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Todesfuge

Classical/Song • 2010 • Lyricist: Paul Celan
 
 
   
 

For baritone and cello (priced for 2 copies)

Title by uploader: Todesfuge — for baritone and cello (priced for 2 copies)


30.00 USD

Seller Lori Laitman
PDF, 3.66 Mb ID: SM-000534732 Upload date: 10 Mar 2022
Instrumentation
Cello, Baritone
Scored for
Duo
Type of score
Score for two performers
Translator
John Felstiner
Publisher
Enchanted Knickers Music
Language
English
Difficulty
Advanced
Duration
6'5
Todesfuge (Death Fugue) was commissioned by Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair. The poem was written in Romanian in 1944 by Paul Celan, but published in German in 1948. The work is one of Celan’s most famous and was one of the first to address the horrors of the Holocaust by using strikingly grim images to create an atmosphere of extreme and haunting power.

The poem’s unusual structure borrows from the concept of a musical fugue, with phrases that repeat and recombine. I mirror this musically, with miniature leitmotivs that repeat and recombine — a challenge, in that the repetition of musical content requires different considerations than the repetition of words.

I composed two settings: one in the original German and one using the English translation by John Felstiner. Slight musical changes accommodate for differences in grammar and the songs can be sung separately or together.


You can listen to the premiere recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7mDRm465o
  • Comments

For mezzo-soprano and cello (priced for 2 copies)

Title by uploader: Todesfuge — for mezzo-soprano and cello (priced for 2 copies)


30.00 USD

Seller Lori Laitman
PDF, 3.67 Mb ID: SM-000534733 Upload date: 10 Mar 2022
Instrumentation
Cello, Mezzo-soprano
Scored for
Duo
Type of score
Score for two performers
Translator
John Felstiner
Publisher
Enchanted Knickers Music
Language
English
Duration
6'5
Todesfuge (Death Fugue) was commissioned by Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair. The poem was written in Romanian in 1944 by Paul Celan, but published in German in 1948. The work is one of Celan’s most famous and was one of the first to address the horrors of the Holocaust by using strikingly grim images to create an atmosphere of extreme and haunting power.

The poem’s unusual structure borrows from the concept of a musical fugue, with phrases that repeat and recombine. I mirror this musically, with miniature leitmotivs that repeat and recombine — a challenge, in that the repetition of musical content requires different considerations than the repetition of words.

I composed two settings: one in the original German and one using the English translation by John Felstiner. Slight musical changes accommodate for differences in grammar and the songs can be sung separately or together.


Link to the premiere recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7mDRm465o
  • Comments
 
 
   
 
 
   
 
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