What happens in Asle and Alida?

Some have compared Asle and Alida to the criminal couple Bonnie & Clyde, others with Joseph and Mary in the Gospels – while Jon Fosse himself has called the first novella Wakefulness (Andvake) in his Trilogy "pagan".

The below is a brief summary of the libretto for the opera Asle and Alida, which Fosse has written based on his own Trilogy – and which Bent Sørensen has composed the music for.

ACT 1
It is late autumn, and the young couple Asle and Alida wander around in the town of Bjørgvin (Bergen), knocking on doors to find a place to stay. But no one will let them in. Alida is expecting a baby, and can give birth any day. They have sailed from a small place further north, and Alida begins to regret that they left home.

They think back to the first time they met, when Asle was a fiddle player at a summer wedding there – and they both experienced the soar: They were lifted up by the music and by the love – and since then they are as one: Asle and Alida.

Finally, someone opens a door in Bjørgvin. But The older woman says that they should be ashamed of living in sin, and that they should return back to where they belong. A bit later they meet The younger woman, who is very interested in Asle, but mocks Alida, and it doesn't get any better when they meet The older man. He has many rooms in his hostel, but preferably only for Alida – and not for Asle.

Then Asle and Alida discover The older woman again, at her little house, and urgently ask for shelter for the night. But The older woman only scolds Alida and her pregnancy, and Asle makes a drastic choice.

Now Asle and Alida finally have a place to live, and The older woman has vanished.
And then their son, little Sigvald, is born.

ACT 2
It is winter, and Asle and Alida have now moved from Bjørgvin, and have settled down by a fjord. But Asle travels to the town again, and has sold his beloved fiddle to be able to to buy wedding rings for himself and Alida. There he meets The older man, who does not give him peace. The younger woman also comes, and flirts with and harasses Asle. Then a new person appears: Åsleik from Vik, who seems to already know Asle, and he shows him a lovely bracelet he has bought for "The one I once will meet".

The older man interferes, and talks about three different murders that probably have happened, both further north and in Bjørgvin. Can Asle be the guilty one? The older man urges Åsleik to help him, so that Asle can be taken to the Executioner (Meistermannen): The person who hangs people.

Alida waits and waits for Asle, who has not returned home to her and little Sigvald. In the end, she walks the long way to Bjørgvin, where she completely exhausted meets Åsleik. He offers her food and shelter in his boat. Yes surely, she can also sail homewards with him, where he lives alone on his farm. He gives Alida the beautiful bracelet, and reveals that he saw Asle was hanged. He also tells her that in the boat he has a nice fiddle he has bought from someone on the street, and which can be a gift for little Sigvald.

Alida hears a voice that says she can go with Åsleik.

This article was published February 2025