Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Morgenwonne - (2013)
Joachim Ringelnatz
for baritone and piano
Ich bin so knallvergnügt erwacht.
Ich klatsche meine Hüften.
Das Wasser lockt. Die Seife lacht.
Es dürstet mich nach Lüften.
Ein schmuckes Laken macht einen Knicks
Und gratuliert mir zum Baden.
Zwei schwarze Schuhe in blankem Wichs
Betiteln mich “Euer Gnaden”.
Aus meiner tiefsten Seele zieht
Mit Nasenflügelbeben
Ein ungeheurer Appetit
Nach Frühstück und nach Leben.3 pages, circa 2' 00"
Joachim Ringelnatz
Morning's bliss
I awake an overly cheerful dope.
I stretch and then I crack.
My bath beckons with frothing soap.
I thirst for fresh air's attack.
A lovely cloth enfolds just right
To congratulate my bath now done.
Two black shoes so shiny and bright
Dub me "Your Grace," but just for fun.
Sniffing now, breathing in with a zeal
And my nostrils all aquiver,
My tremendous appetite's appeal
Is for breakfast and life. Deliver!
rhymed paraphrase by the composer
The text is found in the Ringelnatz collection from 1932, Gedichte dreier Jahre. Rambunctious opening gestures across the keyboard awaken the setting, and dotted rhythms dance with the lyric. For other settings of Ringelnatz' texts, click here.
The musical enthusiasm lessens for a center section departing from the tonic into the mediant and beyond to savor the faux aristocratic moment between black, shiny shoes and their owner. The setting returns in song form for a repetition of the A section and closing restatements.
The score for Morgenwonne 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.
