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Asking about God and death Parable is all our talk about God, death and music. Our language transfers something from the world of the known and visible into a world of the unknown and invisible. For the legality of these transmissions - metaphors - there is no evidence in the scientific sense. There are only agreements, traditions born of humility and urgency; and there is the encouragement of the Bible itself, in which much is based on parables. Where the word became flesh, truth can also become word. The incarnation event of Christmas night, which is measured epistemologically in the prologue of the Gospel of John, is also connected with the assurance that our speaking has content. This promise is at the heart of the book Real Presences, which George Steiner wrote in 1989 and which became a spiritual companion for Wolfgang Rihm. Rihms Requiem verses begin with a multiple simile. "Omnis caro faenum - All flesh is like grass and all its glory is like the wild flower," says the prophet Isaiah. But before the text can be heard, Rihm anticipates this parable: the solo oboe, unaccompanied, opens the work with the tones E-B-D-F sharp. A lonely reed in the wind. This is also a famous parable: »Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed. It is not necessary for the whole universe to arm itself to crush him: a steam, a drop of water is enough to kill him”, writes Blaise Pascal in his thoughts. The lonely sounding reed of the oboe is as Vox humana and Human symbol prominent. In the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th symphony, the oboe solo is a pleading protest against the immutable. At the beginning of Rihms Requiem verses shouldn't be any different. The oboe doesn't even begin, it already answers, just like every requiem is an answer to something that cannot be changed: someone with whom we shared our life is no more. As Wolfgang Rihm in the summer of 2004 at the Berlin Academy of Arts with George Steiner about his book From real presence spoke and about the dimensions of the human - also the inhuman - in music, as Rihms sounded after the conversation Studies for a clarinet quintet, and the composer, asked to say something, explained the hesitant, conditional title: These are only studies, because a clarinet quintet is only written at the end of one's life. However, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Max Reger did not think that they would die soon after their clarinet quintets. Johannes Brahms does. From the motifs to the overall form, his quintet is a work of conclusion, of recapitulation, a work in which a circle is closed. Is it the circle of life? Is our life even a circle? Is the thumb crease in the inside of our hand, called the "line of life" by soothsayers, only the visible quarter of a circle? And does this district have any prospect of completion, or will it always remain a fragment? Even children ask about God and death. Therefore, there can be no adequate answer as to when is the best time to write a Requiem. Since the first loss – Robert Schumann gave him space in his Album for the youth – our life is a prelude to death, projected towards the possibility of no longer being. The death of others forces us to create an image of which we will never have an image: our own death. Since the Requiem left the Church and became art, it is no longer limited to intercession for the dead - Missa pro defunctis - to be. It is now also – as with Brahms – consolation for the living or sketches of images of death: wild and terrible with Giuseppe Verdi; gentle, cautious, kindly skeptical with Gabriel Fauré. Wolfgang Rihms Requiem verses move immediately into this tradition, with a certain confidence, maybe also gratitude. Because of course the text of the initial refers to a German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. Just hear that, said Rihm in a recent interview, every dumb ass can hear that he loves Brahms. And of course the first one trembles in six-eight time Lacrimosa with Rihm the twelve-beat time of the Lachrymosa by Mozart. If that Aeternam Requiem Rihm initially only managed with a choir, trombones, tuba and bass drum, the instrumental anchor of this music reaches back to the depths of the 17th century, such as the repeated omission of the violins in the orchestration as well as the Brahms Requiem and the Brahms Requiem referenced by Fauré. There is also a dialogue with Dmitri Shostakovich, who in the death scenes of his 14th symphony, like Rihm – and yet very differently – is based on Rainer Maria Rilke's poem Death is great accesses how, in the tenth position of his Michelangelo Suite, he entrusts the baritone with the sonnet »Di morte certo, ma non già dell'ora«, with which Rihm completes his rounds of Michelangelo sonnets Requiem verses opened. Rihm joins those who came before him. And he also expresses confidence in language in an old, rhetorical way, which is again based on parables, on similarities, on transference: "hypotyposis" is what figure theory calls this class of musical figures. The pause between 'cecedit' and 'flos', into which the flower of the field falls, is part of it, as is the fermata on the second syllable of the word 'aeternam', the slow rise of the choral soprano from the middle b to the double a to the words "et lux perpetua luceat eis". If you want, you can even use the instrumentation as a metaphor, when “a country not yet trodden” is sung about and the strings in unison Eb–D–C sharp play: sul ponticello, close to the jetty, the bridge, the crossing. All of these references to tradition are aimed at sharing and communicating, which can make life easier, especially in the face of death. In an interview ten years ago, the Berlin cathedral preacher Petra Zimmermann spoke of the wisdom and relief that lies in this: »We don't develop our religious traditions anew in every generation, we come from afar. We have mothers and fathers in many generations before us who have lived with these words, these songs and prayers. When you think of Paul Gerhardt: the greatest part of this poem was wrested from life. This isn't a random form of poetry that we've just stuck with just because we couldn't think of anything new. These are condensed experiences of life and faith in which I can still shelter myself to this day«. For Wolfgang Rihm, the language of the Bible and the language of the Mass have been part of his life since childhood. But even he cannot escape the "repressive secularity of modernity," the "heretical imperative," as the sociologist of religion Peter Ludwig Berger called it. Religion today is not justified solely by its origins. Anyone who claims to think for themselves must also be responsible for their own beliefs. The biblical and liturgical texts selected by Rihm enter into a dialogue with the poetry, which is by no means homeless in terms of religion, but – in the case of Michelangelo – encounters the divine promises of salvation with impatience and indignation. You can hear it clearly with Rihm. Confidence in what is traditional cannot be had without individual doubt. It was like that with Brahms, with Fauré; such has always been the dialogue between liturgy and poetry, which began in the twentieth century after World War I with John Foulds and Ralph Vaughan Williams and continued after World War II with Benjamin Britten. The dialogue between liturgy and poetry, between art and religion, determines the Requiem verses in material as in form. Rihm's work combines fourteen numbers in four parts. It transfers the form of the sonnet - which is a "Klingstück" according to its name - to the Requiem: fourteen lines divided into four stanzas. In the seal, the subdivision is variable. There can be two quartets and two terzets or, as in one of the Michelangelo sonnets used by Rihm in Rilke's adaptation, a quintet and three terzets. Rihms Requiem verses combine to form a large-scale sonnet in the sequence terzett – quartet – quartet – terzett. symmetry is established. If you want, you can see a cross shape in it. Through the return of the texts – Rilke, Bobrowski, Psalm 129, Lacrimosa – and the motivic links in the music that are connected with this return, but which can also be found between the “Requiem” and the “De profundis”, Rihm plays at the same time with the free rhyme structure of the sonnet. The sonnet lives mentally on thesis, antithesis and synthesis, as well as the Requiem verses moving back and forth between security and solitude in the face of death. The old-masterly calm of the choral writing in the Latin texts meets the excited declamation of the solo baritone in the sonnets. The lyrical concentration of the two solo sopranos in the first Lacrimosa stands the dramatic outburst of choir and orchestra in the second Lacrimosa across from. At contrasts are these Requiem verses by no means poor. But what may the synthesis be? Wolfgang Rihm has his work Requiem verses mentioned as if it were only describing the sequence: first a requiem, then the strophen by Hans Sahl, which were titled "Epilogue". But at the same time the overall form of the work is strophic - in a metaphorical sense - in the manner of the sonnet. "Strophe" means "turn", namely of the chorus in the round dance. We still find the idea of the dead dancing in heaven in Brahms: »How lovely are your dwellings, Lord Zebaoth« could be one of his Love song waltz be. With Rihm, however, the waltz remains – supported although - in the second sonnet the dance of a sinful life. The strophic or sonnet form can be understood as a kind of connecting door between art and religion, liturgy and poetry, a passage between two lovely apartments. Can we choose one of the two? Maybe only as long as we live. The choir sings »Dona nobis pacem« at the end of the »Agnus dei«, not »Dona eis requiem«, i.e. »Give us peace«, instead of »Give them peace«. Is Rihm, like Brahms, more about those who remain than about those who are gone? Richard Sennett once described that narratives can heal "through structure, not through the delivery of direct advice." The form itself can offer solace without the narrative having a happy ending. The circle ending in minor of Brahms' clarinet quintet is an example of this. The shape of Requiem verses with Rihm it follows the idea and yet does not close itself. The beautiful text by Hans Sahl makes its way through the sparse branching of the two violas into a world beyond what the Requiem previously envisioned. The language breaks off on an »or«. Every formal design, no matter how beautiful and coherent we think it to be, is ultimately taken out of our hands. "Man's work is what we do," Johannes Brahms once wrote to Clara Schumann, full of skepticism about all art religion. An open ending as in the Requiem verses, can be a promise. At the same time, however, the intentionally designed fragment, like the ruins in romantic parks, is also only a simile. program: Requiem verses . Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Total playing time 79:47 Mojca Erdman, soprano Bavarian Radio Choir led by Maris Jansson Press:
Oliver Fraenzke wrote on December 3.12.2019rd, XNUMX: Wolfgang Rihm has always been one of the courageous composers, one of those who don't lose themselves in one style or limit themselves to dull modernism. In this respect, tradition and innovation stand side by side on an equal footing. We can also see this in the Requiem verses for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra composed in 2015/2016, the premiere of which was recorded and now published by NEOS. The choice of text alone makes you sit up and take notice, because Rihm includes verses by Rilke, Michelangelo, Bobrowski and Sahl in the traditional Missa and merges the spiritual and secular spheres. (...) On the whole, Rihm manages to maintain a basic tension and arrive at a coherent ending that allows the 80-minute work to shine with a certain unity, linked by the compelling mood of the music and the stylistic uniqueness of the composer. Especially in view of the short rehearsal times of the Musica Viva concerts, as is well known, it is amazing what Mariss Jansons brings to the stage in this live recording of the world premiere from 2017. (...) The orchestra is bursting with perfection, which, however, seems sterile in places and does not involve the listener, but conjures up every little detail from the score and gives it the exact status. You can find the full review here.
“Expressive masterpiece” On July 16.7.2019, XNUMX, Dr. Dennis Roth up www.classik.com: (…) Rihm's 'Requiem verses' acquire a timeless quality through the productive transformation of traditional texts, patterns, forms and sentence structures, appearing old and new at the same time. The individual's doubts are formulated in a complex but also immediately accessible, an absolutely personal but also universally valid musical language, which the performers do full justice to. This recording is warmly recommended to every music lover.
In the April 2019 issue, Dirk Wieschollek wrote: Those were the days when references to tradition appeared to Wolfgang Rihm as sublimated expressivity, a disturbing aura or a “wicked place”. Things are now looking different and the composer, who was recently honored for his life's work, continues to make eclectic use of the languages of the past. When Hanno Müller-Brachmann warms our hearts with his baritone in the “Sonnets” of the “Requiem-Strophes” (2015/16), you feel like you are in an oratorio by Hans Pfitzner. And when the Bavarian Radio choir sings Rilke's “Death is Great” several times in this opulent live recording of the premiere from Musica Viva, you are knee-deep in German late romanticism. |
