Bauchweh - (2010) ![](images/01_Little_Green_Dot.gif)
Erich Kurt Mühsam
for medium voice and piano
Die Därme wälzen sich im Kampfe;
es zuckt der Leib im Magenkrampfe:
die Welt ist schlecht, - die Welt ist schlecht.
Daß die der Herr im Zorn zerstampfe!
Daß sie verpuffe und verdampfe! -
So wär' es recht! - So wär' es recht!
Angst ist das Leben und Beschwerde;
der Mensch, er sitzt am Schmerzensherde
im Weltenbauch, - im Weltenbauch.
In qualzerrissener Gebärde
krümmt sich der Bauch der Welt, der Erde, -
und meiner auch. - Und meiner auch.
[ 3 pages, circa 3' 00" ]
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Erich Kurt Mühsam
Stomach Pains
The bowels writhe about in battle;
The body twitches in stomach cramps:
The world is horrid, -- the world is horrid.
It is as if God trampled about in wrath!
That the world might fizzle and disappear! -
Oh would it be! -- Oh would it be!
Fear is our life and its infirmity;
Man, he sits in the center of pains
In the world's belly, - in the world's belly.
In torment-torn gestures
Does the world's belly double over, the earth, -
And mine too. -- And mine too!
gb
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The text is drawn from his early collection, Der Krater, among poems intense with political and theological import. The pains which the poet sees are personal and world-wide, such that the metaphor of visceral bodily pain suffices in both realms. Placing the poem in the upheaval of that time and place, Mühsam paints a harsh picture which he, of all poets of the time, earned a right to so do. The individual or an entire society doubled over by pain fluctuates between outbursts and rage, on the one hand, and a flagging energy on the other.
For this the setting sings both within the context of the 3/8 meter, at first filled with rapid-fire notes and then broadening into long sustained four-note chords, such that the chromaticism is twelve-tone complete across a short duration of time without the reference to any dodecaphonic system. As the phrase repeats, the opening intensity drains away.
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The ends of both stanzas are accompanied by falling half steps, as the setting closes in a whisper of dissipated dissonance.
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The score for Bauchweh 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.
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Bauchweh
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