abaGa baRatur

TITLE: abaGa baʁatur (uncle hero)
CAT# (YEAR COMPOSED): 88 (2014)
INSTRUMENTATION: for four voices
PAGES: 18
DURATION (APPROX): 4’47
PREMIERE BY: AUDITIVVOKAL DRESDEN, {Angela Wingerath, Soprano; Katja Fischer, Soprano; Carl Thiemt, Multi-Vokalist; Timo Hannig, Bass; Olaf Katzer, conductor} on June 14th 2016, Palais im Großen Garten Dresden
NOTE: AbaGa baʁatur (uncle hero) refers to the second Mongol ruler in Persia, Abaqa Khan from 1265 to 1282. During this time the Mongol empire was consumed with civil war and invasion, which led to the development of powerful alliances, often through marriage. In 1265, Abaqa Khan’s father, Hulagu Khan, had negotiated with Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos to add a daughter of the Byzantine imperial family to the number of Hulagu’s wives. Michael selected his illegitimate daughter Maria Palaiologina, but before she arrived in Persia, Hulagu died, so she was married to the Prince Abaqa Khan instead. This composition is a short glimpse of war, love and alliance.