Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Per Nørgård
Wie ein Kind (1980)
- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
- chor
- 16 min
- Adolf Wölfli & Rainer Maria Rilke
Programme Note
I. Wiigen-Lied(Adolf Wölfli)
II. Frühlings-Lied' (Rainer Maria Rilke)
III. Trauermarsch mit einem Unglücksfall (Adolf Wölfli)
In the present work I have aimed at a confrontation of two poetic expressions, one rising from the tortured soul of a schizophrenic: Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930), the other being that of a highly respected and famous poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, who actually knew the works of Wölfli.
The first movement, Lullaby (“Wiigen-Lied”, in Wölfli´s typically sensual spelling) has many psychological aspects, and it is punctuated by strange, distant calls, reminiscent of those of a street vendor or those of a mother calling from way up in a tower block to her child way down in a narrow courtyard.
The second movement, Spring Song (“Frühlings-Lied”, by Rilke) is the song of the happy child, the child in vital harmony: open, playful, sensually aware.
Funeral March with Attendant Minor Accident (“Trauermarsch mit einem Unglücksfall”, by Wölfli), the third movement, repeats the musical themes of the first movement, but a male soloist, who does his best to sing after the fashion of his fellow singers, suffers some embarrasing frustrations.
Adolf Wölfli, a poor, young and mistreated worker, was convicted of attempted child molestation and put in an asylum in Bern in 1895, for life. Painting, writing stories, poems and "composing" became his way of surviving the asylum. His total, rather fantastic oeuvre is around 25.000 pages. Walter Morgenthaler, a doctor at the Waldau Clinic, took a particular interest in Wölfli's art and his condition, published Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler (A Psychiatric Patient as Artist) in 1921 which first brought Wölfli to the attention of the art world.
Per Nørgård (1980)
II. Frühlings-Lied' (Rainer Maria Rilke)
III. Trauermarsch mit einem Unglücksfall (Adolf Wölfli)
In the present work I have aimed at a confrontation of two poetic expressions, one rising from the tortured soul of a schizophrenic: Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930), the other being that of a highly respected and famous poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, who actually knew the works of Wölfli.
The first movement, Lullaby (“Wiigen-Lied”, in Wölfli´s typically sensual spelling) has many psychological aspects, and it is punctuated by strange, distant calls, reminiscent of those of a street vendor or those of a mother calling from way up in a tower block to her child way down in a narrow courtyard.
The second movement, Spring Song (“Frühlings-Lied”, by Rilke) is the song of the happy child, the child in vital harmony: open, playful, sensually aware.
Funeral March with Attendant Minor Accident (“Trauermarsch mit einem Unglücksfall”, by Wölfli), the third movement, repeats the musical themes of the first movement, but a male soloist, who does his best to sing after the fashion of his fellow singers, suffers some embarrasing frustrations.
Adolf Wölfli, a poor, young and mistreated worker, was convicted of attempted child molestation and put in an asylum in Bern in 1895, for life. Painting, writing stories, poems and "composing" became his way of surviving the asylum. His total, rather fantastic oeuvre is around 25.000 pages. Walter Morgenthaler, a doctor at the Waldau Clinic, took a particular interest in Wölfli's art and his condition, published Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler (A Psychiatric Patient as Artist) in 1921 which first brought Wölfli to the attention of the art world.
Per Nørgård (1980)
Media
Nørgård: Wie ein Kind, I. Wiigen-lied
Nørgård: Wie ein Kind, II. Frühlings-lied
Nørgård: Wie ein Kind, III. Trauermarsch Mit Einem Unglücksfall
Discography
More Info
- Wise Music works in upcoming Australian Festivals
- 26th March 2023
- We explore the Wise Music works featured in festival programs across Australia in the coming months.
- The Springtime Return of Renowned Danish Ensembles to the US
- 6th March 2023
- Danish ensembles are set to captivate American classical music audiences this spring with a series of exciting performances.