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Orchestral Songs


"Orchestral Songs" are six songs for voice and orchestra.
Text by Albert Ehrenstein, Frank Wedekind, Emily Dickinson and Friedrich Nietzsche.
These six songs are based on the songs with the same name of my Trauerlieder for voice and piano.

1 Verzweiflung.

2 Verlassen.

3 Der Berserker schreit.

4 Der Tantenmörder.

5 Morning.

6 Desperat.


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The first three songs are based on poems by Albert Ehrenstein. He was born on the 23th of December 1886 in Vienna, died on the 8th of April 1950 in New York.

Albert Ehrenstein

1 Verzweiflung.

Wochen,
Wochen sprach ich kein Wort;
Ich lebe einsam, verdorrt.
Am Himmel, zwitschert kein Stern.
Ich sturbe, so gern.
Meine Augen, betrubt die Enge.
Ich verkrieche Mich in einem Winkel.
Klein mochte ich sein wie eine Spinne.
Aber niemand zerdruckt mich.
Keinem, habe ich schlimmes getan.
Allen Guten half ich ein wenig!
Gluck,
Dich soll ich nicht haben.
Man will mich nicht lebend begraben.

2 Verlassen.

Wo ich auch umgeh, tut mir das Herz weh,
Er hat mich verlassen.
Wenn ich herum steh, bald hier, bald da geh, ich kann es nicht fassen!
Mein Lieb, du mein Weh,
Du mein Kind, du mein Reh, hast mich wirklich verlassen?

3 Der Berserker schreit.

Die Welt möcht' ich zerreissen, sie stück für stück zerglühn.
An meinem Lebensheissen, und todesstarken Sinn.
Ich habe Land besessen, und Meer dazu, wieviel!
Ich habe Menschen gefressen, und weiss kein Ziel!

Die Welt möcht' ich zerreissen, sie stück für stück zerglühn.
An meinem Lebensheissen, und todesstarken Sinn.
Und neue Sehnen wachsen.
Und neue Kraft ertost!
Vorwärts mit tausend Achsen, eh' mir die Pest raubt West und Ost!


The fourth song is based on a poem by Frank Wedekind.  He was born on the 24. Juli 1864 in Hannover, died on the 9th of March 1918 in München.

Frank Wedekind

4 Der Tantenmörder.

Ich hab' meine Tante geschlachtet.
Meine Tante war alt, und schwach.

Ich hatte, bei ihr übernachtet.
Und grub in den KistenKasten nach
Da fand, ich goldene Haufen.
Fand auch an, Papieren garviel.

Und hörte die alte Tante schnaufen,
ohn' Mitleid und Zartgefühl.
Was nutzt es, dass sie Sich noch härme?
Nacht war es rings um Mich her...

Ich stiess ihr den Dolch in die Darme!
Die Tante schnaufte nicht mehr.

Das Geld war schwer zu tragen,
viel schwerer die Tante noch!
Ich fasste sie bebend am Kragen,
und stiess sie ins tiefe Kellerloch.

Ich hab' meine Tante geschlachtet!
Meine Tante war alt, und schwach.
Ihr aber, oh Richter.
Ihr trachtet meiner Bluhenden Jugend Jugend nach!


The fifth song is based on a poem by Emily Dickinson. She was born on the 10th of December 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, died on the 15th of May 1886 in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.

Emily Dickinson

5 Morning.

Will there really be a 'morning'?
Is there such a thing as 'day'?
Could I see it from the mountains,
if I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like waterlilies?
Has it feathers like a bird?
Is it brought from famous countries,
of which I have never heard?

Oh, some scholar!
Oh, some sailor!
Oh, some Wise Man from the skies!
Please, tell a little Pilgrim, where the place called 'Morning' lies!


The sixth song is based on a poem by Friedrich Nietzsche.  He was born on the 15th of October 1844 in Röcken by Lützen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, died on the 25th of August 1900 in "Villa Silberblick" in Weimar, Thüringen, Germany.

Friedrich Nietzsche

6 Desperat.

Fürchterlich sind meinem Sinn,
Spuckende Gesellen!
Lauf ich schon, wo lauf ich hin?
Spring ich in die Wellen?

Alle Munder stets gespitzt,
gurgelnd alle Kehlen.
Wand und Boden stets bespritzt.
Fluch auf Speigelseelen!

Lieber lebt ich, slecht und slicht,
vogelfrei auf Dächern.
Lieber unter Diebsgezucht,
Eid und Ehebrechern!

Fluch der Bildung, wenn sie speit!
Fluch dem tugendbunde!
Auch der reinste Heiligkeit,
tragt kein Gold im Munde!




To Laugh at the Full Moon

To Laugh at the Full Moon is a work for voice, bes-clarinet, two horns, two trombones and strings. I wrote it in 1995, and have searched for the writer of this poem from the moment I put it on music. Unfortunately, I was never able to find the author. If anyone knows who the poet is, please give me a mail.

The work is performed on my exam for composition and never outside the conservatory; I never made any money with it, so I assume I didn't break any copyrights. My only reason for using it was the love for art.

The score of To Laugh at the Full Moon is not available yet, but will be posted here when ready.

Here is the actual recording:
To Laugh at the Full Moon

Here are the midi recordings of the piece the way I wanted this piece to sound. Because of the large size of the file, I had to break it up in 4 parts:

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four

These recordings are made according to my older score. I am working on a new version of this poem, now for full orchestra and with a new orchestral introduction. I will post it here when it is finished.
 
Here is the complete text of the poem:

I have an open window.
My computer sings softly to me of the work that is to be done today.
Yet I linger awhile to watch the green and blue shades outside.
Each tree so warmly rooted,
and yet vulnerable to man,
to his designs and his axes.
And I wonder at their courage at their splendor now...

When they were once seeds deep in the dark soil.
Unknown and yet knowing,
sheltered from the ravages that ages might yet bring them.
Perfect,
in their innocence,
and perfected by God.

God, who dwelt within them, and fired their love,
and opened their Hearts to the silence, of winter's soil,
and so embraced them in peace that they were moved to share good things with each other,
and and to speak of the new light above,
and to reach together,
from within their own joy,
to touch the goodness of the Earth,
to touch their own needs.
And with delicate grace take in the water,
that would swell their ardour for the sun,
and push them up to taste the wind.

I have been a tree.
I have sat for many ages in grand forests,
listening to the murmur of the young and old,
remembering both in my heart. -
Sometimes...

Sometimes,
I have spread my branches in compassion,
and given shelter to the homeless,
and opened my core to the creatures of the night,
who walk in my traces when all the strangers have gone,
and play in my depths while I am asleep,
and fashion strange shapes on my arms and my body,
that defy the reasoning mind of man...

Man who conjectures on two legs only and cannot feel me,
rarely tries to know me and only sometimes,
only moontimes will sit at my feet and hear me...

Sometimes,
I have felt fear in the sky and in the soil,
when light streaks and screams across the sky,
and the Earth rattles its bones in anger,
and I can no longer remember anything..
Some of my scares are long,
some hidden from insensitive gaze,
some unmercifully exposed to unkind and also to kind sight.
And on them I have felt the healing of a sister,
and of a brother too.

And sometimes,
goodtimes,
I have touched my own wounds,
and become one with the forrest again.
And sometimes,
goodtimes,
I have touched my own wounds,
and become one with the forrest again.

Ah. Sometimes I have stood alone on a mountain,
in my own silence,
warmed only by the sun,
needing to be just one.
Too full of the past to share,
too lost to be found,
and trusted only by an eagle,
who seeks clarity too, and too,
is strong enough,
to let the winds cleanse him..

Sometimes,
I have stood by fresh water,
and watched the geese find a home amongst the bushes,
and loved their symmetry,
and their call to peace,
as they fly heaven ward,
in perfect accord,
making circles and designs for man below to follow,
if they could,
sometime.

Sometimes I have forgotten.
Forgotten to watch,
to feel,
to fear,
to love,
to be angry.
Forgotten being small or being old,
forgotten the smell of the meadow,
or the thrust of life in springs fingertips,
or the light in the crystals that frost leaves as a gift to the dawn.
Or the sun's need of the moon to shine light at the earth at night.
Or my ancestry,
or my death.
And then all I can remember is to laugh,
to laugh at the full moon.

A wonderful poem, I couldn't help to put it on music after I read it. But who wrote it? Searching the whole internet and asking on many many forums, didn't help. So again, if anyone knows the author of this beautiful work, please e-mail me.