Subtitle: For flute, violin, speaking voice and tenor lyre
Dedication: Volume II: “Theo Becker und Gerhard Beilharz gewidmet” [to Theo Becker and Gerhard Beilharz]; Voluem III: “Ursula Steinke gewidmet” [Dedication to Ursula Steinke]
Lyricist name: Volume III: Ellen Lösch
Language: German
Composition end location: Budaliget
Composition end date: 1979.03.06
Genre: Chamber Music with Voice
Instrumentation: flute, violin, speaking voice, tenor lyre
Duration (minutes): 12
Year of publication: 1983
Publisher: Editio Musica Budapest
Publication number: in three volumes (playing scores Z. 12533 – ISMN: M-080-12533-5; Z. 12534 – ISMN: M-080-12534-2; Z. 12535 – ISMN: M-080-12535-9)
I. Stille Stücke für Olga‑Maria (Op. 14a)
(Silent pieces for Olga Maria; for flute and tenor lyre)
1 Eigensinn [Stubbornness]
2 Hommage à J. S. B.
3 Blumen die Menschen… 1 [Flowers we are... 1]
4 Zank und Sanftmut [Wild and tame]
5 Blumen die Menschen… 2 [Flowers we are... 2]
APPENDIX: 5a. Blumen die Menschen… 2 a tre [Flowers we are... 2 for three voices]
II. Kleine Erbauliche Konzerte für Theo und Gerhard (Op. 14b)
(Short, Uplifting Concerts for Theo and Gerhard; for violin and tenor lyre)
1 Öd und traurig [Bleak and sad]
2 Vivo
3 …aus der Ferne… [Voice in the the distance]
III Gedichte von Ellen Lösch (Op. 14c)
(Poems by Ellen Lösch, for narrator and tenor lyre)
1 Fall ohne Hall [Fall Without Echo]
2 …an Martha (ein Bild) […to Martha (a picture)]
3 Schneefeld weiß und weit [Snowfield, white and vast]
4 In die Schatten meiner Seele [Into the Shadows of My Soul]
APPENDIX: III/ 4: alio modo
TEIL III
(Text: Ellen Lösch)
1. Fall ohne Hall
Fall ohne Hall, es lastet der Stein.
Licht wird dich offenbart sein.
2. … an Martha (ein Bild)
Ein Bild – Ihr Bild in Farben geschaut, nicht für Worte gedacht.
Unbefleckter Kelch golden strömend leuchtend auf schwersten Grund.
3. Schneefeld weiß und weit
Schneefeld weiss und weit darunter umgebrochener Acker pochend, klopfend.
Unerreichbar? wenn die Sonne scheint?
4. In die Schatten meiner Seele
In die Schatten meiner Seele
Grüssen deine Strahlen lichten mich vom Grund dass die Schwingen ich erhebe
Ich gegen Ich
Licht zu Licht.
___________
1. Fall Without Echo
Fall without echo; the stone weighs heavily.
Light will be revealed to you.
2. … to Martha (a picture)
A picture – her image seen in colors, not meant for words.
An immaculate chalice, golden and radiant, flowing over the heaviest of grounds.
3. Snowfield, white and vast
Snowfield, white and vast; beneath it, a plowed field, throbbing, pounding.
Unreachable? When the sun shines?
4. Into the Shadows of My Soul
Into the shadows of my soul,
your rays greet me, lifting me from the depths, so that I may raise my wings.
Me against myself.
Light to light.
In 1978, for the premiere of Hommage à Mihály András (Op. 13), György Kurtág visited Witten, Germany. His concert was attended by Ursula Steinke (b. 1934), a music therapist at the hospital in Herdecke, a small town near Witten. Steinke was so impressed by Kurtág’s works, which she heard at the Witten Contemporary Chamber Music Festival, that she wrote a letter to the composer and, later that same year, visited Budapest with a group of musicians, music therapists, and Waldorf teachers to introduce Kurtág to the philosophy and basic concepts of eurythmy.
The 20th-century concept of eurythmy (Greek: “good rhythm”) was developed by philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). Steiner referred to this unique form of dance – also used in dance therapy and incorporated into Waldorf education – as “visible music, visible speech.” “Eurythmy,” Steiner wrote, “can be accompanied by recited text or instrumental music, but it is important to emphasize that eurythmy is music transformed into movement, not dance in the traditional sense.”
Kurtág was intrigued by the idea and immediately began sketching a new work in which the modern lyre – an instrument recreated in the 1920s based on ancient Greek models – plays an important role. Among the musicians from Herdecke who visited Kurtág was a young lyre player and music teacher, Gerhard Beilharz (born 1953).
The first movement of the three-movement work (Op. 14a) is written for flute and tenor lyre, the second movement (Op. 14b) for violin and tenor lyre, and the third movement (Op. 14c) for narrator and tenor lyre. The text for the latter was written specifically for the piece by Ellen Lösch, a poet who also specializes in eurythmy. The world premiere took place at the Herdecke Hospital on September 26, 1979, in the presence of the composer. Kurtág transcribed several movements of the first part for flute, double bass, and piano and published them as part of Bagatelles (Op. 14d), and he published the second part in a version for violin and piano under the title Tre pezzi (Op. 14e).
(Gergely Fazekas)
No sheet music files available for this piece.
To the best of our knowledge, no critical review was written about the work’s premiere.
No sheet music files available for this piece.
