Caroline Lizotte

Caroline Lizotte (1969-) is a harpist, composer and educator from Quebec, Canada. She graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec in 1992 and studied her master's degree at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY.

Her career includes many different aspects and achievements, including the position of second harpist in l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal for 23 years, as well as the harp professor position at l'Université de Montréal. 

Lizotte started composing at an early age. She first played the piano, then the clarinet in high school while also starting her harp lessons. Her first compositions are for piano mostly, with her first composition for harp 'Odyssée, Op. 49' being published in 1990. Her compositions have been awarded many prices over the course of the years, including the 2022 Prix Opus Composer of the Years, making her one of the most influential composers for the instruments of the late 20th and 21st century. 

Lizotte has always been inspired by different music genres, which has influenced her compositional style. From Classical to Rock, her inspirations are Carlos Salzedo and Marcel Tournier, but also Shostakovich, Beethoven and Bach, and even Metallica and Soundgarden. The Rock influences can often be heard back in her compositions, besides the traditional composition styles from the Classical world. This can also explain her interest in the use of the electroacoustic harp and electronics for her Sonata. 

Furthermore, she is a great fan of Star Wars and all things space which reflects in the themes she chooses for her compositions.

She is the proud owner of a Camac Big Blue 47, which was custom made for her in a chrome colour. It is the only one of its kind in the world since the chrome is mirrored, which Les Harpes Camac has made once and then never again.1

The Stellar Sonata

The source of the Stellar Sonata dates back to 2013, when Caroline finished her piece Stellae Saltantem Opus 49, a piece written for harp Duo consisting of an acoustic and an electroacoustic harp commissioned by the Atlantic Harp Duo. This Duo piece describes the mythological event of the god Bacchus throwing the wedding crown of Ariadne into the sky, transforming it into a constellation: Corona Borealis.  

"Choosing an amplified harp was intended to distinguish the real from the surreal and to represent the supremacy of the gods over mortals. Its Latin title means 'those stars that dances'."2 

From the story of Ariadne and the themes used in Stellae Saltantem, grew the idea for a work for solo harp. The Stellar Sonata itself describes the whole story of Ariadne, including the ending of her transformation into the immortal constellation. The use of the electroacoustic harp provided inspiration for new sounds, especially once she started to compose with effects from Ableton. It unveils technical and sonic possibilities that serve when for the three characters of the mythology: The Minotaur, the mortal goddess Ariadne and Bacchus.

Lizotte says that her Opus 49 and Opus 51 are therefore 'spiritually linked'. Besides the use of amplification, there's several other elements that the works have in common. The theme of the Minotaur, Ariadne’s lament and the live fade-out are just a few examples. Also, the use of a mark tree, a percussion instrument consisting of small chimes of varying length hung from a bar, is vital in both pieces. Below we explore these simililarities a bit further. 

Comparison themes of Stellar Sonata and Stellae Saltantem

If one studies both pieces, one finds that there are a number of phrases and themes from Stellae Saltantem that appear throughout the Stellar Sonata. Sometimes very literally, other times less obvious and more interwoven into the material.

A number of phrases from the duo piece also appear in the Stellar Sonata, below are named a few examples of this. 

Figures 2 and 3 contain the first bar of both pieces, which exposes the theme of the Minotaur. The chords are exactly the same. The acoustic harp only starts playing in bar 2.

Figure 4 contains a melody from Stellae that occurs several times within the piece. This same motive appears in the second movement of the Stellar Sonata (figure 5), also as a recurring theme. This theme represents Ariadne's lament.

Another recurrence in both pieces is the use of a mark tree and a specific chord, which Lizotte calls 'the mother chord' since it comes back in both pieces numerous times.

The chord played by the acoustic harp in Stellae in bar 28 (figure 6) is a C minor with an added F-flat chord, followed by the mark tree and bisbigliandi, which are tremolos between different fingerings on the harp. 

In the Stellar Sonata, this same chord appears but modulated to A-flat major plus B-flat, followed by the bisbigliandi. The mark tree is used before the chord, as well as in the Analog Delay loop after. 

Figures 8 and 9 demonstrate a melody line that appears at the end of each piece. In Stellae (figure 8) the melody is in the electric harp in C minor, whereas in the Stellar Sonata it's in D-flat minor, interwoven between glissandi. The texture of the acoustic harp from Stellae comes back in the fast runs and glissandi in the Sonata. 

Analysis of the Stellar Sonata

'I [...] wanted [the] Stellar Sonata to have a structural and tonal rigor peculiar to the sonata form, while having the freedom and energy of a 20th century sonata.”3 
The piece, being a sonata, has the classical form of three movements organized by tempo: fast, slow, fast. It uses traditional terms for the movements, slightly modified as a play of words.

I. Andare moderato:

The first movement introduces the characters Ariadne and her half-brother the Minotaur; a mythical creature half-man half-bull. He is not the killer of the Stellar Sonata, but rather the soul that suffers from the curse he was born of and condemned to live locked in a labyrinth. Only Ariadne has the ability to communicate with him, console and calm him, her magic thread allowing her to exit the labyrinth instead if wishing to flee the Minotaur. 

The title of this movement has an interesting choice of words. Lizotte states that she chose it as a metaphor for andante moderato. 'Andare', meaning 'to go', represents the turbulent character of the Minotaur. The two tempi, alternating each other throughout the piece, represent the two main characters of this movement: pesante for the Minotaur’s fight and leggiero for Ariadne’s agility.

The movement uses the classical Sonata form of Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. With this we can also say that the Exposition of this Sonata Form has two themes that it develops throughout this first movement.

During the Development, the two opening themes reappear several times but modulated and synthesized, after which the material diverts from these original themes to a slower píu mosso section.

After this, the Recapitulation is announced by a recitativo with the two opening themes again as shown in figure 10. This return of the themes builds up towards an energetic ending of this strong first movement.

II. Ricercare:

Theseus, the Prince of Athens, arrives to the island of Crete to kill the Minotaur, which he believes to be a monster. Ariadne is seduced by the prince and falls for him. She helps him escape using her magic thread. Theseus promises his love to Ariadne, and they flee together, reaching the island Naxos by nightfall. The next morning, Theseus has set sail, leaving behind a heartbroken Ariadne. 

Ricercare is a term seen mostly during the Baroque period rather than the Classical Period, meaning 'to search'.

"A ricercar or ricercare is also an imitative polyphonic form from the 16th century, precursor to the fugue, but for which the rules are not as strict as this one."4 The title of this movement, much like the Andare Moderato, is a play of words, representing Ariadne's search on Naxos after having been abandoned by Theseus. 

This movement uses more sound processing that the first movement, introducing besides the Reverb, two new effects in the Sonata called Flanger and Distortion. The Flanger effect represents the shadow of Bacchus, watching Ariadne from afar as she wanders over Naxos. The Distortion effect represents Ariadne's rage as she realises that she has been betrayed by Theseus. 

The movement starts with an introduction of the thematic material. Throughout the whole movement these melodies reappear in several tonalities, keeping the same rhythm but sometimes stretched out over several bars. In figure 12 you can see an example of the use of the themes.

The synthesis of the themes builds up into the Distortion effect, until Ariadne's cooldown in bar 44, after which Bacchus returns in the Flanger effect with the themes reappearing in E minor.

The piece ends with a by the player-produced live fade-out, reminding us of rock influences in Lizotte's compositional styles, and similarly to the end of Stellae Saltantem as well. The composer invites the player to reduce in sound to almost nothing, niente as is written in the score, with the sound of the A-flat pedal being more present than the actual notes played. 

III. Radioso Sono

Bacchus, the god of wine and festivities, finds Ariadne and frees her from the Island of Naxos. He marries Ariadne and gifts her a radiant crown. Upon her death, he immortalizes her by throwing her crown into the sky, where she will remain as the celestial constellation, Corona Borealis. 

This last movement further explores the use of more audio effects, putting the possibilities of the electroacoustic harp to the test. It is fast and energetic, and uses the most number of effects of the whole piece. Besides the Reverb, the whole piece is played with a Space Echo effect, to add more texture and spaceyness to the fast notes, representing celestial apotheosis of Ariadne. The two scales played at the beginning of the movement, D minor melodic and G Major, are symbolic in both Stellae and the Stellar Sonata, representing the redemption and transformation of Ariadne.5 In between all these fast 16-notes creating a forward motion, the player is challenged to play the mark tree as well, appearing for the first times in the whole piece in bar three of this movement. 

Measures 30 till 46 are amongst the most iconic of the whole Sonata. An Analog Delay is created live by the player, creating a loop with a steady pulse that is then played on top of. The Delay line is closed so no new material is added to the loop, while thematic material is further developed by the player. 

In measure 43, the Delay line is turned back on to add more material to the growing loop.  Then in measure 46, after turning on the Ping Pong Delay which means is to blur the sound of the loop, the player needs to tweak the Delay time of the Analog Delay. The repetition of the Delay becomes so rapid that we perceive it as a high-pitched sound, then the delay time is brought down again in a swooshing motion before starting again with the symbolic scales from the beginning, having transformed from melodic minor to Major. This moment in the piece is entertaining to the audience both aurally and visually, since we see the player interacting with the electronics and manipulating the sound in the moment. 

The final part of the movement is virtuosic, as a grand finale to the whole Sonata, to bring to a fantastic closure to this transformation of Ariadne into a celestial form. The piece ends with the Ping Pong Delay that fades out gradually over approximately 30 seconds. 

Mythology and space are connected, hence the title Stellar Sonata for a piece that describes a mythology. The sounds that are created because of the enhancement of Ableton Live allow to be more closely related to something other worldly.

Futuristic, spacious, unknown. Searching for something else out there. 

                         Next Page: Part 2: Adaptation