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In
the Storm
for mezzo or soprano, clarinet & piano (1989)
American Composers Alliance, 15 minutes  mp3
"nicely crafted...fully felt" (Boston
Globe)
Described by the Boston Globe
as reflecting "a certain glowering Winslow Homer pictorialism," In the Storm is a set of four songs for mezzo
soprano, clarinet and piano that is based on texts by the Austrian
poet, Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973). The music was commissioned
in 1989 by Chamber Music in Watertown.
In the Storm was premiered
by mezzo soprano D`Anna Fortunato with her trio, Soli Espri, to
commemorate ten years of the concert series, Chamber Music in Watertown. Fortunato
has also performed the piece at Harvard University, SUNY/Albany,
the New School of Music, and on WGBH-FM live broadcasts.
See score
sample & texts below.
To order the
score: elizvercoe@yahoo.com
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D'Anna Fortunato |
Texts
by Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-73)
translated by Mark Anderson
IN
THE STORM
1. Aria
I
Wherever we turn in the
storm of roses
thorns illuminate the night. And the
thunder
of a thousand leaves, once so quiet on the
bushes
is right at out heels.
2. Fire
There is fire under the
earth,
and the fire is pure.
There is fire under the
earth
and molten rock.
There is a torrent under
the earth,
it will stream into us.
There is a torrent under
the earth,
it will scorch our bones.
A great fire is coming,
a torrent is coming over
the earth.
We shall be witnesses.
3. Aria II
Wherever we turn in the
storm of roses
thorns illuminate the night. And
the thunder
of a thousand leaves, once so quiet on the
bushes
is right at out heels.
Wherever the roses’ fire
is put out,
rain washes us into the river. Oh
distant night!
Yet a leaf that touched us now floats on
the waves,
following us to the sea.
4. Deluge
After this deluge
I would like to see the
dove,
and nothing but the dove,
saved once more.
For I’d perish in
this sea!
if she didn’t fly
away,
if she didn’t bring
back,
in the last hour,
the leaf.
Bachman Biography
1926 Born on June
25 in Klagenfurt in southeastern Austria near the Yugoslavian
and Italian border.
1945-50 University study in Innsbruck,
Graz, and Vienna, at first in law and philosophy, later exclusively in
philosophy.
1950 Degree awarded by the University
of Vienna for a dissertation entitled The Critical Reception of Martin
Heidegger's Existential Philosophy.
1951-3 Scriptwriter for the radio
group Rot/Weiss/Rot in Vienna.
1952 First reading for the literary
group "47" in Niendorf. Libretto for the ballet,
The Idiot,with music by Hans
Werner Henze.
1953-7 Residence in Italy.
1954 Radio play, The Cicadas
1955 Literary prize of the Cultural
Circle of German Industry. Travel to the US at the
invitation of Henry Kissinger and
Harvard University.
1956 Invocation of the Great Bear,poetry,
published.
1957 Literature prize by the city
of Bremen.
1957-8 Residence in Munich.
1958 The Good God of Manhattan,a
radio play.
1958-73 Residence in Zurich and primarily
in Rome.
1959-60 First lecturer in newly created
chair for poetry at the Univ. of Frankfurt.
1960 Libretto for Henze's opera, The
Prince of Homburg.
1961 Berlin Critic's Prize for The
Thirtieth Year, stories.
1964 Georg Büchner Prize. A
Place of Chance,essay and acceptance speech for Büchner
Prize
published with thirteen drawings by Günter Grass.
1965 Libretto for The Young Lord, a
comic opera by Henze.
1968 Grand Austrian State Prize.
1971 Malina, a novel, published. Anton
Wildgan Prize.
1973 Death in a fire in Rome on October
17.
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