Both members worked a lot in other projects in the years before. Conny played the violin for more than ten years and performed in many orchestras. She also sang in some classical choruses and as a soloist, and is familiar with baroque and romantic compositions like G.F. Handel, E. Grieg or Pergolesi.
Olaf was in his childhood a member of the "Stadtsingechor Halle", the oldest chorus of the world. Later, he played in many musical projects and bands, and also composed for TV. He studied musicology and philosophy.
In 1994 the second album, "Porta VIII" (Hyperium), was released. It has a concept based on the fairy tale "Ariadne et Barbe Bleue" by Maurice Maeterlinck, but "Porta VIII" is a continuation of the original fairy tale. This album too was selling more than 10 000 copies worldwide and climbed the Mexican charts.
Since 1997 there was a new line-up. Conny left sToa to follow her classical career, and the new singer was Antje Buchheiser. Buchheiser had been playing violin for more than eleven years, and had been singing in the classical chorus "Hallenser Madrigalisten". She performed a lot in classical music, in, among others, Germany, Japan and Cuba.
Another new member since 1996 was Christiane Fischer. She plays cello and is singing the second voice at live concerts. sToa signed to the German publisher Alster Musikverlag. In 1997 the band left their old label Hyperium for various reasons.
sToa performed sporadically at special places or events. They played for example at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in a one hundred years old and eighty metres high monument in front of more than 1 000 people, at the “Zeche Carl” in Essen, in the Netherlands and several times in Mexico (inter alia with the Goethe-Institut).
In 2001 they finished their album "Zal". It was released worldwide, but first in Mexico at "Samadhi Musik". sToa signed to the German label "Alice in ...", where they released "Zal" for the rest of the world and re-released "Urthona" and "Porta VIII". The singer on "Zal" was Antje Buchheiser.
In 2008 sToa returned with international line-up. The new album "Silmand" was released on September 26th. "Silmand" means soul month. With it the month September is titled in an almost forgotten German dialect. The female voices on the album belong to sToa's new main-singer Mandy Bernhardt and the Australian multi-instrumentalist Louisa John-Krol. Furthermore, the Dutchman Pieter Nooten (Ex-Clan of Xymox) could be engaged as well as the Leipzig-based Ralf Jehnert (Love is Colder than Death). One of the songs on "Silmand" was already used as film score ("Tacitum"). The title of the song "Hanuz Nist" comes from the Persian lyrics written by Hassan Dehlawi at the 14th century.
Chanson D'automne
sToa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Des violons
De l'automne
Blessent mon coeur
D'une langueur
Monotone.
Tout suffocant
Sonne l'heure
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure...
Et je m'en vais
Auvent meuvais
Qui m'emporte
deça, dela,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
[Paul Verlaine]
The lyrics of sToa's song Chanson D'automne are a French poem by Paul Verlaine. The song talks about the sadness and sorrow felt during autumn, when the long sobs of violins wound the heart with a monotonous languor. The feeling is so overwhelming that the singer suffocates, and when the bell tolls, he remembers the past days and his eyes fill with tears. He then departs on a bad adventure that carries him this way and that, much like a dead leaf falling from a tree.
The song seems to be mourning a lost love, perhaps someone who was only there during the old days, and whose memories now make the singer cry. The "bad adventure" he embarks on could be a metaphor for his journey through grief and sorrow. The song is full of melancholy and nostalgia for a time long gone, and the music enhances these emotions with its slow, haunting melody.
Line by Line Meaning
Les sanglots longs
The long sobs
Des violons
Of the violins
De l'automne
Of autumn
Blessent mon coeur
Wound my heart
D'une langueur
With a monotonous languor
Monotone.
Chant.
Tout suffocant
All suffocating
Et Blême, quand
And pale, when
Sonne l'heure
The hour sounds
Je me souviens
I remember
Des jours anciens
The old days
Et je pleure...
And I cry...
Et je m'en vais
And I'm going away
Auvent meuvais
With a mischievous awning
Qui m'emporte
That carries me away
deça, dela,
Here and there
Pareil à la
Like a
Feuille morte.
Dead leaf.
Contributed by Charlotte V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ealhstan Fiskerne
Desde hace 22 años escucho a STOA y hasta la fecha sigue siendo sublime y única su voz y música.Me encanta.
Nelson Lima De Oliveira
É lindíssima essa música! Aliás todas do Stoa. Será que existiu grupos similares ao Stoa?
MarcusX1971
A great incredible version of the famous poem, excellent music, excellent voice.
Fátima Galvàn
I wish you could post more videos from this concert because i can't find it in any place and i love stoa's music.
Randi Valles
Me fascina stoa es grandioso
luis carlos
ESO SI ES MUSICA CELESTIAL
patton59
Je ne me lasse pas d'écouter cette chanson ! Merveilleux !
knox herrera
no pierdo las esperanzas de estar juntos una vez mas ojala esta vez lleguemos a una madurez adulta hagamoslo porlos niños IAN e IKER no tenemos idea de lo maravilloso de estos niños
knox herrera
la vida a tu lado fue esta rola SIMPLE,HERMOSA,ymuy CORTA daria la vida por que las cosas fueran para siempre IKER e IAN los extraño demaciado
OswY Medina
omg i love this song =)=)