Vokalise

Composer Note: Vokalise is another selection from Under the Sky. Ida’s voice has been taken out of the compact orchestral setting, and is left naked and unaccompanied. Vokalise is one scene earlier in the opera than the Cavatina. Ida enters to where her husband, Magius, is sitting. He wants her dress herself up more, become even more beautiful. Ida wants to feel his love. ‘...Do you hear the way I call on you at night-time? Do you hear the way I cry myself to sleep? Do you hear the way I long to feel your skin? I’m burning up with your coldness. I want you, my beloved, I want you to love me.’ She is disappointed, and loses the last remnant of love when she finds out that her beautyand adornment are only to be used in a power game between two men. --Bent Sørensen