Aileen’s behaviour, and seeing the herbs on Aggie, he comes to the conclusion that Aggie must have placed a curse on her mother. Aggie is at once taken to St Nicholas Kirk to be held captive. In a mock trial, she hears hidden voices accusing her not only of her crime against her mother, but also of sinking the laird’s ship. She is sentenced to death, and is strangled and burned at the stake. Aileen, in her satanic madness, wanders into the flames after her daughter. In a short epilogue, the priest is heard praying once more, alone with the laments of the families who have lost loved ones in the laird’s ship.
The setting of this opera was mainly the idea of librettist Ruth Rose, who was very interested in local history. To help realise the historical and local ideas, the musical foundation of this opera was an original melody I wrote to emulate the stark Calvinist hymns that would have been sung by the local people at this time, symbolising the almost-suffocating adherence to the Word and the Bible, and the tragic consequences of its actions put into practice.
Mither Kirk was originally pitched as a shortlisted entry for Scottish Opera’s Opera Sparks Workshop 2018, but went through several revisions of instrumentation and vocal forces before settling on its present form for three singers, viola, cello, organ and recorded sounds. It was premiered at the back-steps of St Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen on 1 July 2017, as part of the Silver City Stories project.
Press and Journal article - 21 December 2018
PERFORMANCES:
Première: 1 July 2017 - St Nicholas Kirk Graveyard - Performances at 1130, 1330, 1530, 1730
2 July - St Nicholas Kirk Graveyard - Performances at 1330, 1530, 1730