Mitt trollslott
Music: Wilhelm Peterson Berger (1867-1942)
Lyrics: August Strindberg (1849-1912)

Michael Axelsson - Tenor
Kiyo Wada - Piano

Recorded at first rehearsal for a concert summer 2021

Peterson Berger Mitt Trollslott

Michael Schelle

Swanwhite  (1981)

Dana Zenobi, soprano
Amanda Hopson, piano
Indianapolis - January 2023

Program listing:

Swanwhite (1981)
    Prayer
1. Roses
2. Midsummer Child
3. Beautiful
4. Discipline
5. Peace

"Swanwhite" (1901) is a play written by Swedish playwright August Strindberg (1849-1912)

Written as a vehicle for his new love, the 19-year old Norwegian actress Harriet Bosse, this is Strindberg's only play of love, romance, roses and dreams. "Swanwhite" was Strindberg's gift to Harriet on their wedding day in 1901 (there was a 31 year age difference between them)

The text(s) of the songs herein come from a collection of letters / correspondences between Strindberg and Harriet, written after their parting in 1902. The Prayer is by Strindberg, the remaining texts are from Harriet's letters.

Considered the "father" of Swedish modernism, Strindberg's destructive, schizophrenic, neurotic, paranoid personality - and love / hate relationships with women - took its toll as their marriage feel within weeks to a bitter parting of the ways. Harriet, however, was already expecting their child. 


The photo is Harriet with 3-month old Anna Marie Strindberg.


n.b.:  the majority of these songs are quite intimate in nature - reflective, personal, sometimes violent, sometimes nostalgic, etc. rather than traditionally dramatic - less vibrato the better.

P.S. :  as a B.A. theatre major at Villanova Univeristy (Philadelphia), and long after I was attracted to - and studied - his life and works (plays, fiction, criticisms, paintings, politics, etc.), I discovered we shared birthdays, 22 January, exactly 101 years apart.  This realization gave me chills and I knew destiny would call to write music for him. Swanwhite is the last of my three "Strindberg" pieces, the other two are "Music for the Last Days of Strindberg" (1980) for large chamber ensemble, and "The Red Room" (1979) for solo piano.

www.schellemusic.com

.
�

SWANWHITE (1981) - soprano and  piano

In a large seaside hotel, a woman and the two men who love her--and who've made her who she is--do battle in Strindberg's classic comic-drama. Score by Schubert (Death of a Maiden/Serenade).

CREDITORS (2026)

Lyric tenor with broad repertoire and focus on awareness of style and language. Works with Opera, Oratory, Chamber Music and Concerts.

Full-cast audio dramas from classic novels.

L7jYVqjVIDL4KJ3naqHt

New tracks tagged #August Strindberg