chamber gnostic oratory for soprano, piano & trumpet
Structured in three movements, Sophia et Archons is a contemporary chamber oratorio inspired by the Gnostic text Pistis Sophia, a mystical scripture from the early centuries of the Christian era. Composer František Chaloupka delves into the ancient myth of Sophia — the personification of divine Wisdom — who falls from the higher aeons into Chaos in a misguided search for Light, only to be slowly redeemed through prayer, memory, and inner transformation.
Rather than offering a literal setting of the text, Chaloupka constructs a ritualistic sonic space where voice, machine, and silence interact. The soprano, echoing the laments of the fallen Sophia, navigates shadowed registers of sound — both human and electronic. The music evolves in a language suspended between austerity and mysticism, rooted in the expressive traditions of the oratorio yet refracted through surrealist, steampunk-inflected sound worlds.
Each movement represents a phase of Sophia’s journey:
I. Descent — A loosening of order; the voice trembles, disoriented, as light fractures.
II. Lament — A slow unfolding of loss; mechanical and human elements interlace in quiet revolt.
III. Threshold — A fragile reconstitution; memory and name align, and Sophia rises, altered but luminous.
This work is not a depiction of doctrine, but an invitation into an interior myth — one where brokenness and grace coexist. In Chaloupka’s setting, Sophia does not return unchanged: she returns having known darkness, and made light within it.
***Sophia et Archons (2025) gnostic oratorium for soprano, piano & trumpet
57-page score / Composed for Lichtzwang Trio
Premiere 24.6., Kaple božího těla, FFUP, Olomouc