Johannes Maria Staud (1974)

Berenice – Lied vom Verschwinden (2003)

pour soprano, petit ensemble et bande

œuvre électronique

  • Informations générales
    • Date de composition : 2003
    • Durée : 12 mn
    • Éditeur : Universal Edition
    • Livret (détail, auteur) :

      Durs Grünbein

Effectif détaillé
  • soliste : 1 soprano solo
  • 1 clarinette, 1 trompette, 1 trombone, 2 percussionnistes, 1 piano, 1 alto, 2 violoncelles, 1 contrebasse

Information sur la création

  • Date : mai 2003
    Lieu :

    Allemagne, Witten


    Interprètes :

    Petra Hoffmann, Klangforum Wien, direction : Emilio Pomarico.

Information sur l'électronique
Dispositif électronique : sons fixés sur support

Note de programme

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.