Kopflos (Headless)
composer: Bertold Hummel
text writer: Hermann Hesse
A song cycle based on droll and mischievous poems by Hermann Hesse, op. 108
Premiere: August 9, 2003 Calw (D) · Martin Hummel, Bariton; Markus Bellheim, Klavier
Instrumentation: voice and piano
Publisher: Schott Music
Duration: 15' 0''
Year of composition: 2002
Difficulty: difficult
Edition: Register: medium
Language: German
20 Pages - Saddle stitching
ISMN: 979-0-001-13627-3
Order number: ED 9706
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Description
Hummel wrote this song cycle in the last months of his life and called it his “swan-song”. In the light of this, his selection of poems is highly unusual: the composer did not focus on qualities such as the wisdom of age and detachment from worldly affairs, but instead chose lines rich in scepticism and a mocking vein of humour; this can be heard particularly in the last song, where we hear: “My dear boy, everything that people say is more or less a pack of lies…”
The music, which is delicately worked through in both the voice and piano parts, is vividly effective for performers and audience alike.
Content
Kopflos (Headless)
Antwort an Freunde (In answer to friends)
Waldnacht (Night in the Forest)
Bildnis eines zu alt gewordenen Literaten (Portrait of an ageing man of letters)
Soirée
Belehrung (A lecture)
Recordings
Vom Baum des Lebens fällt mir Blatt um Blatt (2008)
Bertold Hummel- Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Hermann Hesse
- Kopflos
- Adagio in memoriam Benjamin Britten
- + Fantasia Op. 83 No. 1
Martin Hummel (baritone / narrator) · Markus Bellheim (piano)
MUSICAPHON
M 55719
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