Eurydike dreht sich um 12 Lieder auf Gedichte von Irena Wachendorff School and Community - Sheet Music

SKU: HF.EGA-2260

ISBN 9790502928704. 9 x 12 inches.

Irena Wachendorff's poetry practices the art of using a minimum of words to make the message all the more clear. The message itself is only seemingly immediately understandable—a proper interpretation faces the challenge of connecting as many associations as possible with the text in order to unlock the wealth of possible meanings. Only the totality of these interpretations conveys the message.
The concise language in this poetry offers the composer a deceptively easy approach to setting it to music. However, I was ambitious to create access to the totality of possible interpretations—and thus to the message—through the music. This results in a wealth of motivic and formal references that are hardly discernible on first hearing.

The cycle begins with a prelude for viola and piano, introducing the main motifs and some of their interrelationships. "Tongue Beat" demonstrates the seductive power of language through the use of unusual rhythms and the dull, monotonous reaction of the masses, which culminates in a familiar catastrophe. "Reversal" illustrates the dialectic of near and far. Those who move towards the light to be more easily seen only increase the size of their shadows – but these shadows offer only the illusion of grandeur. "Eurydice 1," "Eurydice 2," and "Eurydice 3 " are based on the same fundamental sequence of notes and the harmonies derived from it. "Medea" expresses the nadir of the darkest despair: a mother kills her children so that the hated father of the children cannot live on within them. In "Former Synagogue in Kazimierz," two distinct styles are employed to separate the present from painful memory. A twelve-tone sequence in the piano and strict canonic imitation in baritone and viola are intended to evoke the atmosphere of the ruin while simultaneously conjuring the association with the synagogue as a place of worship for the Mosaic faith. In "Topping-Out Ceremony," a five-part fugue is used to depict the terrifying majesty and merciless machinery of justice. "Genealogical" parodies the emergence of institutionalized power, which, as an objective lie, has a monopoly on truth.
"Farewell" expresses the pure pain of parting—and thus, as the only song without ulterior motive, occupies a special position in this selection of twelve poems from "Eurydice Turns Around." "Supernova" is the hit parade of memory—composed as a hit song. "Vision" concludes the cycle and offers solace after so much pain through a retelling of the conflict-ridden ancient myths.