Orchestra Concert Band
SKU: PR.11640976S
For Soprano and
Orchestra. Composed
by James Primosch. Full
score. Duration 18
minutes. Merion Music
#116-40976S. Published by
Merion Music
(PR.11640976S).
UPC:
680160682768. Das
Stundenbuch.
This
cycle of orchestral songs
sets four poems from an
early collection by Rilke
entitled Das Stundenbuch,
or in English, Book of
Hours. Although the title
refers to a medieval book
of prayers for the
various times of day and
seasons of the liturgical
year, Rilke's texts
occupy a position some
distance from
conventional piety. There
is a melancholy to the
spirituality expressed
here, which speaks of an
experience of God that is
fragmentary, imperfect,
and unattainable. The
solitude evoked in the
second song (as layers of
busy activity are
gradually peeled away)
offers some solace, but
the third song is very
dark and fierce, filled
with a desperate, even
manic desire for God. The
last song returns to the
mood of the first, but
now in a global rather
than individual context.
This song, like the set
as a whole, speaks of our
world's brokenness, yet
strives to stammer
fragments of God's
name.
