Ojikawa

Claude Vivier (F-imaginary language)

Ojikawa is the earliest of Vivier’s extant vocal works, and the first to use his “invented language” which would come to characterize the majority of his subsequent vocal compositions. The invented language is combined with passages in French, in this case a version of Psalm 131, from the group of fifteen psalms known collectively as the Song of Ascents (or Songs of Degrees). This psalm setting, perhaps the most beautiful part of the work, was sung at Vivier’s funeral.

© Bob Gilmore
Note reproduced by permission of the author.