Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Mein Tanzlied - (2012)
Else Lasker-Schüler
for mezzo soprano and piano
Aus mir braust finst're Tanzmusik
Meine Seele kracht in tausend Stücken!
Der Teufel holt sich mein Missgeschick
Um es ans brandige Herz zu drücken.
Die Rosen fliegen mir aus dem Haar
Und mein Leben saust nach allen Seiten,
So tanz' ich schon seit tausend Jahr,
Seit meiner ersten Ewigkeiten.4 pages, circa 2' 00"
Else Lasker-Schüler
Out from me gathers dark music to dance
As my soul shatters into a thousand pieces!
The devil catches up my misfortune
To press upon my flaming heart.
Out from tresses roses fly at me
And my life whistles in all directions,
So have I danced for a thousand years,
Since my first eternity.
paraphrase by the composer
The alternation of duple and triple meter could have been notated in a quintuple meter as well, though the image here is of time pushing ahead, foreshortened, pressed, clipped. frenzied. The modal character of the raised fourth against the minor tonality yields its characteristic harmonic color, as the triadic half-step shifts in the accompaniment further the functional dissonance. The two strophes are set as such with a final, primal cry to the top of the voice's range.
The score for Mein Tanzlied 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.
