Spruchmotette nach Vincent van Gogh (1984)
for 3 three women's voices choir a cappella
Instrumentation
3 three women's voices choir a cappella (S/Mez/A)
Duration: 2 minutes
Autograph
Title: Proverbs motet: A person who does not feel small ... - Length: 3 pages - Date: 30 Oct. 84 - Storage location:
Publisher
Schott Music ISMN: 979-0-001-20272-5
"A man who does not feel small, who does not grasp that he's a grain of dust, how great his error!"
Vincent van Gogh, 4 November 1883, Drenthe
During the last months of 1883, the painter Vincent van Gogh lived in the heathlands of the Dutch province of Drenthe in order to be able to reflect on himself again in harmony with nature after a time in the city of The Hague that was characterised by personal defeats. In a letter to his brother Theo, he poses the question: What makes me most human? After complaining about social conventions and the absurdity of claiming to know and foresee everything, his answer culminates in the exclamation set to music here.
Bertold Hummel composed this short motet at the suggestion of the Schott publishing house in 1984. He set the same text to music again the following year in the seventh movement of his 8 Fragments from Letters by Vincent van Gogh for baritone and string quartet op. 84 , thus emphasising his inner involvement in his statement.
Martin Hummel