Lebewohl

About

“Lebewohl (“Farewell”) was conceived as a final celebration, a passage to elsewhere. It has its own uniqueness, while entering into dialogue with Mozart’s Requiem. From the very first sketches, I wondered about the link I wanted to create between this masterful work and mine, which would precede it. I chose to develop, through a particular orchestration (some instruments are tuned a quarter tone lower, the timpani are “prepared” with resonant objects placed on each drum, etc.), three movements with distinct characters, all containing symbolic or musical references to the Requiem—the third, for example, was elaborated with references to the triple meter of Mozart’s Lacrimosa. The first and third movements are slow, while the second is faster.

After the orchestral piece, I imagined a short piece for choir, serving as a transition to the Requiem. Some vocal techniques used are similar to those in the orchestral moment that precedes it: for example, the divisions by two within each group, and the duality of pitch/noise that produces hybrid sonorities with particular colors. Here, half of each vocal group is forte and punctuates the time with four-note chords, while the other half is very soft, in the background, acting as a reverberation, or on the contrary intervening in a noisy way in close relation to the harmonies of the first group.

Lebewohl is thus an experimental space, with ritual inspiration, in which the instrumental—then vocal—textures are intended as a preparation for the peaceful listening of the Requiem.”


Clara Olivares, September 2020