Phantasus - Song-cycle for voice and guitar after poems by Arno Holz, op. 93 (1990)
I. In meinem schwarzen Taxuswald / In my black yew forest
II. Aus weißen Wolken / From white clouds
III. See, See, sonnigste See / Sea, sea, sunniest sea
IV. Vor meinem Fenster / Before my window
V. Rote Rosen / Red roses
VI. In meinem grünen Steinwald / In my green stone forest
First
performance : February 5, 1991, Dinkelsbühl, Konzertsaal
Martin Hummel
/ Clemer Andreotti
Duration: 24 Minutes
Publisher: Vogt & Fritz VF 1095-00 / ISMN: M 2026-1418-1
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| I. | III. | IV. | VI. |
Arno
Holz (1863-1929), founder and theoretician of Naturalism, was already pointing
towards Expressionism in his late period. This is particularly true of his verse
work "Phantasus" (almost 1600 pages), with lines of different
length arranged symmetrically about the central vertical axis of the page,
The cycle comprises six selected poems; the music seeks to interpret their meaning.
In this, the guitar often takes the role of commentator - especially in the 3rd
song, "See, See, sonnigste See" ( "Sea, sea, sunniest
sea"), which represents the dramatic climax of the work. The guitar introductions
to the first and last songs have correspondences and thus provide a formal framework.
While in the songs 1, 2 and 4 the lyrical aspect dominates, the songs 3 and 5
are of a more dramatic nature. In the 6th song, a pedal-point over 36 bars gives
rise to an atmosphere of pale moonlight and a restrained close.
The cycle
was composed in 1990 at the suggestion of my son Martin, to whom it is dedicated.
Bertold Hummel
From
the late 1980's onwards, one also finds song-cycles in Bertold Hummel's work which
depart from the traditional piano accompaniment. Guitar accompaniment is a variant
on this, but can still be seen to be related. This combination enjoyed great popularity
- within the field of German song - in the later 18th and early 19th century.
Hummel uses this form in his song-cycle "Phantasus" on
a free selection of poems from the eponymous collection by Arno Holz. Although
the capacity of the guitar for polyphonic work is severely limited, Hummel continues
in principle with the structures known in his piano songs. There are, however,
frequent passages with typical guitar techniques such as e.g. rasgado (constant
arpeggio with the fingernails, mostly from the top string downwards and back),
as in the opening of the third song ("See, See, sonnigste See"
/ "Sea, sea, sunniest sea"). Holz' artistic Neo-Romanticism with
its Rococo nostalgia (disregarding his moments of naturalistic modernism) is captured
musically by Hummel with a slightly impish wink, e.g. when in the first song Blumen
(flowers) are mentioned very simply, the following blinken (wink) is set
with a compass-copy of the same motif. The instrumental introduction to this song,
"In meinem schwarzen Taxuswald" / "In my black yew forest",
returns rich in associations at the beginning of the last song, "In meinem
grünen Steinwald" / "In my green stone forest"
, rounding off the cycle. The ballad-like third song, "See, See, sonnigste
See" / "Sea, sea, sunniest sea", is rendered by Hummel with
realistic humour, leading in the voice to glissandos and trills and even to that
speaking at approximately suggested pitches, a technique first used by Engelbert
Humperdinck in the earlier version of his "Königskinder".
But if the triads in the passage wohnen die alten Götter / the
old gods dwell in the second song ("Aus weißen Wolken")
may appear ironical, one has the impression at their return in the last song that
Mond / moon and Sonnensee / sun-sea, the blauen
Blumen / blue flowers and the Harfe / harp are indeed taken
so seriously as atmospheres that the (once again open) cadence in C major
- second and first inversions are used - is all the more convincing, particularly
because the note E has already been sounding throughout the whole song
(with the exception of the instrumental introduction).
Wolfgang Osthoff
(in "Zu den Liedern Bertold Hummels", Tutzing, 1998)
Arno
Holz: from Phantasus
I.
In my black yew forest
a fairy-tale bird sings -
the whole night
flowers wink.
Under stars, which are reflected,
my boat drifts.
My
dreaming hands
dip into floating water-lilies.
Below, soundless, the deeps.
Distant the shore! The song...
II.
From white clouds
a castle forms.
Mirror-like lakes, blessed meadows,
singing fountains of deepest emerald!
In its gleaming halls
the
old gods dwell
still, in the evening, when the sun
sinks in purple, the
gardens glow,
my heart beats in the face of its wonders
and for a long
time ...I stand. Full of longing!
The night draws near, the air grows dark,
like trembling silver the sea winks,
and across the whole world.
III.
Sea, sea, sunniest sea, as far as you can see!
Over the rolling waters,
exulting, a thousand Tritons.
On their shoulders, from a shell,
raised
high, a woman.
Her nakedness in the sun.
Below her, dripping,
the
dazzling surfaces of mother-of-pearl
time and again anew tall,
thick,
plump, enamoured, like toads,
seven old, slimy sea-creatures.
The faces!
The groaning and the snorting!
There, suddenly, raging out of the depths,
Neptune.
His beard flashes. "Good-for-nothings!"
And, splish-splash,
his trident
around the bald pates of the weaklings.
They bellow! Then,
quickly,
here a podgy hand still,
there still a belly - they are gone.
The beautiful one smiles.
Neptune bows.
"Madam?"
IV.
Before my window, a bird sings.
Silent, I listen; my heart melts away.
It sings of what I had as a child
and then - forgotten.
V.
Red roses wind around my encrusted lance.
Through white lily forests, my
stallion snorts.
From green lakes, reeds in their hair,
slender, unveiled
maidens emerge.
I ride as if of bronze. Constantly, close before me,
the phoenix bird flies and sings.
VI.
In my green stone forest, the moon shines.
In its light a pale woman sits
and sings.
Of a sun-sea, of blue flowers,
of a child calling mother.
Tiredly, her hand falls over her knee,
in her mute harp the moon glints.
Translation: William Buchanan