Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Wir Kinder der Vergangenheit - (2013)
Wilhelm Busch
for medium voice and piano
Wer eine Erbschaft übernommen,
Hat für die Schulden aufzukommen,
Denn nicht umsonst ist der Genuß.
Kein Leugnen gilt, kein Widerstreben,
Wir müssen sterben, weil wir leben.
So lautet der Gerichtsbeschluß.2 pages, circa 2' 00"
Wilhelm Busch
We children of the past
Who accepts an inheritance
Has to pay to its debt,
As not for nothing some the pleasure of life.
No denial matters nor reluctance;
We must die because we live.
That is the decision of the court.
Slipping between major and minor triads, the third acting sometimes as the common tone, with additional voices mirrored at the twelfth, these chords successions find to sure tonic rest point. The observation -- taken from Busch's Aphorismen und Reime -- remind of the truth that "mortality is the price of vitality." The phrase about life and death is repeated, ending the lyric in the last cadence with "death." For other settings of Busch's texts, click here.
The score for Wir Kinder der Vergangenheit 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.
