Ophiuchus
The Serpent Bearer
Ruin
Snake in the Dark
Snake in the Dark... Indeed, a snake-like silhouette can be seen. The Snake Nebula, also known as a dark nebula, is made up of dust that absorbs starlight. As a result, even though stars are there, they are invisible to the human eye.
Ophiuchus is a very large constellation, but it has no particularly prominent stars and is characterized by its many star clusters and nebulae. I have translated Sisask’s image of Ophiuchus as “Ruin,” but the English word “ruin,” corresponding to the Estonian word häving, can also carry meanings such as destruction and devastation. Looking at this image, I have the eerie feeling that even the colors of the surrounding stars are gradually fading away, as if everything were disappearing.
As can be seen from the chapter structure of the stories accompanying the Starry Sky Cycle – Northern Sky, Sisask composed Ursa Minor, “Peace,” to follow Aries, “Tension,” and Ophiuchus, “Ruin.” I feel that these three pieces have a particularly important significance within Northern Sky.
The stories of Northern Sky were compiled by Sisask’s friend Mikk Sarv, a folklorist and biologist, who searched for myths and legends appropriate to each individual constellation. At the conclusion of the stories, he wrote the following:
In the autumn of 1987, a concert entitled “Starry Night” was held at the Astrophysical Observatory in Tõravere, Estonia. After the concert, the astronomer Professor Jaan Einasto is said to have spoken passionately about a memory from his youth.
In 1944, during the final battles of the Second World War, he was still a young boy and had taken refuge in Elva with his parents. One clear night in August, as he gazed in wonder at the beauty of the stars through a small telescope, he is said to have thought: “If those keeping watch behind the cannons were to look up at the sky just once, might they not realize the futility of war, and might war then come to an end forever?”
As I wrote previously, the two pieces, Aries and Ophiuchus, are connected seamlessly, with the note C-sharp (cis) carried over from one to the other. I cannot help but feel that the music of Ophiuchus evokes memories of war, as if the “Tension” of Aries were driving the music relentlessly toward “Ruin.” Sisask composed Northern Sky between 1980 and 1987. At that time, Estonia had not yet regained its independence from the Soviet Union, and memories of war were still fresh. (I also touched briefly on this subject in the section on Aquarius.)
It is said that there are as many as seven globular clusters within the constellation Ophiuchus, like the one shown in this image. Sisask’s constellation chart marks three of them as Messier objects: M9, M10, and M12. M10 and M12, shown above, lie close to each other and can apparently be seen within the same field of view through binoculars.
At the very moment the piece for Ophiuchus ends, I feel as though this light suddenly appears before my eyes with overwhelming intensity. Yet I would like to gradually transform this brilliance into a light of hope for “Peace,” and from there move into the piece for Ursa Minor.
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