Einst in kalter Wintersnacht

The poem Раз в крещенский вечерок [Once upon Epiph'ny Eve] by Pushkin’s contemporary Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (1783–1852) refers to the post-Christmas custom of young girls wishing to interpret their future from various signs. One finds here, as in so many church rituals, a mixture of Christian tradition and superstitious pagan cult. Traditions of Russian Orthodox liturgical singing blend together with the fairy-tale character (with its indication “magically fragrant”) and perspectives of new music in the 20th and 21st century. Written for Ensemble Wiener Collage’s Christmas concert in 2016.