Drei Synapten zu Ehren der Seligen Gisela
op. 39, 2009/10
I. Donau – from the monastery window
II. Inn – a summer night
III. Ilz – a secret
For orchestra
Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2. – 4.2.1.1., 3 percussions, harp, strings
Duration: 15 min.
Commissioned by the Stiftung art131, with support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
World premiere: 27 June 2010, Europäische Wochen Passau, as part of the education programme “Klasse Klassik”. Münchner Rundfunkorchester, conductor: Ulf Schirmer
Composer’s notes
Three Synapten in Honour of the Blessed Gisela was composed in 2010 for the Europäische Wochen Passau as a commissioned composition by the art 31 Foundation, with support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
The Blessed Gisela spent the final years of her life at Niedernburg Abbey in Passau, where she served as abbess. After her death around 1065, she was buried there. Her grave remains to this day in the abbey church of Niedernburg, a central site of devotion to Gisela. Passau is thus closely connected to the Blessed Gisela not only biographically, but also in terms of memory and religious tradition.
The composition reflects the significance of the Blessed Gisela on the occasion of the 950th anniversary of her death, commemorated by the city of Passau in 2010, as well as the confluence of the three rivers Danube, Inn, and Ilz and their continued flow together. Synapten are Greek forms of prayer, while the rivers are understood as carriers of historical and religious information. Questions concerning the transmission of information through water and the connecting force of water were among the central impulses guiding the compositional process and the work’s sonic dramaturgy.
The work was composed for musicians from Bavarian school choirs and school orchestras, who perform together with members of the Munich Radio Orchestra. This particular combination of the orchestra served as both the occasion and the inspiration for the use of selected experimental sound elements within the composition.
Three Synapten consists of three short movements that differ dramaturgically and are not connected in the traditional formal sense; nevertheless, they are intended to be performed consecutively and not as independent pieces. They may be understood as three perspectives on a shared context. In the first movement, Danube – from the monastery window, melody and rhythm merge into a single entity; in the second movement, Inn – a summer night, musical elements are repeated and condensed, creating ritual-like sound surfaces; the third movement, Ilz’ Secret, is the shortest and functions as an aphoristic conclusion.
Press reviews
“Den zweiten Teil dominierte die griechische Komponistin Konstantia Gourzi (geb. 1962), deren Auftragswerk ‘Drei Synapten zu Ehren der Seligen Gisela’ seine Uraufführung erlebte. Das stark auf momenthafte Klangeffekte abzielende Werk selbst entzieht sich durch seine avantgardistische Subjektivität weitgehend einer neutralen Würdigung. Seine Ausführung hingegen, an der nun auch die niederbayerischen Instrumentalisten mitwirkten, ließ keine Wünsche offen und bewies die unvoreingenommene Bereitschaft der jungen Musiker, sich unkonventionellen Herausforderungen zu stellen.”
neue musikzeitung, September 2010