Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Septembermorgen - (2007)
Eduard Mörike
for high voice and piano
Andreas Scheidegger gewidmet
Im Nebel ruhet noch die Welt,
Noch träumen Wald und Wiesen:
Bald siehst du, wenn der Schleier fällt,
Den blauen Himmel unverstellt,
Herbstkräftig die gedämpfte Welt
In warmem Golde fließen.[ 2 pages, circa 1' 30" ]
Eduard Mörike
In the mists rests the world,
only to dream of forests and meadows;
Soon you will see, when the veil falls,
The blue heavens revealed,
Autumn-filled, a subdued world
of fluid gold in the warmth.
Choosing the unusual key signature of A flat minor, the world stands between two modes, the natural minor to represent autumn as the "veil falls," and the more colorful scale which includes the F natural. The poet finds a September morning wherein autumn and the clear skies are not yet fully revealed, and so the lingering F natural reminds that something is yet to happen. As the text speaks of the dropping veil, the vocal line drops to the natural minor's F flat. Even so, the sweetness of the F natural returns and lingers through to the end of the setting.
Andreas Scheidegger
Swiss-born Andreas Scheidegger studied with Dennis Hall in Bern, and since 1997 he has been in the ensemble of the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, as well as guesting with the Volksoper Wien and Stadttheater Aachen, with further appearances in Stuttgart, Essen, Kassel, Bonn, Köln, Freiburg, Porto und Avenches. His roles have included the Duca di Mantova (Rigoletto), Alfredo (La Traviata), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Lenski (Eugen Onegin), Camille de Rosillon (Die lustige Witwe), Tito (La clemenza di Tito), and he has recorded Haydns The Creation and Mozart's Requiem.
The score to Septembermorgen 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.
