what have you to do with serious things?

for soprano, piano, and viola (2016)

duration: 7'

Program Notes: At the end of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, "A Doll's House," Nora has a feminist epiphany that her husband Torvald has never treated her as an equal.  As she confronts him about this fact, it occurs to her that this is the first serious conversation they've ever had in 8 years of marriage.  "Why, my dearest Nora," he replies, "what have you to do with serious things?"  This is her response.

The text of the song is selected Nora's side of a much longer dialogue with Torvald at the end of the original William Archer translation.  In performance, it is best if the singer leaves the stage and slams a door after her final verse.  

-Zachary Green, August 2016

Score: