Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
Vocal Music | Piano | Organ | Chamber Music | Orchestral | Articles and Commentary | Poems and Stories | Miscellany | FAQs
Die große Sehnsucht - (2010)
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" ]
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.
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.
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.
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.
