Liebeslied als Geige

for SATB soli (2005)

4’

Text: Rilke, Neue Gedichte I

f.p. EXAUDI, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, 31st August 2005

may be performed as a pair with Selbstbildnis als Laute.

Liebeslied als Geige (‘Love-song as a Violin’) describes the poet’s struggle against the irresistible force of his love, which draws him and his beloved together like two strings on a violin that combine produce a single sound. The music, derived from the open strings of the violin and ‘double-stopped’ in pairs of voices, oscillates between passionate appeals and hushed confessions before resolving into a measureless coda at the words ‘O süßes Lied’ – ‘O sweet song’.