Requiem für einen jungen Dichter

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Requiem für einen jungen Dichter
Lingual
Oratorio by Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Text
  • Requiem
  • Literary, philosophical and political texts
Language
  • Latin
  • German
Composed1967 (1967)–1969
Performed1969 (1969)
Scoring
  • soprano
  • baritone
  • 2 speakers
  • 3 choirs
  • orchestra
  • jazz band

Requiem für einen jungen Dichter (Requiem for a Young Poet)[1] is an extended composition by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, written from 1967 to 1969 for two speakers, soprano and baritone soloists, three choirs, jazz band, organ, tapes and a large orchestra. Subtitled Lingual (speech work),[1] it sets a text that includes the Latin liturgical Mass for the Dead and literary, philosophical, religious and political texts, related to politics and the history of mind during the composer's life. The work has elements of a cantata, an oratorio and an audio play.[2]

Three poets whose texts are quoted in the work ended their life in suicide: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Konrad Bayer and Sergei Yesenin. Taped additions include the voices of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Pope John XXIII, James Joyce, Alexander Dubcek, Hitler, Chamberlain, Andreas Papandreou, Ezra Pound, Kurt Schwitters, Albert Camus and Sandor Weores. Quoted music includes fragments from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Milhaud's La création du monde, Messiaen's L'ascension and The Beatles' "Hey Jude". In the section Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace), excerpts from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony are contrasted with texts by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Stalin, Goebbels, Churchill and Bayer. It was premiered in Düsseldorf in 1969, conducted by Michael Gielen. The composer took his own life in 1970.

Requiem für einen jungen Dichter was published by Schott, and recorded three times.

History

Zimmermann composed Requiem für einen jungen Dichter on a commission by the broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk.[1] He worked on it from 1967 to 1969. The composition for two speakers, soprano and baritone soloists, three choirs, jazz band, organ, tapes and a large orchestra is based on a text which juxtaposes the Latin liturgical Mass for the Dead with literary, philosophical, religious and political texts. They relate to political events and the history of mind which influenced the composer's life from 1918 to 1969.[3] Three poets whose texts are quoted in the work ended their life in suicide, as Zimmermann's also: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Konrad Bayer and Sergei Yesenin. The motto of the work, "What can we hope for? There is nothing that awaits us except death"[4] ("frage: worauf hoffen? / es gibt nichts was zu erreichen wäre, außer dem tod."),[5] was written by Bayer.[4] Taped additions include the voices of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (from his Philosophical Investigations), Pope John XXIII, James Joyce (Molly Bloom's Monologue from Ulysses), Alexander Dubcek (an address to the Czech people), Hitler, Chamberlain, Andreas Papandreou, Ezra Pound, Kurt Schwitters, Albert Camus and Sandor Weores.[4] Quoted music includes fragments from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Milhaud's La création du monde, Messiaen's L'ascension and The Beatles' "Hey Jude".[4] In the section Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace), excerpts from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony are contrasted with texts by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Stalin, Goebbels, Churchill and Bayer.[4] The work has elements of a cantata, an oratorio and an audio play.[2]

Requiem für einen jungen Dichter was premiered in 1969 at the Rheinhalle in Düsseldorf.[6] Michael Gielen conducted the Rundfunkchor Köln, prepared by Herbert Schernus and the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, with soloists Edda Moser and Günther Reich, speakers Hans Franzen and Matthias Fuchs, and the Manfred-Schoof-Quintett.[1] It was published by Schott.[1]

Recordings

It was recorded in 1995 with soloists Vlatka Oršanić and James Johnson, speakers Bernhard Schir and Christoph Grund, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Bratislava Slovak Chorus, Bratislava City Chorus, Rundfunkchor Köln, Rundfunkchor Stuttgart, South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra and Alexander von Schlippenbach Jazz Band. A reviewer of this recording notes that the work "is a humbling polyphony of twentieth-century misdeeds – riveting, provocative, uncompromising and as essential to our understanding of 1960s 'serious' music as The Beatles are to an informed perception of that decade's pop culture."[4]

Requiem für einen jungen Dichter was recorded in 2008 by Cybele Records, with soloists Claudia Barainsky and David Pittman-Jennings [de], speakers Michael Rotschopf and Lutz Lansemann, the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, the Slovak Philharmonic Choir, EuropaChorAkademie, Eric Vloeimans Quintet, Holland Symfonia, conducted by Bernhard Kontarsky. The recording follows the specifications to position the three choirs at different locations in the hall.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Requiem für einen jungen Dichter" (in German). Schott. 15 December 1969. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Bernd Alois Zimmermanns: Requiem für einen jungen Dichter" (in German). Cybele Records. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  3. ^ "Bernd Alois Zimmermanns: Requiem für einen jungen Dichter" (in German). ARD. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Zimmermann Requiem for a Young Poet". Gramophone. 1995. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  5. ^ Becher, Chr. (15 March 2007). "Klassiker der Moderne (53): / Worauf hoffen?". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Musik / Zimmermann / Schriller Grabgesang". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 December 1969. Retrieved 26 April 2017.

External links

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