Réquialm

For
Soprano and Chamber Orchestra

Instrumentation
1/1/1/1 – 1/1/1/0 – 2 Perc. – H – 2 P – Strings (2/2/2/2/1).

Duration
21′

Lyrics by
Hans HELMS

First performance
April 26, 1989 at deSingel in Antwerp (B). Mireille CAPELLE, soprano. Orchestra of Ghent Conservatory (B) conducted by Roland CORYN.
Commissioned by
Arts Center deSingel, Antwerp (B)

Dedicated to
Harry Halbreich

Publisher
Donemus

Commercial recordings
Cyprès CYP 2609 (2cd)

Luc on “Requialm” :
“Réquialm” for soprano and small orchestra was commissioned by deSingel in 1989. The text is an excerpt from the album “Fa:m ‘ Ahniesgwow” (1959) by the German poet Hans Helms. The work is dedicated to Harry Halbreich. The first performance took place on April 27, 1989 at deSingel in Antwerp with Mireille Capelle, soprano and the New Ensemble of the Ghent Conservatory conducted by Roland Coryn. There are four parts : an introduction, Réquialm 1, Arie de Bett and Réquialm 2. The two title parts are (exception made of the start and ending) identical, but number 2 is to be performed quite faster. The introduction is a kind of invention on the note D and its overtones while the soprano (des)articulates the text (as far as one can consider this a real text) with whispering voice. The Arie de Bett is the most important (and longest) part and can be understood as a kind of study about Mahler-gesturing. This part may be performed separately. This was my first vocal work and it was my intention at the time to use the voice for what it’s supposed to be used : to sing. My collegue and friend Frank Nuyts sent me this “text” by Helms, because I told him that I needed something where I could feel totally free for a first vocal piece. This “non sense” was exactly what I was looking for. On the other hand there are words which can be interpreted (in different languages), and I have been trying to do something with it. There is not so much to be told about the music, except maybe that it builds further on the esthetic and the tone-colour elements of my previous works. In the end music is meant to be listened to…

Harry Halbreich on “Réquialm”

Réquialm, for Soprano and a small orchestra of thirty (seven single winds, two pianos, two percussions and eighteen strings) was written at the beginning of 1989 as a commission from the concert hall deSingel in Antwerp, where Brewaeys was a composer in residence at the time. The premiere took place there on the 27th April 1989, with Mireille Capelle as a soloist and the New Ensemble of the Ghent Conservatoire conducted by Roland Coryn. The piece is dedicated to Harry Halbreich, the writer of the present notes. The text, which was given to the composer by his friend and colleague Frank Nuyts, comes from the collection “Fa:m’ Ahniesgwow” by the German poet Hans Helms, which was published in 1959, the year Brewaeys was born. It consists in a free juxtaposition of German, English and French phonemes, syllables or whole words, but without continuous meaning. This first vocal work by Brewaeys consists in four separate movements, the third of which, and by far the longest, Arie de Bett, can also be performed separately. This is a first significant step towards a still unwritten opera, but one that had an already mighty follower the next year with Non lasciate ogni speranza.
1. Introduction. The composer describes this concise piece as “a kind of invention on the pitch D and its overtones”. Like the whole work, this is based on spectral harmonies. The voice begins with mere whispers, the wind instruments produce only breathing sounds, and the pitch D asserts itself only gradually. In this movement, there is no real singing, the vocal part keeping to strongly accented consonants with undefined pitch, these being in some ways defined and “coloured” by the spectral harmonies of the orchestra.
2. Réquialm 1. Suddenly the orchestra sounds in full splendour, with spectra on D (as dominant of G), partly also in C (as dominant of F). The vocal line remains predominantly in the low register of mezzp-soprano, and unfolds as a recitativo-arioso, mainly on the degrees of a dominant seventh, but “corrected” by micro intervals so as to fit into natural resonance.
3. Arie de Bett. Here the vocal part finally unfolds into a far broader range. The piece’s fundamental pitch in F, sometimes as dominant of B flat, or even as subdominant of C. The small orchestra sounds with all the fulness and splendour of a large symphony orchestra, a normal result of the spectral harmonies: in spite of its many micro intervals, this is pan- or hyperconsonant music!
4. Réquialm 2. A faithful recapitulation of Réquialm 1, but in a faster tempo, with an orchestral introduction twice as long (enlivened by loud interventions of the percussions) and two new closing bars, ending the work on a powerful gesture.