Asle og Alida (2024)

For me, Asle og Alida is an opera about the three great biblical concepts: faith, hope, and love—and, above all, the fusion of these three. Faith in hope, hope for love, and, as always, the greatest of these is love. In Asle and Alida’s case, love transcends death—death does not part them. The music seeks to capture both the beauty and the dread inherent in the struggle for love.

Creating an opera with a libretto by Jon Fosse has been the fulfilment of a long-held dream. Back in 2007, when I was Composer-in-Residence at the Bergen International Festival, I was asked whether I could envision Fosse’s text combined with my music in an operatic setting. This led me to explore his collected plays, and I was drawn to their inherent dramatic stillness and complex simplicity. I could hear music hidden between the lines.

Fate often strikes in waves. In the autumn of 2020, when I was once again urged to compose an opera with a libretto by Fosse, I was deeply immersed in his Septology. I was captivated by its hypnotic and painterly language, where the short, terse dialogues of his plays were gone and the lyrics had become ‘music between the lines’.

Working with Trilogy has been a gift. It is a work so full of emotional and sensory drama that it is a natural choice for an opera. With my deep familiarity with both Fosse’s novels and plays, I knew it would make for a superb libretto.

I was thrilled to bring forth the music that already seemed embedded within the story and to shape a libretto that transformed the novel into the opera Asle og Alida. From the start, I could hear a – maybe distant - violin opening Trilogy, and that very sound became the opening of the opera.

Composing an opera is not something one simply does. It is an immense undertaking that requires a composer to be ready. Writing an opera is not just a creative process, but a life process. With Asle og Alida, I was ready for it.

Bent Sørensen, 2025