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Notes
[1] This article first appeared in January 2003 in the journal Musik&Aesthetik, 7(25), 60–70. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta Verlag. Used with permission. Translated by Philipp Blume.
[2]Translator's note: The title translates as To Hölderlin's Mental Derangement. The German term Umnachtung, through its incorporation of the word Nacht (‘night’), should be understood as a genteel euphemism which, in the German cultural consciousness, is associated with Hölderlin. A study score of the work was published in 1993 by Breitkopf & Härtel (Score Library 5414). The piece was commissioned by the state of North Rhine-Westfalia and by AKTIVE MUSIK Essen for the MusikFabrik NRW. The premiere took place in Porto on October 31, 1993.
[3] The only recording currently available commercially appeared on the classic production osnabrück (cpo) label, number 999 259-2. The performers are the Musikfabrik NRW, directed by Johannes Kalitzke. The time indications shown next to measure numbers in the text are placed there in case the reader might have the inclination to find these points on the aforementioned CD.
[4] The reasons for this will be familiar from traditional teachings of orchestration—for example, that one shouldn't, for example, permit a unison between two violins. This has to do with the perception of a difference, which in the case of straightforward doubling thrusts itself into the foreground at the expense of the intended object.
[5] Cf. score, m. 222. The examples are included in the score and consist of: (1) the drawing ‘Hölderlin at age 55’ by J. G. Schreiner, that is, the actual template; and (2) two sample sketches, presumably prepared by the composer, meant to clarify how he envisions the graphic execution of this ‘acoustical portrait’.
[6] The composer himself employs this term. We shall return to it later.
[7] This is freely paraphrased from Häussermann (1961), pp. 139–140 and 150.
[8] On the recording this difference does not, in my opinion, come across clearly enough.
[9] It may suffice, in this context, to cite Versuch über Sprache (Essay on Language, 1969), Harakiri (1971), and Sechs Bagatellen (1981).
[10] The reader may refer, for example, to the 12th and 16th song from Dichterliebe.
[11] Cf. Imhasly, Citation1986, especially the keyword ‘word field theory’. It would certainly be worth a separate study to investigate the many theories, emerging from at least as many scientific disciplines, that are presented in this book, and compare these with the music that they inspired. A good number of them have probably been scientifically debunked, but may yet remain compositionally quite fruitful.
[12] At the start nothing happens simultaneously, everything is consecutive.
[13] One of my students, after a close study of the score, uttered the suspicion that this passage may have been influenced by Schumann's song, ‘Mondnacht’[from op. 39—Ed.]—an association that is difficult to resist once it is internalized.
[14] Two metric strata, one a retrograde of the other (the percussion vs. the rest of the ensemble) make the page a closed system, one which also includes 7 dynamic strata, 5 tempo strata, and 2 harmonic strata.
[15] This has been somewhat curtailed and isn't very thorough, but the principles with which it deals are sufficiently clear.
[16] These sound transformations suggest a separate narrative of their own, taking place as they do throughout the piece. They install at the level of the single note that which was already pointed out with regard to articulation and harmony.
[17] Until they are so quiet (pppppp) that some of the highest tones are ‘skipped’—creating the above-mentioned rests—as if these glissandos continued inaudibly past the highest tones and then dip back into the ‘audible range’ from above.
[18] In my childhood I had various nightmares that exemplified this structure. Perhaps I am alone in this experience, in which case I willingly withdraw the observation.
[19] That such things can frequently be encountered outside the realm of music is no argument against this passage being remarkable—this too is a question of context.