The composition lullabies for three flowers is inspired by J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The idea came from the soloist Niklas Liepe, who commissioned a work for violin solo and string orchestra related to the Variations.

Aria and its variations were composed by Bach for Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk. He wanted to hear music by J.S. Bach to help him fall asleep, as he suffered from insomnia. Bach’s pupil Johan Gottlieb Goldberg played the pieces to him in the evening, which is how they later got their name.

From the “stillness” and resonance of the Goldberg Variations, a wish grew in me to compose lullabies for three flowers. Nature is experiencing – also because of climate change – an evolution that challenges it every day to act and grow differently. The need to protect it is more urgent every day. The flowers, the trees, the sea, the sky and we humans with them are experiencing a new time. These three compositions are meant to awaken a sensibility towards the flowers: an awareness of respect, compassion, and care. Rather than destroy nature, we should admire it, to be mindful of it and perceive how important and necessary it is for us, even with its beauty. A lullaby is an image for this insofar as it radiates trust, warmth, and security.

In compositional terms, the themes of all three pieces flow quasi-horizontally. Delicate melodies and rhythms intertwine and create a particular atmosphere and harmony, which connects the three lullabies together. I took the compositional inspiration and certain themes, harmonies and rhythms from the Aria, Variation 7, Variation 13 and Variation 22 and changed them, thus following the instruction of Bach’s “Aria with various changes”.