Die große Sehnsucht - (2010) ![](images/01_Little_Green_Dot.gif)
Paul Scheerbart
for medium voice and piano
Wenn die große Sehnsucht wieder kommt,
Wird mein ganzes Wesen wieder weich.
Und ich möchte weinend niedersinken --
Und dann möcht ich wieder maßlos trinken.
[ 2 pages, circa 1' 15" ]
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Paul Scheerbart
The great yearning
When the great yearning comes again,
My very being will again mellow.
And I will sink down into tears --
And then I will again drink excessively.
![](images_3/Die_grosse_Sehnsucht_range.gif)
From his "Hangover Poetry," this strange little poem speaks of two minds as I read it. The notions of melancholy interspersed with longing might well be contrasted with that enforced gaiety which intoxication brings. For this, the setting is of two parts, each a repetition of the text. In the first 3/2 meter falling chromaticism accompanies a broken vocal line as the gestures invoke longing.
![](images_3/Die_grosse_Sehnsucht_1.gif)
The longing is in part simply to drink, and so the 3/2 meter now serves as a "waltz time" as the chromaticism in the accompaniment drops away happily with a climbing gesture of gaiety which ends without ritard and without comment -- except drink.
![](images_3/Die_grosse_Sehnsucht_2.gif)
The score for Die große Sehnsucht 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.
![](images/score.gif)
Die große Sehnsucht
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