Of Footprints and Light – Helsinki Variations

n the ”Helsinki Variations” series the composers have chosen a Finnish composition from before 1945 as a source for inspiration for their own work commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Om fotspår och ljus (Of Footprints and Light) is based on a scene from the opera Asiens ljus (Light of Asia) by Ida Moberg (1859-1947). The opera tells the story of Buddha’s life, and in the scene the young prince Siddhartha Gautama sings to his faithful servant Channa in the palace garden. The composer worked with Asiens ljus from 1910 until her death. The opera remained anyhow unfinished, and presumably only an excerpt (”Lullaby”) has ever been performed in public.