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Crowned with dreams - (2012)
Bertram Kottmann
for medium voice and piano
for Deborah Polaski
There are those nights of white and wonder
wherein all has a silver shine,
with many a gleaming star - a sign
as though to guide the shepherds yonder
towards a new infant divine.
Widespread, as under diamond layers,
appear both meadows and the sea,
and in the hearts in dreamlike glee
a faith ascends, that needs no prayers,
performing wonders silently.
Translation from German to English copyright © 2011 by Bertram Kottmann, BKottmann (AT) t-online.de, reprinted on this website with kind permission.
Please contact the copyright-holder when requesting permission to reprint.
2 pages, circa 2' 30"
Bertram Kottmann sent me his stunningly lovely English language interpretation of Rainer Maria Rilke's Traumgekrönt, which immediately suggested a sweet, simple carol. The original German is as follows:
Es gibt so wunderweiße Nächte,
drin alle Dinge Silber sind.
Da schimmert mancher Stern so lind,
als ob er fromme Hirten brächte
zu einem neuen Jesuskind.
Weit wie mit dichtem Diamantenstaube
bestreut, erscheinen Flur und Flut,
und in die Herzen, traumgemut,
steigt ein kapellenloser Glaube,
der leise seine Wunder tut.
The dynamic throughout is hushed, with the sostenuto creating blurs of Lydian harmonies. The two-strophe verse form is altered, in that the second rises a step from C Lydian to D Lydian, and some alteration to the vocal line stresses lightly the ongoing and gathering meaning of the text.
The score for Crowned with dreams 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.
