Johannes Maria Staud (1974)
Berenice – Lied vom Verschwinden (2003)
for soprano, small ensemble and tape
electronic work
- General information
-
Composition date:
2003
- Duration: 12 mn
- Publisher: Universal Edition
-
Libretto (details, author):
Durs Grünbein
-
Composition date:
2003
- Type
- Vocal music and instrument(s) [Solo voice and ensemble of 10 to 25 instruments]
- soloist: 1 solo soprano
- 1 clarinet, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 2 percussionists, 1 piano, 1 viola, 2 cellos, 1 double bass
Premiere information
-
Date:
May 2003
Location:Allemagne, Witten
Performers:Petra Hoffmann, Klangforum Wien, direction : Emilio Pomarico.
Information on the electronics
Electronic device: sons fixés sur support
Program note
Berenice. Lied vom Verschwinden (Song of Vanishing) is the "aria" of a woman of unearthly beauty. She suffers from consumption which causes her to die, slowly but unstoppably.
The piece is a study for the full-length music theatre work after Edgar Allan Poe I am writing for the Munich Biennale (world premiere in May 2004). It is my first composition which integrates electronically generated sound with vocal-instrumental material.
Rather than fully embedding the tape in the texture of the ensemble and the soprano, I have endeavoured to make the two layers mutually enrich each other. I did not set out to demonstrate their incompatibility – on the contrary: they are meant to make a joint attempt at approximating a sound image (including spatialisation) which became more and more concrete during composition. This image could not have been realised exclusively through vocal and instrumental means.
Johannes Maria Staud.