This special piece on the bsais of two different texts and perspectives for the 10th anniversary was written for my colleague Inga Brüseke and her ensemble JUNGER KAMMERCHOR LUCENTE in Munich was premiered by them last May. The genesis of "Light - Life!" is described below and you can enjoy the video of the premier in the wonderful church St. Benno here. The piece is now published by HELBLING VERLAG (Germany/Austria) and can be ordered here: HELBLING

LICHT - LEBEN will soon be performed by JCL again:

Munich 20. Juli 19:00 St. Ignatius

Tallinn 2. September 19:00 Blackhead's House & Segarkoor Norus & Voces Tallinn Chamber Choir

Riga 4. September 19:00 Sv Sveta Petera baznica & Dzeismuvara

Kaunas 6. September 18:00 St. Francis Xavier & Choras Saluto

Last year at the ChorCom in Hannover, the biggest choral convention in Germany, had spent an evening dining with my colleague Inga Brüseke and during that wonderful time offered her to write a piece as a present for her and her choir's 10th anniversary and asked for her ideas concerning a suitable text.

She soon had an idea and proposed "Lux aeterna" and Rilke's poem "Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen" (You do not have to understand life). To Inga life and resurrection are not only connected to the question of afterlife but also to the transitions between the different stages of life, experienced smooth or abrupt.

I feel the same way, because every farewell is follwoed by a new beginning, grief gives rise to new hope and every change in life has its own character. Inga spoke about her father and we talked about the significance of the 'Lux aeterrna' for us, as a spiritual connection between the phases of life and as an expression of hope and certainty beyond death. Rilke's poem "Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen" (You don't have to understand life) has long accompanied Inga as a poetic expression of the art of facing life's changes with melancholy lightness.

The aim of my new composition was therefore obvious: to create a connection between thetwo texts, to let light shine and to give the life-affirming poen a sonic expression. The title "Light - Life!" was quickly found with the core idea behind it: light gives life, life becones light. How important in our time!

Immediately after my return I set to work. "Blickt zu mir der Töne Licht" - this passage from Brahms' "Abendständchen" was the first impulse and the potential of the choir was the incentive to approach my composition modelled on Brahms' six-part chants with their versatile tonal and structural possibilities.

In order to tie in with Rilke's optimistic basic idea, I decided to shorten the traditional Latin text and transform the pleading "es möge leuchten" (it shall shine) into the optimistcally hopeful "es leuchtet" (it is shinging): Lux aeterna lucet. At the end of the compositon, the terms "light" and "life" were to be combined and thus also the common "lucent": the good omen that the choir rightly bears in its name.

 

 

Texts: Lux aeterna (trad. christian, first line) & Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen (Rilke)

 

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen,
dann wird es werden wie ein Fest.
Und lass dir jeden Tag geschehen
so wie ein Kind im Weitergehen
von jedem Wehen
sich viele Blüten schenken lässt.

Sie aufzusammeln und zu sparen,
das kommt dem Kind nicht in den Sinn.
Es löst sie leise aus den Haaren,
drin sie so gern gefangen waren,
und hält den lieben jungen Jahren
nach neuen seine Hände hin.

 

You don't have to understand life,
then it will be like a celebration.
And let every day happen to you
just like a child while moving on
in every gentle blowing
is given many blossoms.

Picking them up and saving them,
does not occur to the child.
It quietly releases them from its hair,
in which they were so gladly caught,
and in dear young years
holds out to new ones his hands.