FRANKE
Behind Me – dips Eternity
based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Saigyō for four voices and shō
Full Score
BERND FRANKE
Behind Me – dips Eternity
music for four voices and shō, based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Saigyō
(2021–23)
dedicated to Paul Hillier Full Score
POD PETERS on demand
Behind Me — dips Eternity (2021-23)
music for four voices and shō, based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Saigyō
Duration: approx. 32 minutes
Commissioned by Bad Reichenhall Art Academy
World Premiere: May 20, 2023, St. Nicholas, Bad Reichenhall Theatre of Voices Copenhagen, Naomi Sato/Shō, Paul Hillier
INTRODUCTORY TEXT
Behind Me - dips Eternity was composed at the suggestion of the director of the Bad Reichenhall Art Academy, Stefan Wimmer, and the British conductor Paul Hillier, who has lived and worked in Copenhagen for many years. I have had a wonderful artistic collaboration with Paul Hillier for a long time. He has performed some of my choral works in Copenhagen, Berlin and Dublin and invited me to Copenhagen in 2008 as Composer in Residence.
I’ve had my eye on the texts I set to music by the great American poet Emily Dickinson for a long time, and a few years ago I came across the wonderful short poems by the Japanese poet Saigyo on the recommendation of a colleague. Both cultures have inspired and influenced me for many years, since the early 90s the avant-garde of the USA such as the New York School with Cage, Feldman, Brown and Wolff, but also Ives, Ruggles, Reich, Partch and others.
In 1998 I began to concern myself with Asia and Southeast Asia, with music, nature, culture and architecture and above all with philosophy, spending several weeks there every year.
The focus has been Japan since 2010, and some compositions for Japanese musicians and singers were created (e.g. for Shō and also for the Noh singer Ryoko Aoki).
The poetic monk Saigyō lived in the 12th century and his book Poems from the Mountain Hermitage is very famous in Japan. I coupled poems by Dickinson and Saigyo in pairs, intertwined with small interludes of the Japanese shō, a mouth organ also found in China.
Eleven short songs for four solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) are mirrored by “Mirrors” of the Shō, as if framed by the voice of eternity.
Eternity is an important motif and symbol in the worlds of Dickinson, but also in the short poems of Saigyo, which are often characterized by black humor, irony and sometimes bitterness against the great and probably eternal weaknesses of human existence.
All texts are timeless and therefore always frighteningly up-to-date.
Behind Me — dips Eternity (2021-23)
music for four voices and shō, based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Saigyō
Dauer: ca. 32 Minuten
Auftragswerk der Kunstakademie Bad Reichenhall
Uraufführung: 20. Mai 2023, St. Nikolaus, Bad Reichenhall
Theatre of Voices Copenhagen, Naomi Sato/Shō, Paul Hillier
EINFÜHRUNGSTEXT
Behind Me – dips Eternity entstand auf Anregung des Direktors der Kunstakademie Bad Reichenhall, Stefan Wimmer, und des legendären britischen Dirigenten Paul Hillier, der seit vielen Jahren in Kopenhagen lebt und dort arbeitet. Mit Paul Hillier verbindet mich seit langem eine wunderbare künstlerische Zusammenarbeit, er hat einige meiner Chorwerke u.a. in Kopenhagen, Berlin und Dublin aufgeführt und mich 2008 als Composer in Residence nach Kopenhagen eingeladen.
Die von mir vertonten Texte der großen amerikanischen Dichterin Emily Dickinson habe ich schon seit langer Zeit im Blick, auf die wunderbaren Kurzgedichte des Japaners Saigyo stieß ich vor ein paar Jahren auf Empfehlung eines Kollegen. Beide Kulturkreise begeistern und beeinflussen mich schon seit vielen Jahren, seit den frühen 90ern die Avantgarde der USA wie die New Yorker Schule mit Cage, Feldman, Brown und Wolff, aber auch Ives, Ruggles, Reich, Partch u.a.
Seit 1998 begann ich, mich mit Asien und Südostasien zu beschäftigen, mit der Musik, der Natur, der Kultur und Architektur und vor allem mit der Philosophie, war dort jährlich mehrere Wochen unterwegs.
Schwerpunkt wurde seit 2010 Japan, es entstanden einige Kompositionen für japanische Musiker und Sängerinnen (u.a. für Shō und auch für die Noh-Sängerin Ryoko Aoki).
Der dichtende Mönch Saigyō lebte im 12 Jahrhundert und sein Buch „Gedichte aus der Bergklause“ ist in Japan sehr berühmt. Ich habe Gedichte von Dickinson und Saigyo als Paare gekoppelt, miteinander verzahnt mit kleinen Zwischenspielen der japanischen Shō, einer Mundorgel, wie es sie auch in China gibt.
Elf kurze Lieder für vier Solostimmen (Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass) werden gespiegelt durch „Mirrors“ der Shō, gleichsam eingerahmt durch die Stimme der Ewigkeit.
Eternity (Ewigkeit) ist ein wichtiges Motiv und Symbol in den Welten der Dickinson, aber auch in den Kurzgedichten von Saigyo, die bei ihm oft durch schwarzen Humor, Ironie und manchmal auch Bitternis gegenüber den großen und wohl ewigen Schwächen der menschlichen Existenz gekennzeichnet sind.
Alle Texte sind zeitlos und dadurch immer wieder erschreckend aktuell.
Sequence
Prologue (Shō, overlapping with I) p. 1
I Drops of dew (Saigyo) p. 2
II “Nature” (Dickinson, overlapping with Mirror 1) p. 8
Mirror 1 (Shō) (overlapping with III) p. 17
III Were we sure (Saigyo) p. 19
IV As if the Sea (Dickinson, overlapping with Mirror 2) p. 22
Mirror 2 (Shō, overlapping with V) p. 27
V Not stopping (Saigyo) p. 28
VI Had we our senses (Dickinson, overlapping with Mirror 3)
30
Mirror 3 (Shō, overlapping with VII) p. 32
VII Did I hear (Saigyo) p. 33
VIII Down Time`s quaint stream (Dickinson, overlapping with Mirror 4) p. 36
Mirror 4 (Shō, overlapping with IX) p. 39
IX Butterflies darting (Saigyo) p. 40
X The Life we have (Dickinson) p. 47
XI When you consider (Saigyo, overlapping with Epilogue) p. 51
Epilogue (Shō) p. 53
1 Saigyō
Drops of dew Strung on filaments
Of spider web –Such are trappings That deck out this world
2 Dickinson
“Nature” is what We seeThe Hill - the afternoon –Squirrel - Eclipse - the Bumble bee –Nay - Nature is Heaven –
“Nature” is what We hear –The Bobolink - the Sea –Thunder - the Cricket –Nay - Nature is Harmony –
“Nature” is what We know –But have no Art to say –So impotent our Wisdom is To Her Sincerity
3 Saigyō
Were we sure of seeing A moon like this In existences to come Who would be sorry to leave this life?
4 Dickinson
As if the Sea should part And show a further Sea –And that – further - and the Three But presumption be-
Texts
Of Periods of Seas –Unvisited of Shores –Themselves the Verge of Seas to be –Eternity – is Those -
4 Dickinson
As if the Sea should part And show a further Sea –And that – further - and the Three But presumption be-
Of Periods of Seas –Unvisited of Shores –Themselves the Verge of Seas to be –Eternity – is Those -
5 Saigyō
Not stopping to mark the trail let me push even deeper into the mountain! Perhaps there`s a place where bad news can never reach me!
6 Dickinson
Had we our senses But perhaps `tis well they`re not at Home So intimate with Madness He`s liable with them
Had we the eyes within our Head –How well that we are Blind . We could not look opon the Earth –So utterly unmoved –
7 Saigyō
Did I hear you ask what the fires of hell are burning for? they burn away evil and the firewood is you!
8 Dickinson
Down Time`s quaint stream Without an oar
We are enforced to sail Our Port a secret
Our Perchance a Gale What Skipper would Incur the Risk
What Buccaneer would ride Without a surety from the Wind Or schedule of the Tide –
9 Saigyō
Butterflies darting so familiarly among the flowers that bloom by the fence –I envy them, yet know how little time they have left
10 Dickinson
The Life we have is very great. The life that we shall see Surpasses it, we know, because It is Infinity.
But when all space has been beheld And all Dominion shown The smallest Human Heart`s extent Reduces it to none.
11 Saigyō
When you consider, all in this world are blossoms that fall –and this body of mine, where will I lay it down?
AnmerkungenzurNotation:
Remarksonthenotation:
Voices
SchlüsselfürSprech-undFlüsterstimmemitunterschiedlichenTonhöhen Clefforspeakingandwhisperingvoicewithdifferingpitches
EinsatzfürAbschnittimfreienMetrumfürdengesamtenChoroderbestimmte Stimmgruppen(hiergeltendieVorzeichennurfürdieunmittelbarfolgende Note).
InderRegelwirdhiernichtsynchrongesungen,größtmöglichePolyphonie istanzustreben.
EntryforsectioninfreemetreEachperformersingstheirphrase rhythmicallyindependentoftheothers (Hereaccidentalsapplyonlytotheadjacentnote) Thesingingisnotsynchronized-aimforthegreatestpossiblepolyphony
EinsatzfürAbschnittimfestenMetrum(hiergeltendieVorzeichenfürden gesamtenTakt)
EntryforsectioninsteadymetreHereaccidentalsapplyforthewholebar y 1-3''/0,5-2'' y FermatemitungefährerDauervon-bis fermatawithapproximatedurationgiveninseconds
SI Singen/Singing
W Flüstern/Whispering
istkeinwirklichesForte,essollmitgroßerIntensitätgeflüstertwerden/ isnoterealforteItshouldbewhisperedwithgreatintensity
SP Sprechen/Speaking
SCR Schreien/Screaming
ord ordinario
s.v. senzaVibrato
pv pocoVibrato
ov ordinarioVibrato
m.v. moltoVibrato
sub. subito sohochwiemöglich/ashighaspossible , < >, möglicheAtemstelleoderkurzeZäsur Ashortcaesura,orbreath 1 J
Glissando, sofort beginnen / Glissando, start immediately
leichter Akzent / light accent
Fingerschnipsen / snapping of fingers
Mit dem Fuß aufstampfen / stamp with foot
p - pp / p - mp ungefähre Dynamik, abhängig von Raum und Akustik / approximate dynamics, depending on room and acoustics freeze freeze
1-3'' / 2-4''
Schlüssel für Sprech- und Flüsterstimme mit unterschiedlichen Tonhöhen Clef for speaking and whispering voice with differing pitches
Fermate mit ungefährer Dauer von - bis fermata with approximate duration given in seconds
d t double tongue
FR Frullato
AIR AIR ord. ordinario
s. v. senza Vibrato
p. v. poco Vibrato
o. v. ordinario Vibrato
m. v. molto Vibrato as fast as possible
mögliche Atemstelle oder kurze Zäsur A short caesura, or breath
improvised smorzato
leichter Akzent / light accent
Behind Me – dips Eternity
music for four voices and shō, based on poems by Emily Dickinson and Saigyō
Bernd Franke (2021-23)
Prologue (Shō)
s. v. (Shō-player stands behind the audience and slowly walks towards the stage and the singers while playing, this movement must be played by heart)
Shō pppp f pppp pppp f pppp (e 60) 1
(starts walking slowly towards the stage from here)
(singers start here, overlapping with Shō)
(S,A, T,B)
(SingersarenottobeseenatthebeginningofNo.1,theyeitherstandtothesideorevensit intheaudience,thatshouldbestagedTheopeningpartmustthereforebespokenbyheart andwhispered.Theentriesarestaggered,sopranobegins,thenfollowsthetenorandthen altoandbasstogether,entrancesalwaysafterthefirstspoken"dropsofdew",rubatoispossible Althoughaltoandbassentertogether,thepartsarenotsynchronized.Pleasemakethe pausefermatadifferentforeveryoneDuringthissectionthesingerswalkslowlytowardsthe stage,thestagepositionisreachedbeforenumber2)
Drops, "f"intense drops, dropsof dew,drops,drops,dropsof, dropsof dew,drops,drops,dropsof dew, (e60)
(S,A, T,B)
(S,A, T,B)
drops mf of dew,dew, mf dew, "f" drops, drops, dropsof dew,drops,drops,dropsof, dropsof dew,
(S,A, T,B)
(S,A, T,B)
drops,drops,dropsofdew, strung,strungon fi-laments, - strung,strung,strungonfi-laments, - fi-laments, -
(S,A, T,B)
strung,strung,strungon fi-laments, - fi-laments, - drops, drops, dropsofdew,drops,drops,dropsof,
(S,A, T,B)
drops of dew,drops, drops, drops of dew, strung,strung on fi la - -ments,strung,strung,
strungon fi-laments, - fi-laments, - strung,strung,strungon fi-laments, - fi-laments, -
(*Wheneveryonehasreachedtheirpausefermataat"freeze" andisvisibleonthestage,thentheywaittogetherforabout 4-5secondsandcontinuewithnumber2) "freeze"
strung mf on fi la - ments! -
(starttogether,thencontinueindividually,restrained,careful, withhalfvoice/mezzavoce,almostwhispering)
(fleeting,flowing)
Drops, pp drops,drops,drops mf of dew, drops, drops, drops ofdew, drops ofdew, (e60)
Drops, pp drops, drops, drops, mf drops, drops ofdew, dropsofdew, drops of dew,
Drops, pp drops,drops,dropsof dew, of dew, drops, drops, drops ofdew, drops of
Drops, pp drops,drops, drops mf ofdew,drops ofdew, strung onfile - -ments, drops, drops,
drops ofdew, drops ofdew, strungonfila - -ments,on fi-laments -
drops ofdew, strung on fila - -ments, on fi-laments, - drops of dew, dew, drops of dew, dropsofdew,
dropsof dew,
dropsof dew, strung, strung, strung on fila - -ments,
drops ofdew, dew, strung, strung, strungonfi-laments, - on fila - -ments, drops of dew, dropsof dew, strung, strung, strung on fila - -ments, strungonfila - ments,on fila - -ments, dropsofdew, drops ofdew, dew,
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