Gedicht Nr. 1: Die Sommertage sind schnell vorbei
op. 11, 1995
Version 1, 2, 3, 4
For flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, cello
Duration: 9 min.
World premiere: 1995, Alte Feuerwache Köln. Ensemble Köln, voice: Maria de Alvear, conductor: Konstantia Gourzi
Composer’s notes
At the time I wrote this piece, I was writing a lot of poems. As I wrote this short poem, the next step was to set it to music. My composition Poem No.1 then came about in different versions.
It is my first piece of an elegiac nature. It was also the first time, that I used graphic notation in a score. In this notation, the sound I am after is also described in words, so that every performer can choose their mode of expression for it – each time. At the time of writing I was working intensely on how an interpreter can find their freedom within a composition. The conductor can choose the metre of the work, because there are no bars. The poem can be performed as a prologue or an epilogue, read by an additional actor, or by one of the musicians.
Poem No. 1: The Days of Summer are Over Fast
On the gloomy path
Which makes me
Long to be touched
And to wake up
The sleeping side of my soul
I found a mirror
In which I saw heaven
Through a tiny star.
Konstantia Gourzi