All That We Bear (2024)
7 minutes
for Mezzo Soprano and Piano
Commissioned Katrina Waters for the Songs for Loud Women project.
Libretto by Katrina Waters based on the ‘Building Brünnhilde’ interviews, with editing assistance provided by Cheryl Pickering and Anne Cawrse.
The Songs for Loud Women commissions were made possible by the generous support of the Mornington Peninsula Shire's Performing Arts Development Grant 2023/24.
Premiere tbc
7 minutes
for Mezzo Soprano and Piano
Commissioned Katrina Waters for the Songs for Loud Women project.
Libretto by Katrina Waters based on the ‘Building Brünnhilde’ interviews, with editing assistance provided by Cheryl Pickering and Anne Cawrse.
The Songs for Loud Women commissions were made possible by the generous support of the Mornington Peninsula Shire's Performing Arts Development Grant 2023/24.
Premiere tbc
‘All That We Bear’ is the third and central song in the five-part, five-composer song cycle Songs for Loud Women.
The text is taken from many hours of interviews conducted by Katrina Waters with international opera singers known for their depiction of Wagner’s Brünnhilde’. The stories unearthed tell of many of the pathways, hard life choices, losses, successes and
challenges faced by these women, both personally and professionally.
‘All That We Bear’ focuses on the question of motherhood- the decision to be or not to be a mother, disappointments and losses, unexpected surprises and challenging career interruptions. Our protagonist is a quasi ‘every woman’, and through her voice the song
attempts to bring together the myriads of hopes, thoughts, feelings, questions and uncertainties surrounding the topic of maternal expectations.
The text is taken from many hours of interviews conducted by Katrina Waters with international opera singers known for their depiction of Wagner’s Brünnhilde’. The stories unearthed tell of many of the pathways, hard life choices, losses, successes and
challenges faced by these women, both personally and professionally.
‘All That We Bear’ focuses on the question of motherhood- the decision to be or not to be a mother, disappointments and losses, unexpected surprises and challenging career interruptions. Our protagonist is a quasi ‘every woman’, and through her voice the song
attempts to bring together the myriads of hopes, thoughts, feelings, questions and uncertainties surrounding the topic of maternal expectations.
All That We Bear
Oh holiest fruit, my schoße Frucht, my darling girls… my precious son…
In pain and grief, we bear what in fear we hide.
I should…
I never had that urge
It’s hard when you’re away a lot
Just try and fit it in, but you know it’s hard.
It does take a village.
I thought I should … I didn’t want to miss out…
I wasn’t trying, but I wasn’t not trying either….
We tried for many years… it just never happened.
Miscarriage… surgery… treatments…
Three maybe four years, it just never happened.
I don’t know why. We looked at each other
And then we moved on.
That was that.
There was a price to pay. Certainly.
It’s all over. It’s not going to happen for me…
Then it all happened for me
my loudest and holiest fruit.
There is no should
My darling girls.
Oh holiest fruit, my schoße Frucht, my darling girls… my precious son…
In pain and grief, we bear what in fear we hide.
I should…
I never had that urge
It’s hard when you’re away a lot
Just try and fit it in, but you know it’s hard.
It does take a village.
I thought I should … I didn’t want to miss out…
I wasn’t trying, but I wasn’t not trying either….
We tried for many years… it just never happened.
Miscarriage… surgery… treatments…
Three maybe four years, it just never happened.
I don’t know why. We looked at each other
And then we moved on.
That was that.
There was a price to pay. Certainly.
It’s all over. It’s not going to happen for me…
Then it all happened for me
my loudest and holiest fruit.
There is no should
My darling girls.