Three Rooms
(Tre Rom)
Chamber Opera in Three Acts
In Three Rooms we meet several characters in ordinary everyday situations:
Harald and Marianne, who have been out on a date together and now meet again at the library where Marianne works, but then Harald’s ex-girlfriend Silje unexpectedly shows up, leading to awkward dialogues
Two sisters who sadly have to sell the apartment where both they and their mother grew up, after the mother has died
Håkon, returning from a car holiday with his lady friend Ruth, is starting rehearsals on a historical drama with a local theatre group
The theatre composer for the historical drama, who is having qualms with who her music is supposed to identify with and make the audience feel support for
A father and his daughter, who is studying and dreaming of the Etruscan civilization
A conflict-shy light technician who cannot say no to a big box of apples even if she does not really want them
Håkon and Ruth visiting Vera, who collects found photography, and shows them her collectionClick here to look at the composer-librettist’s own collection of found photograph
To watch the full length version click here.
Three Rooms: A library, an apartment and a theatre hall.
A chamber opera in three acts, with four singers and nine instrumentalists. The opera was composed over a period of seven years. Two of the acts (1 and 3) have been performed as standalone pieces in 2018 and 2021, with the titles “A Journey to Sri Lanka” and “Lambert, Lambert!”, then with smaller groups. The work as a whole, with four singers and nine instrumentalists was premiered in April 2024 at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, during the Only Connect contemporary music festival.
The performers were Cikada ensemble, conducted by Christian Eggen, and the solists Elisabeth Holmertz, Ditte Marie Bræin, Natali Abrahamsen Garner and Halvor Festervoll Melien. Director and scenographer was Tormod Lindgren.
RECEPTION
The work has been well received.Emil Bernhard at scenekunst.no wrote:
For composer Lars Skoglund, the direction is neither digital nor machine-like, but rather narrative and operatic, albeit in a distinctive, low-key chamber format. The premiere of the work with the almost neutral title Three Rooms took place at the Litteraturhuset
A simple but effective scenography by Tormod Lindgren captured the atmosphere of Skoglund's universe, which, without holding back on the imaginative, draws its most important resource from the dizzying moments of sober everyday life. And if they are small and insignificant out there, under Skoglund's slightly absurdist magnifying glass they appear to have a fascinating potential for both dramaturgy and humor.
Three Rooms is Skoglund's most extensive production to date (at least as far as I know), and although the apparatus has shifted from the more radio play-like to the more scenic, Skoglund undoubtedly steers clear of both over-the-top ambition and apologetic irony.
In all cases, the narrative impulse is rarely organic and well-functioning, and The Norwegian Opera’s Scene 2 should keep its ears open anyway.
The Danish critic Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek at seismograf.org wrote:
The Friday program alone on Only Connect showed more loose sides of modern opera. Lars Skoglund's Three Rooms. A chamber opera in three acts (2024) with the Cikada Ensemble took place in three everyday rooms: Homeliness was dominant, and instead of singing great arias, four performerssat and ate spaghetti around a table. Together they could recite texts as if they were recipes. But suddenly the drama could break out in a bright light. Violent amorousness could strike two people in an innocent public library, and such tensions naturally had to be sung out. There was always something brewing; an intruder constantly threatened to overturn the communal coziness. Both when the performers wore masks and when they moved around in the most earth-colored casual clothes.
He has been away for a while. He has been to a border area.
But now he is back. He has just returned from Svinesund.
Håkon has crossed a border. He has been driving around in his red car. And with him in the car was his partner, or lady friend, as somebody says. They have been on holiday in Håkon’s red car.
But now they are back, because Håkon is going to participate in the theatre rehearsals.
The light desk has three switches, and each switch controls a lamp.
At the beginning two of the three lamps are turned to slightly below half full, and the third is turned all the way down.
Slowly, slowly the third lamp is being turned up, and the other two are getting darker.
But they are not turned completely off. There is still some light left in them.
Half a minute later, lamp two is suddenly turned to maximum. Just as sudden, a few seconds later, one and three are dimmed, so that only two is left. It is shining alone for a while.
Everybody makes mistakes. There is no reason to let your beak hang down.
Tell me now: What do you know about the Etruscans?
The Etruscans were in Italy, in what is now called Tuscany, about 700 years BC.
So this, in other words, is before the Roman empire?Yes, the Roman empire is later. But what is special about the Etruscans, is tha they were enormously wealthy.
Were they wealthy, you say? Then they must have had music there?
Well, there is music everywhere, whether one is wealthy or not. But for sure they must have had music. Large cities. It could live between twenty and thirty thousand people in their cities.
Imagine how fun it would be to have heard the music of the Etruscans!
Yes, father. This we can only dream about.