The Last Rose of Summer

I have known Wolfram Christ since my time at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg where we were both professors. When he asked me to compose a short piece for his farewell performance as a viola player, I was only too pleased to fulfil his wishes. So much energy and emotion are distilled in a moment of farewell: on the one hand, melancholy and sorrow at the irretrievability of one particular moment, and the confluence of wonderful musical memories on the other hand. I am very familiar with the popular Irish folk song The Last Rose of Summer from my time as chief guest conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and it was this piece that immediately came to mind as being eminently suitable for the purpose. A flower opens for the last time, displaying itself once again in its full beauty. A touch of overripe sweetness and melancholy hovers over the music which is deliberately kept simple and songlike. This piece aims to be no more than a brief message of farewell, inspired and heart felt. How wonderful to be able to look back on the life of an instrumentalist and musician and simply say: it was wonderful! Jörg Widmann