Luminos Ensemble

Dr. Margot Rejskind, artistic director & conductor

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Soprano
Kara Callaghan Georgia Edwards,
Rebecca Hulme, Evelyn McEwen

Alto
Kassinda Bulgur, Annette Campbell,
Marlee Saulnier, Wendy Wade-Maxwell

Tenor

Troy Martin, Justin Simard, Luke Thompson

Bass
Dan Aitken, Jordan MacLean,
Brodie MacRae, Gaige Waugh

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Madeline Kapp MacDonald, violin

Amy Simon, clarinet

Natalie Williams Calhoun, cello

Leo Marchildon, piano

PROGRAM NOTES
Annelies (2005) is the first major choral setting of Anne Frank’s diary ‒ famous around the world as a powerful reminder of the horrors of war, and a moving testament to the human spirit.

Annelies Marie (Anne) Frank was born to Jewish parents in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929. Her early childhood was happy and secure; her father was a respected businessman whose family had lived and worked in Frankfurt for many decades. In 1933, however, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party took power in Germany with a mission to enforce Aryan dominance and “racial purity.” Jews became an immediate target for persecution and elimination. The Frank family fled to safety in Amsterdam, in
the Netherlands. But in September 1939 Germany began invading neighbouring countries, and in May 1940 it occupied the Netherlands. Early in 1941 German forces began rounding up Jews in Amsterdam and deporting them to concentration camps for extermination.

In July 1942 the Franks went into hiding in a secret apartment (the “Annexe”) concealed by a bookcase in a house on Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht canal. Along with four other Jewish refugees, they survived in their cramped quarters for two years. In August 1944 they were discovered, arrested and sent to concentration camps. There Anne, her sister and mother died of disease and starvation early in 1945.

Anne kept a diary throughout her two years in the Annexe. It was left behind when she was arrested; friends of the family found it. Published in 1947, it has now been translated into more than 70 languages and sold over 30 million copies.

James Whitbourn developed Annelies collaboratively with Melanie Challenger, a poet who had worked on a music project with children from war-torn Bosnia. Challenger compiled and translated the passages that create the libretto, which has fourteen movements. Some of these trace a narrative arc, from the initial plan to go into hiding (movement 3), to the bombing of Amsterdam in July 1943 (movement 10), to D-Day and the brief hope of liberation (movement 12), and finally to the refugees’ capture and fate (movement 13). Others are more reflective and timeless. Movement 6 (“Courage”), for example, illuminates Anne’s resilience and her refusal to lose herself in suffering.

Movement 9 (“The dream”) expands the focus outward from Anne to “all [her] friends, / and all the Jews … all those in need.” Movement 14 (“Anne’s meditation”) balances between despair and hope, as Anne asserts her own humanity and identity against the approaching destruction.

Whitbourn has described how he was drawn into Anne’s world as he composed Annelies. “Rarely have I found a text so compelling and the inspiration for so much thought, simply as a document in its own right. But as time went on, and as I worked on the score, I became more aware of Anne Frank as a contemporary person.” After meeting her cousin and her school friends, Whitbourn adds, “it seemed to me almost as though I were putting together the music for the family’s
memorial service.”

Although its starting point is one girl’s very personal account, Annelies adds texts from other sources: the liturgical Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy); a traditional German folksong; verses from the Psalms and Lamentations; information from contemporary reports summarizing the family’s capture. Whitbourn explains: “We wanted to point to the fact that [Anne’s] story and the events of the holocaust are not just the story of an individual or indeed of a race or nation – it’s something that involved many people from all religions. That universal cry of mercy [Kyrie eleison] is a deliberately non-Jewish insertion. We also wanted to make sure that the piece was in no way anti- German. We know that Anne’s mother read prayers and poems to Anne in German from a Lutheran prayer book that they had, so that text was included.”

Anne Frank was intelligent, brave and articulate. She dreamed of achieving fame as a professional writer: “I want to go on  living even after my death” she wrote in April 1944. Less than a year later, she was dead; but her story lives on, as she had hoped – in words and now also in music.


ANNELIES

James Whitbourn music

Melanie Challenger libretto

1. Introit ‒ Prelude soprano and chorus
2. The capture foretold chorus
3. The plan to go into hiding soprano and chorus
4. The last night at home and arrival at the Annexe soprano and chorus
5. Life in hiding soprano and chorus
6. Courage soprano and chorus
7. Fear of capture and the second break-in chorus
8. Kyrie ‒ Sinfonia chorus
9. The dream soprano and chorus
10. Devastation of the outside world soprano and chorus
11. Passing of time soprano and chorus
12. The hope of liberation and a spring awakening soprano and chorus
13. The capture and the concentration camp chorus
14. Anne’s meditation soprano and chorus

1. Introit ‒ Prelude (soprano and chorus)

2. The capture foretold (chorus)
Up above you can hear the breathing,
eight pounding hearts, footsteps on the stairs,
a rattling on the bookcase.
Suddenly, a couple of bangs.
Doors slammed inside the house.
Bleibst du! Anschlag!
[Don’t move! Halt!]
11 April 1944

We are in blue sky,
surrounded by black clouds.
See it, the perfectly round spot?
but the clouds are moving in,
and the ring between danger grows smaller.
We look at the fighting below,
and the peace and beauty above,
but the dark mass of clouds looms before us,
and tries to crush us.
O ring, ring, open wide and let us out!
8 November 1943

3. The plan to go into hiding (soprano and chorus)
When would we go into hiding?
Where would we hide?
In the city? In the country? In a house? In a shack?
8 July 1942

These questions keep running through my mind.
I started packing my important belongings.
The first thing was my diary.
Memories mean more to me than dresses.
8 July 1942

Ik zal, hoop ik, aan jou alles kunnen toevertrouwen, zoals
ik het nog aan niemand gekund heb, en ik hoop dat je
een grote steun voor me zult zijn.*

[I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I
have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope
that you will be a great support and comfort to me.]
12 June 1942

* This is Anne’s dedication to her diary.

It seems like years since Sunday morning.
So much has happened.
It’s as if the whole world had
suddenly turned upside down.
8 July 1942

4. The last night at home and arrival at the Annexe (soprano and chorus)
My last night in my own bed.
In the morning a warm rain fell.
The four of us wrapped in layers of clothing,
the stripped beds, the breakfast things on the table.
We closed the door behind us.
8 July 1942

Walking in the pouring rain,
walking down the street,
each of us with a satchel filled to the brim.
9 July 1942

We arrived at Prinsengracht,
led through the long passage
and up the wooden staircase
to the Annexe.
The door was shut behind us,
leaving us alone.
Alone.
Then for the first time,
I found a moment to tell you about it,
to realise what had happened to me
and what was about to happen.
10 July 1942

We’re Jews in chains,
chained to one spot,
without any rights,
a thousand obligations.
We must be brave
and trust in God.
11 April 1944

5. Life in hiding (soprano and chorus)
The days here are very quiet,
1 October 1942

having to sit still all day
and not say a word,
you can imagine how
hard that is for me.
On ordinary days, we speak in a whisper.
Not being able to talk is worse.
29 September 1942

The silence makes me so nervous,
but the chiming of the Westertoren clock
reassures me at night.
11 July 1942

No doubt you want to hear
what I think of life in hiding?
11 July 1942

The blue sky, the bare chestnut tree,
glistening with dew,
the seagulls, glinting with silver
swooping through the air.
As long as this exists,
the sunshine and this cloudless sky,
how can I be sad?
23 February 1944

Prospectus and Guide to the Secret Annexe.
A Unique Facility for the Temporary Accommodation
of Jews and Other Dispossessed Persons.
Now our Annexe has truly become a secret,
a bookcase has been built in front of the entrance.
It swings on its hinges
and opens like a door.
It is Open All Year Round,
Located in Beautiful, Quiet, Wooded Surroundings,
In the Heart of Amsterdam.
Inside it is Necessary to Speak Softly at all Times,
Singing is Permissible, only Softly and After Six pm!
17 November 1942

The strangest things happen when you’re in hiding.
Try to picture this.
We scrub ourselves in a tin tub.
Since the curtains are drawn,
we scrub ourselves in the dark,
while one looks out of the window
and gazes at the endlessly amusing people.
29 September 1942

The children run around in thin shirts
and wooden clogs.
They have no coats, no socks,
no caps and no one to help them.
Gnawing on a carrot to still their hunger,
they walk from their cold houses through cold streets.
13 January 1943

One day this terrible war will be over,
and we’ll be people again,
and not just Jews.
11 April 1944

6. Courage (soprano and chorus)
If you become part of the suffering,
you’ll be entirely lost.
7 March 1944

Der Winter ist vergangen.
Ich seh’ des Maien Schein;
Ich seh’ die Blümlein prangen;
Des ist mein Herz erfreut.
Da singt Frau Nachtigalle
Und manch’ Waldvögelein.
German traditional song

[The winter is over. I see the light of May; I see blossoms
everywhere; and my heart is pleased. There sings the
nightingale and the small forest birds.]

Beauty remains,
even in misfortune.
One who is happy will make others happy,
one who has courage will never die in misery.
7 March 1944

Ade, mein’ Allerliebste!
Ade, schön’s Blümelein!
Ade, schön’ Rosenblume;
Es muß geschieden sein!
Das Herz in meinem Leibe
Gehört ja allzeit dein.
German traditional song

[Goodbye, my beloved! Goodbye, beautiful blossoms!
Goodbye, beautiful rose flower; I must leave you. My love
for you will burn in my heart forever.]

7. Fear of capture and the second break-in (chorus)
In the evenings, when it’s dark,
lines of good innocent people
and crying children
walk on and on,
ordered by men who bully and beat them.
No one is spared, all are marched to their death.
19 November 1942

Westerbork! Westerbork!*

* Dutch Jews were required to build and pay for a refugee camp when 8,000 refugees were allowed into the Netherlands in 1938. This camp, built at Westerbork, later became the transit camp for Jews being taken to Auschwitz and Sobibor.

Night after night,
green and grey vehicles
cruise the streets
and knock on every door.
19 November 1942

Westerbork! Westerbork!
Shh! I heard a sound from the bookcase,
hammering on the door.
We turned white with fear.
Had he heard something, this stranger?
Open up! Open up!
In my imagination,
the man kept growing and growing,
until he became a giant,
the cruellest fascist in the world.
20 October 1942

8. Kyrie ‒ Sinfonia (chorus)
Kyrie eleison. [Lord, have mercy.]
Help us! Rescue us from this hell!
27 November 1943

We must be brave and trust in God.
11 April 1944

9. The dream (soprano and chorus)
Last night, just as I was falling asleep,
an old friend appeared before me.
I saw her there, dressed in rags,
her face thin and worn.
She looked at me with such sadness.
Anne, why have you deserted me?
Help me! Help me! Rescue me from this hell!
27 November 1943

To me she is the suffering of all my friends,
and all the Jews.
When I pray for her, I pray for all those in need.
6 January 1944

Merciful God, comfort her,
remain with her so she won’t be alone.
27 November 1943

Dear God, watch over her
and bring her back to us.
29 December 1943

10. Devastation of the outside world (soprano and chorus)
On Sunday, Amsterdam was bombed.
19 July 1943

The planes dived and climbed.
The air was abuzz with the drone of engines.
26 July 1943

The streets are in ruins, countless are wounded.
In the smouldering ruins, children search forlornly
for their parents.
19 July 1943

It makes me shiver
to think of the dull, distant drone
of approaching destruction.
19 July 1943

I wander from room to room,
climb up and down the stairs
and feel like a songbird,
whose wings have been ripped off
and who keeps hurling itself
against the bars of its dark cage.
“Let me out, where there’s fresh air and laughter,”
a voice within me cries.
29 October 1943

11. Passing of time (soprano and chorus)
The years went by.
There’s a saying: “Time heals all wounds,”
that’s how it was for me,
until one day, I saw my face in the mirror.
It looked so different.
My eyes were clear and deep,
my cheeks were rosy, my mouth was softer.
I looked happy,
and yet, in my expression,there was something so sad.
7 January 1944

12. The hope of liberation and a spring awakening (soprano and chorus)
This is D-Day,
this is the day,
fighting will come,
but after that the victory!
Eleven thousand planes,
four thousand boats,
is this the beginning
of the long-awaited liberation?
6 June 1944

I walk from one room to another,
breathe through the crack in the window frame,
feel my heart beating as if to say,
“Fulfil my longing at last…”
I think spring is inside me,
I feel spring awakening,
I feel it in my entire body and soul.
12 February 1944

Ich danke dir für all das Gute und Liebe und Schöne.
[Thank you, God, for all that is good and dear and beautiful.]
7 March 1944

13. The capture and the concentration camp (chorus)
On August the 4th 1944,
a car pulled up at Prinsengracht.
Several figures emerged,
armed, and dressed in civilian clothes.
The eight residents of the Annexe were taken to prison,
and from there, transported to Westerbork,
and onwards to the concentration camps.
information from contemporary reports

The atmosphere is stifling,
outside you don’t hear a single bird.
A deathly silence hangs in the air.
It clings to me as if to drag me
into the deepest regions of the underworld.
29 October 1943*

* Anne did not continue her diary after she left the Annexe, but this extract, written about the Annexe, echoes the atmosphere described by others of the Nazi concentration camps.

There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their sound is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19, verses 3-4

Their blood have they shed like water,
and there was none who could bury them.
Psalm 79, verse 3

The young and the old lie on the ground;
the maids and young men are fallen.
Lamentations 2, verse 21

14. Anne’s meditation (soprano and chorus)
I see the world being slowly turned into a wilderness.
I hear the approaching thunder,
that one day will destroy us too.
And yet, when I look at the sky,
I feel everything will change for the better.
15 July 1944

Whenever you feel lonely or sad,
try going to the loft on a beautiful day
and looking at the sky.
As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky,
you’ll know you are pure within.
23 February 1944

Libretto © 2005 by Melanie Challenger, based on Anne Frank:
The Diary of a Young Girl, © 1991 by The Anne Frank-Fonds,
Basel, Switzerland.

 

We acknowledge that we live and make music in Epekwitk, which is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. We honour the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which recognized Mi’kmaq title and established an ongoing relationship between nations.
We are all Treaty People.

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