Soprano, tenor,
Knabensoprano,
flugelhorn, mixed choir
and chamber orchestra
(Study Score)
SKU:
HL.49018099
Boy
Soprano, Soprano, Tenor,
Flugelhorn, Mixed Chorus,
and Chamber Orchestra
Study Score. Composed
by Harald Weiss. This
edition: Paperback/Soft
Cover. Sheet music. Study
Score. Classical.
Softcover. Composed
2008/2009. 188 pages.
Duration 100'. Schott
Music #ED20619. Published
by Schott Music
(HL.49018099).
ISBN
9790001158428. UPC:
884088567347.
8.25x11.75x0.457 inches.
Latin - German.
On
letting go(Concerning the
selection of the texts)
In the selection of the
texts, I have allowed
myself to be motivated
and inspired by the
concept of 'letting go'.
This appears to me to be
one of the essential
aspects of dying, but
also of life itself. We
humans cling far too
strongly to successful
achievements, whether
they have to do with
material or ideal values,
or relationships of all
kinds. We cannot and do
not want to let go,
almost as if our life
depended on it. As we
will have to practise the
art of letting go at the
latest during our hour of
death, perhaps we could
already make a start on
this while we are still
alive. Tagore describes
this farewell with very
simple but strikingly
vivid imagery: 'I will
return the key of my
door'. I have set this
text for tenor solo. Here
I imagine, and have
correspondingly noted in
a certain passage of the
score, that the
protagonist finds himself
as though 'in an ocean'
of voices in which he is
however not drowning, but
immersing himself in
complete relaxation. The
phenomenon of letting go
is described even more
simply and tersely in
Psalm 90, verse 12: 'So
teach us to number our
days, that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom'.
This cannot be expressed
more plainly.I have begun
the requiem with a solo
boy's voice singing the
beginning of this psalm
on a single note, the
note A. This in effect
says it all. The work
comes full circle at the
culmination with a repeat
of the psalm which
subsequently leads into a
resplendent 'lux
aeterna'. The
intermediate texts of the
Requiem which highlight
the phenomenon of letting
go in the widest spectrum
of colours originate on
the one hand from the
Latin liturgy of the
Messa da Requiem (In
Paradisum, Libera me,
Requiem aeternam, Mors
stupebit) and on the
other hand from poems by
Joseph von Eichendorff,
Hermann Hesse,
Rabindranath Tagore and
Rainer Maria Rilke.All
texts have a distinctive
positive element in
common and view death as
being an organic process
within the great system
of the universe, for
example when Hermann
Hesse writes: 'Entreiss
dich, Seele, nun der
Zeit, entreiss dich
deinen Sorgen und mache
dich zum Flug bereit in
den ersehnten Morgen'
['Tear yourself way , o
soul, from time, tear
yourself away from your
sorrows and prepare
yourself to fly away into
the long-awaited
morning'] and later: 'Und
die Seele unbewacht will
in freien Flugen
schweben, um im
Zauberkreis der Nacht
tief und tausendfach zu
leben' ['And the
unfettered soul strives
to soar in free flight to
live in the magic sphere
of the night, deep and
thousandfold']. Or Joseph
von Eichendorff whose
text evokes a distant
song in his lines: 'Und
meine Seele spannte weit
ihre Flugel aus. Flog
durch die stillen Lande,
als floge sie nach Haus'
['And my soul spread its
wings wide. Flew through
the still country as if
homeward bound.']Here a
strong romantically
tinged occidental
resonance can be detected
which is however also
accompanied by a
universal spirit going
far beyond all cultures
and religions. In the
beginning was the sound
Long before any sort of
word or meaningful phrase
was uttered by vocal
chords, sounds,
vibrations and tones
already existed. This
brings us back to the
music. Both during my
years of study and at
subsequent periods, I had
been an active
participant in the world
of contemporary music,
both as percussionist and
also as conductor and
composer. My early scores
had a somewhat
adventurous appearance,
filled with an abundance
of small black dots: no
rhythm could be too
complicated, no register
too extreme and no
harmony too dissonant. I
devoted myself intensely
to the handling of
different parameters
which in serial music
coexist in total
equality: I also studied
aleatory principles and
so-called minimal music.I
subsequently emigrated
and took up residence in
Spain from where I
embarked on numerous
travels over the years to
India, Africa and South
America. I spent repeated
periods during this time
as a resident in
non-European countries.
This meant that the
currents of contemporary
music swept past me
vaguely and at a great
distance. What I instead
absorbed during this
period were other
completely new cultures
in which I attempted to
immerse myself as
intensively as possible.I
learned foreign languages
and came into contact
with musicians of all
classes and styles who
had a different cultural
heritage than my own: I
was intoxicated with the
diversity of artistic
potential.Nevertheless,
the further I distanced
myself from my own
Western musical heritage,
the more this returned
insistently in my
consciousness.The scene
can be imagined of
sitting somewhere in the
middle of the Brazilian
jungle surrounded by the
wailing of Indians and
out of the blue being
provided with the
opportunity to hear
Beethoven's late string
quartets: this can be a
heart-wrenching
experience, akin to an
identity crisis. This
type of experience can
also be described as
cathartic. Whatever the
circumstances, my
'renewed' occupation with
the 'old' country would
not permit me to return
to the point at which I
as an audacious young
student had maltreated
the musical parameters of
so-called contemporary
music. A completely
different approach would
be necessary: an
extremely careful
approach, inching my way
gradually back into the
Western world: an
approach which would
welcome tradition back
into the fold, attempt to
unfurl the petals and
gently infuse this
tradition with a breath
of contemporary
life.Although I am aware
that I will not unleash a
revolution or scandal
with this approach, I am
nevertheless confident
as, with the musical
vocabulary of this
Requiem, I am travelling
in an orbit in which no
ballast or complex
structures will be
transported or intimated:
on the contrary, I have
attempted to form the
message of the texts in
music with the naivety of
a 'homecomer'. Harald
WeissColonia de San
PedroMarch 2009.
