”It’s a bit like sitting on a island, writing SOS-messages, putting them in bottles and eventually throwing them into the sea … – some of them are caught by the tide and, after a while, get washed back on the beach, while others seem to disappear forever…”(from an older interview of Sopor Aeternus)
Many have attempted to get closer to solving the mystery of this, darker than black, musician called Sopor Aeternus/Anna Varney Catodea . Since the release of the first album called ‘Es Reiten Die Toten So Schnell’, Anna Varney, who takes this name from the character named Varney in the book ‘Varney the Vampire or The Feast Of Blood’, has consciously made very few interviews and no concerts. Sopor Aeternus is a person which embodies, as a musician, the darkest concepts of human existence. Anna Varney’s work 
so far has revealed a preference for Edgar Allan Poe’s work (the album ‘Poetica’ ‘dresses’ with music 11 of Poe’s poems) and Charles Baudelaire (the album ‘Fleurs
du Mal’ takes its title from the poems of Baudelaire) . Sopor Aeternus has a unique sense of caustic and cynical humour and this has been so far revealed in the lyrics of songs such as ‘Cornucopia D’Amour’ , the titles of some earlier songs (i.e. ‘Shave, If You Love Me‘) and the cover versions of well known pop songs which were part of ‘Have You Seen This Ghost?’ album (the song ‘Hello’ is a cover version of the song with the same title by Lionel Ritchie, ‘Holding Out for A Hero’ is the cover version of the famous song with the same title by Bonnie Tyler).
Many artists in the past and present have been using their art as a means of self cleansing, as an emotional outlet of unspeakable and indescribable feelings and thoughts (Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, Joel Peter Witkin, Pina Bausch, Lars von Trier, Sarah Kane and so many others) but very few have used their own bodies as a means of transmitting their thoughts. As far as music is concerned, only Norwegian black metal musicians in the early days have lived and performed in the same dystopian environments as their music and lyrics depicted. Yet, even Mayhem were more extroverted and communicative with the audience than Sopor Aeternus as, not only they did live gigs but for a short period of time, they also ran collaboratively a record shop!
Sopor Aeternus’ albums especially after ‘Sanatorium Altrosa (Musical Therapy For Spiritual Dysfuntion)‘ have the qualities of classical musi
c with a lot of sounds from classical string and wind instruments (i.e. violins, horn, trumpets and many more) well combined with bells and the great sound of xylophones. The added element of Anna Varney’s lamenting voice coupled with the aesthetically perfect artwork of the accompanying booklets, give these albums their unique, dark, but so beautiful character! Having shared with us everything that can be possibly expressed about the person behind this work, through the 15 full length albums which have been released by Apocalyptic Vision, Sopor Aeternus and The Ensemble Of Shadows has announced the release of a new album called ‘Mitternacht’ on September 23rd 2014. We can only wait impatiently for this date in order to listen to it.
Until then you can order the new album in one of its (hand numbered by Anna Varney Cantodea) 4 different packages, by following this link: http://www.fantotal.de/en/sopor-aeternus/ltd-bookcd-sopor-aeternus-mitternacht.html
Blaue Rosen