Phantasus (op. 93, 1990)
Song cycle for voice and guitar based on poems by Arno Holz
for my son Martin
I. In my black taxus forest, II. From white clouds, III. Lake, lake, sunniest lake, IV. In front of my window, V. Red roses, VI. In my green stone forest
Voice, guitar
Duration: 24 minutes
Martin Hummel | Clemer Andreotti
Vogt & Fritz VF 1095-00 / ISMN: M 2026-1418-1
Arno Holz
Sechs Gedichte aus Phantasus
I.
In meinem schwarzen Taxuswald
singt ein Märchenvogel —
die ganze Nacht.
Blumen blinken.
Unter Sternen, die sich spiegeln,
treibt mein Boot.
Meine träumenden Hände
tauchen in schwimmende Wasserrosen.
Unten, lautlos, die Tiefe.
Fern die Ufer! Das Lied ...
Arno Holz
Six poems from Phantasus
I.
In my black taxus forest
a fairy-tale bird sings -
all night long.
Flowers twinkle.
Under stars that are reflected,
my boat floats.
My dreaming hands
dive into floating water lilies.
Below, silently, the deep.
Far away the shores! The song …
II.
Aus weissen Wolken
baut sich ein Schloss.
Spiegelnde Seen, selige Wiesen,
singende Brunnen aus tiefstem Smaragd!
In seinen schimmernden Hallen
wohnen die alten Götter.
Noch immer, abends, wenn die Sonne
purpurn sinkt, glühn seine Gärten,
von ihren Wundern bebt mein Herz
und lange ... steh ich. Sehnsüchtig!
Dann naht die Nacht, die Luft verlischt,
wie zitterndes Silber blinkt das Meer,
und über die ganze Welt hin
weht ein Duft wie von Rosen.
II.
From white clouds
A castle is built.
Reflecting lakes, blissful meadows,
singing fountains of deepest emerald!
In its shimmering halls
dwell the ancient gods.
Still, in the evening, when the sun
sinks purple, its gardens glow,
my heart trembles at their wonders
and for a long time ... I stand. Longing!
Then night approaches, the air goes out,
the sea flashes like trembling silver,
and across the whole world
A fragrance like roses wafts.
III.
See, See, sonnigste See, soweit du siehst!
Über die rollenden Wasser hin,
jauchzend, tausend Tritonen.
Auf ihren Schultern, muschelempor,
hoch, ein Weib.
Ihre Nacktheit in die Sonne.
Unter ihr, triefend,
die blendenden Perlmutterwände
immer wieder von Neuem hoch,
dick, feist, verliebt, wie Kröten,
sieben alte, glamsrige Meertaper.
Die Gesichter! Das Gestöhn und das Gepruste!
Da, plötzlich, wütend aus der Tiefe, Neptun.
Sein Bart blitzt. "Hallunken!"
Und, plitschplatsch, sein Dreizack
den sieben Schlappschwänzen um die Glatzen.
Die brüllen! Dann, schnell,
hier noch ein paar Tatschen,
dort noch ein Bauch — weg sind sie.
Die Schöne lächelt.
Neptun verbeugt sich.
“Madam?”
III.
Sea, sea, sunniest sea, as far as you can see!
Over the rolling waters,
rejoicing, a thousand tritons.
On their shoulders, muschelempor,
high, a woman.
Her nakedness in the sun.
Beneath her, dripping,
the dazzling mother-of-pearl walls
up again and again,
fat, feisty, enamoured, like toads,
seven old, glamourous sea-tapers.
The faces! The moaning and the spluttering!
There, suddenly, furious from the depths, Neptune.
His beard flashes. "Fraudster!"
And, splash splash, his trident
around the bald heads of the seven wimps.
They roar! Then, quickly,
a few more paws here,
a belly there - they're gone.
The beauty smiles.
Neptune bows.
"Madam?"
IV.
Vor meinem Fenster singt ein Vogel.
Still hör ich zu; mein Herz vergeht.
Er singt, was ich als Kind besass
und dann — vergessen.
IV.
A bird sings outside my window.
I listen quietly; my heart melts.
It sings what I had as a child
and then - forgotten.
V.
Rote Rosen winden sich um meine düstre Lanze.
Durch weisse Lilienwälder schnaubt mein Hengst.
Aus grünen Seen, Schilf im Haar,
tauchen schlanke, schleierlose Jungfraun.
Ich reite wie aus Erz. Immer, dicht vor mir,
fliegt der Vogel Phönix und singt.
V.
Red roses twine around my gloomy lance.
Through white lily woods my stallion snorts.
From green lakes, reeds in the hair,
Slender, veilless maidens emerge.
I ride as if made of ore. Always, close in front of me,
the phoenix bird flies and sings.
VI.
In meinem grünen Steinwald scheint der Mond.
In seinem Licht sitzt ein blasses Weib und singt.
Von einem Sonnensee, von blauen Blumen,
von einem Kind, das Mutter ruft.
Müde fällt die Hand ihr übers Knie,
in ihrer stummen Harfe glänzt der Mond.
VI.
The moon shines in my green stone forest.
In its light sits a pale woman and sings.
Of a sunny lake, of blue flowers,
Of a child calling mother.
Her hand falls wearily over her knee,
The moon shines in her silent harp.
Arno Holz (1863–1929), the founder and theorist of Naturalism, was already pointing towards Expressionism in his later years. This is particularly true of his verse work *Phantasus* (almost 1,600 pages), consisting of lines of varying lengths arranged around the vertical centreline of the page.
The cycle comprises six selected poems, the meaning of which is interpreted musically. The guitar often takes on the role of commentator here — particularly in the third song , “See, See, sonnigste See”, which represents the dramatic climax of the work. The guitar preludes of the first and last songs correspond with one another, thereby forming a kind of formal framework. Whilst the lyrical element predominates in Songs 1, 2 and 4, Songs 3 and 5 are of a more dramatic nature. In the sixth song, a 36-bar pedal point creates a pale, moonlit atmosphere and a subdued conclusion.
The cycle was composed in 1990 at the suggestion of my son Martin, to whom it is also dedicated.
Bertold Hummel
Since the late 1980s, Bertold Hummel’s output has also included song cycles that depart from traditional piano accompaniment. An alternative to this is guitar accompaniment, which – within the German lieder tradition – was very popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hummel employs this in his song cycle “Phantasus”, set to freely chosen poems from the collection of the same name by Arno Holz. Although the possibilities for polyphonic arrangement are drastically reduced on the guitar, Hummel adheres in principle to the structure of his piano songs. However, typical guitar techniques such as the rasgado (continuous arpeggiation with the fingernails, usually from top to bottom and back) are frequently found, for example at the beginning of the third song (“See, See, sonnigste See”). Holz’s artistic neo-Romanticism, with its Rococo nostalgia (his naturalistic modernisms are left aside), is captured musically by Hummel with a touch of humour, for example when, in the first song , relatively simple references to flowers are followed by a carefully crafted variation of the same musical motif. The instrumental introduction to this song , “In meinem schwarzen Taxuswald”, returns, full of significance, at the beginning of the final song , “In meinem grünen Steinwald”, rounding off the cycle. The ballad-like third song, “See, See, sonnigste See”, is rendered by Hummel with realistic humour, leading in the vocal part to glissandi and trills and even to that manner of speaking on suggested pitches first employed by Engelbert Humperdinck in the early version of his “Königskinder ”. But whilst the triads in the passage ‘wohnen die alten Götter’ in the second song (‘Aus weißen Wolken’) still seem ironic, when they reappear in the final song one gets the impression that the moon and the sun-drenched lake, the blue flowers and the harp are, after all, taken so seriously as a mood that the (once again open) conclusion in the C major sixth chord is convincing – all the more so as the note E resounds throughout the entire song (apart from the aforementioned instrumental prelude).
Wolfgang Osthoff ( in “Zu den Liedern Bertold Hummels”, Tutzing 1998)