Totalität - (2010)

Johann Wolfgang Goethe
for
medium voice and piano
Ein
Kavalier von Kopf und Herz
Ist überall willkommen;
Er hat mit feinem Witz und Scherz
Manch Weibchen eingenommen:
Doch wenn's ihm fehlt an Faust und Kraft,
Wer mag ihn dann beschützen?
Und wenn er keinen Hintern hat,
Wie mag der Edle sitzen?
[ 2
pages, circa 1' 20"]

Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Totality
A well-bred gentleman in head and heart
Is welcomed everywhere;
He has, with his gentleman's wit so smart,
Caught women in his snare:
When fist and strength depart, alas,
Who then shall sure defend him?
When bent with age and thin of ass,
How sits that noble, who once was trim?
Rhymed paraphrase by the composer
Copyright 2010 Gary Bachlund
All international rights reserved.

The
text is drawn from Goethe's 1827 Epigrammatisch. His love of twists
and humor in small forms stands alongside his more soaring works, as he
noted about his own "totality" as found in his later Zahme Xenien
[VI] from 1823-1828, "I split myself and at all times remain one." So it is
with the "well-bred gentleman" who, if he lives long enough, will become a
doddering old man. There is in Goethe's verbiage as certain twist, as he
pokes fun at the nobleman, of course, for such was Goethe's spirit.
The
simple ABA sings out a wandering tonal regime over a simple tonic-dominant
bass line, with a bridge of chromatic, falling parallel chords as "strength"
fails the noble gentleman. Life brings all to the same end eventually,
Goethe reminds, including "eine Kavalier."

The score for
Totalität is available as a free PDF download, though any major
commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior
arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this
piano-vocal score.

Totalität
