Giorno per giorno
Music (based on G. Ungaretti) in memoriam B. A. Zimmermann
[orch] 1971 duration: 17' 2(picc).2.2.2 – 4.3.3.1 – timp.perc(4) – hp – str
Description
This four-part opus is not avant-garde music, but is intended for the average listener, even though it employs various modern compositional techniques. The four movements of the work are impressions based on poems by the great Italian poet G. Ungaretti, who died in 1970 at the age of 82. “Giorno per giorno” (Day by Day) is the title of the cycle on the death of one of his children – in “Music for Orchestra” it is also the title of the entire work and the first movement – and means: pain without consolation and without escape (“some consolation is necessary, my poor broken heart”). The other movement titles are also taken from individual poems or groups of poems by Ungaretti; the second movement, for example, is entitled “Allegria di naufragi” (Joy of Shipwrecks). The risk of these “shipwrecks” is symbolized musically by aleatoric structures (“And suddenly you resume your journey”). The third movement is entitled “La terra promessa” (The Promised Land). The silence of a Mediterranean autumn landscape resounds (“The grapes are ripe, the fields are plowed”). The finale, entitled “Soldati,” begins with a “false fanfare” and, after several restless episodes, builds to an aggressive conclusion (“Death is atoned for in life”).
(Jürg Baur)
MM 2304121
hire material
Description
Description
This four-part opus is not avant-garde music, but is intended for the average listener, even though it employs various modern compositional techniques. The four movements of the work are impressions based on poems by the great Italian poet G. Ungaretti, who died in 1970 at the age of 82. “Giorno per giorno” (Day by Day) is the title of the cycle on the death of one of his children – in “Music for Orchestra” it is also the title of the entire work and the first movement – and means: pain without consolation and without escape (“some consolation is necessary, my poor broken heart”). The other movement titles are also taken from individual poems or groups of poems by Ungaretti; the second movement, for example, is entitled “Allegria di naufragi” (Joy of Shipwrecks). The risk of these “shipwrecks” is symbolized musically by aleatoric structures (“And suddenly you resume your journey”). The third movement is entitled “La terra promessa” (The Promised Land). The silence of a Mediterranean autumn landscape resounds (“The grapes are ripe, the fields are plowed”). The finale, entitled “Soldati,” begins with a “false fanfare” and, after several restless episodes, builds to an aggressive conclusion (“Death is atoned for in life”).
(Jürg Baur)
Table of contents
| 1. | Andante (poco con moto) | |
| 2. | 'Ich bin eine Kreatur' | (aus Perché) |
| 3. | Allegria di naufragi | |
| 4. | La terra promessa | |
| 6. | 'Der alte Kapitän' | (zu Perché) |
World premiere
World premiere: Aachen, June 2, 1971