English

Luigi Nono Salvatore Sciarrino

e Testi

SCHOLA HEIDELBERG ensemble aisthesis Walter Nußbaum PAROLE

1 “L’opera d’arte m’attrae nel suo confuso … roughly locked into itself for the sake of formarsi anzi che in una pretesa com­ higher purity. Nono’s works and nature re- piutezza finale.” flect something of the intellectual honesty (The work of art fascinates me more in the which Nietzsche longed for so ardently and confusion of its genesis than in any pre- which is so rarely produced by artists. sumed final fulfillment.) , 1954 Salvatore Sciarrino, 2014 The sound events are mixed in such a man- The mysterious and powerful union betwe­ ner that the listener cannot perceive differ- en sound and words. Word and sound, ences between the original sound and the sound and word: that is singing. In order to time-space, neither in the concert nor when invent a song, it is not enough to compose listening to the recording, i.e. the listener for voice. It is necessary to first clean one’s cannot tell which sounds are being pro- spirit, in order to render the same intervals duced by the players or by the loudspeak- through which all the music in the world has ers at any given moment. passed, mountains of songs – in short, the Hans Peter Haller, 1991 gigantic garbage dump we live in. Ecology is the birth of a conscience in order to take ac- His … goal was to teach you how to pro- tion towards renewal. Thus, the ecology of duce music in one’s imagination, “thinking” sound means reverting to silence, ... only the it in different combined tempi …. This pro- mouth, its cavity, saliva remain. The lips are cedure required knowing what the last note loosened, confined by a dark void, by thirst would be when writing down the first. and by hunger. on , 1987 Luigi Nono Salvatore Sciarrino, 2005 (Restagno, Incontri, 2004)

We must not lose our optimism, but times are F.A.Z.: Your main characteristic? very difficult for culture today. For culture can- Luigi Nono: La nostalgia del futuro – not live by archiving alone. It must develop. If lon­ging for the future. there is no development, there is no future. (F.A.Z., Fragebogen, 3.10.1986) Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino, 2004 (Heidelberg, RNZ, 11.5.2004)

2 3 Salvatore Sciarrino (*1947) Salvatore Sciarrino (*1947)

«L’alibi della parola» a quattro voci (1994) 14:07 «Tre canti senza pietre» a sette voci (1999) 20:16 – for [the] Hilliard Ensemble – 1 I. Pulsar (Augusto de Campos) 3:49 Members of SCHOLA HEIDELBERG: 9 I. (a Michel Serres) (mormorando) 8:13 Members of SCHOLA HEIDELBERG: 2 II. Quasar (Augusto de Campos) 3:56 Sopran: Carola Keil | Mezzo-soprano: Iris 0 II. (Liberamente accompagnando Controtenore: Joachim Buhrmann | 3 III. Futuro remoto (frammento da Wagner-Göttelmann | Contralto: Truike van con le pause) 6:58 Tenore 1: Sebastian Hübner | Tenore 2: Jörg Francesco Petrarca) 2:08 der Poel | Controtenore: Joachim q III. (silenzio è un muro con fessure) Deutschewitz | Basso: Ekkehard Abele 4 IV. Vasi parlanti Buhrmann | Tenore: Sebastian Hübner | 4:49 (pittori vascolari attici) 3:53 Baritono: Matthias Horn | Basso: UlrichMaier Luigi Nono (1924–1990) «Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica» 18:33 B O N U S T R A C K per sei strumenti e percussioni (1951) 5 I. Polifonica – (Adagio/Allegro Luigi Nono (1924–1990) – Per Eunice Katunda [see p. 19 ] – mode- rato/Allegro) 1 0:50 «Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica» 8:31 Newly reconstructed, unabridged 6 II. Monodia – (Largo) 5:51 per sei strumenti e percussioni (1951) w I. Polifonica – (Adagio/Allegro ‚Pre-World-Premiere‘ Version 7 III. Ritmica – (Allegro moderato) 1:52 – Per Eunice Katunda [see p. 19 ] – moderato/Allegro) (First Recording) | ensemble aisthesis: (version abridged by Hermann Scherchen) e II. Monodia – (Largo) Flauto: Brigitte Sauer | Clarinetto: Udo Grimm (live recording of the World Premiere, r III. Ritmica – (Allegro moderato) | Clarinetto basso: Winfried Rager | Saxofono Darmstadt 10.7.1951) alto: Sascha Armbruster | Corno: Erasmus Kowall | Piano: J. Marc Musicians of the Reichow | Percussioni: Dirk Rothbrust | M. Darmstadt Federal Theatre Orchestra TOTAL TIME 68:40 Homann | Boris Müller | Adam Weisman (Orchester des Landestheaters) ======conductor: Hermann Scherchen Luigi Nono: «Sarà dolce tacere» Canto per otto soli [SATB-SATB] da 8 Sarà dolce tacere 7:13 ‚La terra e la morte‘ di Cesare Pavese – a Bruno Maderna per il 21 aprile 1960 – Members of SCHOLA HEIDELBERG: Soprano 1: Carola Keil | Soprano 2: Iris Tenore 1: Joachim Buhrmann | Tracks 1 – 7 co-produced by Hessischer Rundfunk / hr2 Wagner-Göttelmann | Alto 1: Truike van der Tenore 2: Sebastian Hübner | Basso 1: Tracks w – r with friendly permission of Staatsorchester Darmstadt, Myriam Scherchen, Poel | Alto 2: Barbara Ostertag | Matthias Horn | Basso 2: Martin Backhaus Nuria Schoenberg Nono and IMD Darmstadt

4 5 Sinòssi – Lives & Works, a Selection 1944 * Massimo Cacciari (Venice) 1956 Nono, Zur Entwicklung der Serien- 1945 Cesare Pavese, Anche tu sei collina, 2.–4.7.1951 Second International Dodeca- technik (lecture in Gravesano, published as 1866 * Ferruccio Busoni (Empoli), H. G. in: La terra e la morte (Earth and Death) phony Congress and Darmstadt Summer an essay) Wells (Bromley) 28.4.1945 Liberation of Venice Course; there, among others: 1956 WP Nono, Il canto sospeso (Cologne, 1874 * (Vienna) 1947 Nono, graduation from law school 2.7.1951 WP Schoenberg, Tanz um das conducted by Scherchen) 1882 * Gian Francesco Malipiero (Venice) (Padua) and encounter with (lessons from, goldene Kalb from: (con- 1957 , encounter with 1883 * Edgar(d) Varèse (Paris) friendship with) Bruno Maderna ducted by Scherchen) Nono 1891 * Hermann Scherchen (Berlin) 4.4.1947 * Salvatore Sciarrino (Palermo) 10.7.1951 World Premiere Nono, 1957 Nono, Die Entwicklung der Reihentech- 1904 * Luigi Dallapiccola (Mitterburg/Pazin) 1948 Maderna, Nono, Eunice Katunda par- Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica nik and Schoenberg Seminar (Darmstadt) 1908 * Cesare Pavese (Cuneo) ticipate in Scherchen’s conducting course in (abridged and conducted by Scherchen) 1958–1960 Helmut Lachenmann studies 1912 Scherchen participates in the prepara- Venice: friendship and mutual inspiration 13.7.1951 † Arnold Schoenberg (Los Angeles) with Nono (Venice) tion for the world premiere (WP) of Schoen- 1950 Scherchen conducts and speaks in 1952 Nono and Maderna join the CPI 1958 Nono attends the Warsaw Autumn berg’s Pierrot lunaire op. 21 (Berlin) Prague, whereupon a campaign begins and 1952 WP Nono, Epitaffio per Federico Festival and writes Diario polacco ’58 14.3.1915 * Eunice Katunda (Rio de Janeiro) his contract in Winterthur (CH) is cancelled; García Lorca No 1 (Darmstadt, conducted 1960 Nono, Text-Musik-Gesang (lecture in 1919 * Emilio Vedova (Venice) founding of the publishing house Ars Viva by Bruno Maderna), No 2 (Baden-Baden, Darmstadt, published as an essay) 1920 Scherchen, founding of MELOS (Berlin) (Zurich) conducted by ) 21.4.1960 Nono, Sarà dolce tacere, com- 21.4.1920 * Bruno Maderna (Venice) 1950 Nono participates in the Darmstadt 1953 No 3 (Hamburg, conducted by posed and dedicated to Bruno Maderna 29.1.1924 * Luigi Nono (Venice) Summer Course for the first time; there, Maderna) on his 40th birthday 27.7.1924 † Ferruccio Busoni (Berlin) among others: 1953 Publishing house Ars Viva taken over 7.2.1961 its World Premiere (Washington) 1924 Schoenberg in Italy, ten performances 20.8.1950 German Premiere (GP) of by B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz 13.4.1961 WP Nono, of Pierrot lunaire Schoenberg,­ A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46 12.3.1954 WP (in concert) Schoenberg, (Venice, conducted by Bruno Maderna), 1930 * Michel Serres (Agen) 26.8.1950 WP Maderna, Composizione II Moses und Aron (Hamburg, conducted dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg 1931 * Augusto de Campos (São Paulo) (conducted by Scherchen), by Rosbaud), Nono first encounters Nuria 1965 Nono, first visit to Los Angeles 1932 * Nuria Schoenberg (Barcelona) 27.8.1950 WP (scandal) Nono, Variazi- Schoenberg 1965 † Edgar(d) Varèse (New York?) 1935 Scherchen, founding of the publishing one canoniche sulla serie dell’op.41 di A. 1954 Scherchen founds his own studio in 12.6.1966 † Hermann Scherchen after house Ars viva (Brussels) Schoenberg (conducted by Scherchen) Gravesano (Ticino) a heart attack suffered while conducting a 1935 * Helmut Lachenmann (Stuttgart) Edgard Varèse in Darmstadt (GP of Ionisa- 1954 Nono, Liebeslied, dedicated to Nuria work by Malipiero (Florence) 1937 Scherchen moves to Switzerland tion, among other works) 1955 Nono, Canti per 13 and Incontri, mar- 1967 Sciarrino, Un fruscìo lungo trent’anni 1942 f. Nono studies law in Padua; also 27.8.1950 † Cesare Pavese (suicide, Turin) ries Nuria Schoenberg (A Thirty-Year Swishing) for 4 percussionists studies music with Malipiero and his student 1951 Nono composes the Fucik and 1955 (–1966) Scherchen, Gravesaner Blätter (published 1999) Raffaele Cumar Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica (publication series) 1973 WP Sciarrino, Amore e Psiche

6 7 1.8.1973 † Gian Francesco Malipiero 1990f. Sciarrino, Perduto in una città d’acque (Treviso) (per pianoforte), inspired by a visit to Nono 13.11.1973 † Bruno Maderna (Darmstadt) during his illness in Venice 1973 Nono, essay Erinnerung an zwei Musi- 3.8.1990 † Eunice Katunda (São José dos ker (Malipiero and Maderna) Campos) 1975 Augusto de Campos, Caixa preta 1991 WP Sciarrino, Morte a Venezia (concrete/graphic poetry) 1993 Opening of the Archivio Luigi Nono 1975 † Luigi Dallapiccola (Florence) (Venice) 1978 WP Sciarrino, Aspern 22.04.1994 WP Sciarrino, L’Alibi della 1979 WP Nono, Con Luigi Dallapiccola parola, Witten Days of Chamber Music 1980 WP Nono, Fragmente – Stille, An (Hilliard Ensemble) Diotima 18.1.1997 rehearsal performance of an 1984 WP Sciarrino, Lohengrin unabridged version of Polifonica – Mono- 1984 WP . Tragedia dell’ascolto dia – Ritmica from the parts “before” the WP (first version, Venice) (Venice, Ex Novo Ensemble, conducted by 1986–1988 Nono in Berlin (DAAD, Wissen- Diego Masson) schaftskolleg, HdK) 1998 WP Sciarrino, Luci mie traditrici (The March 1987 Nono’s conversations with Killing Flower), (Schwetzingen) Enzo Restagno (published in Hofheim, 2004) 1998 WP Sciarrino, Infinito nero 1988 WP Nono, La lontananza nostalgica 16.6.1999 Sciarrino, WP Cantare con silenzio utopica futura … (dedicated to Salvatore (Stuttgart, conducted by M. Schreier) Sciarrino) (Berlin) 1999 Sciarrino, Tre canti senza pietre 8.5.1990 † Luigi Nono (Venice) 7.3.2000 WP Tre canti senza pietre (Neue 11.5.1990 Nono’s funeral (San Michele, Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Witten) Venice); in the presence of Luciano Berio, 2000 GP original version of Polifonica – Massimo Cacciari, Hans Peter Haller, Hans- Monodia – Ritmica, (Berlin, Ensemble Werner Henze, Helmut Lachenmann, Gia- UnitedBerlin, conducted by Peter Hirsch) como Manzoni, Maurizio Pollini, Salvatore 2002 WP Sciarrino, Macbeth Sciarrino, Jürg Stenzl, Emilio Vedova et al. 2004 Salvatore Sciarrino in Heidelberg (SCHOLA HEIDELBERG with Cantare con silenzio) Walter Nußbaum and Nuria Schoenberg Nono (Heidelberg, March 2017)

8 9 J. Marc Reichow prints of the Biblioteca Marciana, or: Again and again, the two paper either: Scherchen, a pioneer of ra- Music, or: Life in Anachronisms discovering Lorca (thanks to his Bra- dimensions of a notation result in dio and studio music and a reformer zilian muse Eunice), or the fiery silence three-dimensional sound-spaces, of music dissemination via media in As we know today, like no other me- in his own country, in Pavese’s coun- which only begin to appear large or general, recognized the possibili- dium, the digital disc embodies the try, the terrible earth. deeper when music comes to life ties inherent in divorcing music from transience, even obsolescence of the Or, elsewhere, only minutes before within them. And like space, musical the superficiality of its performance physical medium at the same time or after, we might see the ageless time seems deep and deeper when conditions – towards “pure”, or, as he as its actual function, the coding and Sciarrino, the time-traveler who finds measured against the time of the lis- liked to put it, “autonomous” music. conveying of burned, pressed abso- language in the surfaces of antique tening individual. Only in this measure As early as 1930 (or as late as 1930), lute time via data texts – but its form vases, in their reflections and inscrip- does music live, and in this symbio- as if an echo to the visionary Busoni stands not least for handy, sellable tions – he also finds it, turning back a sis. Playback, reading, rendition of (died 1924), and as if in preview to the and ownable music. We present a few pages of the score, in the com- its conservation within media gives it audio oeuvre of Nono (born 1924), CD with works by two composers in puter script of concrete poetry; he presence and allows it to occupy the Scherchen wrote: which the central subjects are time reads it into the breath of the same listener’s memory – and yet, in the “Since the radio listener is noth- and the lack of simultaneity of the singers, as if for himself. beginning, it bears its profundity only ing but a listener, reliant only on the works’ components. In the beginning and in the end, as a potential. No piece of music re- perception of his ear, the reproduc- The foundation of all “our” music music is always both: a struggle with veals its complete fullness at the first tion before the microphone must do seems to be its life in texts – before or the silence of the present, or with performance, whether complete or without all the helping circumstances during its genesis, but also during its the presence of silence, our pres- partial. It is never the entire work, but which accompany musical perception interpretation, performance, “imple- ent and our silence, and at the same it contains the entire work within, as a in public as elements of performance, mentation”. time listening to the decades-long, promise. conveying emotions or arousing inter- Even when listening, what remains to Sciarrino even eternal swishing of Especially for a man of action like est merely as movements, indepen- before the inner eye is the work on those songs made of words or made the conductor, sound and studio re- dent from the music. Music on the ra- layers of text – a task that is centuries in words. searcher Hermann Scherchen, a radi- dio must be pure music, as its listener old, but learned ever anew, work with cally practical man and young Nono’s perceives it only as such.” words, on signifiers, on notations and “Without a sound-space, music is unimagi- most important mentor who acted as script. nable. The composer writes in a space, a midwife to his early works, music Even if in 2017, the notion of classi- We see the young Nono, side by for a space. The space becomes a formal lived not in its practice, but only in its cal radio broadcasting might seem as side with Maderna, his teacher who function of his composition.” transcendence. He saw no contra- anachronistic as the notion and form had also become a friend, studying (H. P. Haller, 1991) diction between the ideal and reason of a physical, rotating music medium the ancient musical manuscripts and – nor rationality and radio suitability – we still understand them as the cen-

10 11 ter of mechanical reproduction of the tion within itself, yet it takes place, as his close friend Bruno Maderna), as a Salvatore Sciarrino work of art. As part of its conveying, it “also always” did in Scherchen’s composer Sciarrino made a habit of Words about but hardly as a substitute. case, with the conviction that here is studying ‘ancient music’ from Mach- L’alibi della parola – Even today, work on the presumed something absolute, deserving to be aut via Gesualdo to Bach, the Scarlat- The Word’s Alibi (1994) text of the work of art consists of set against linear time. tis and Mozart. His more recent works anachronisms – even in the age of Several strands are tied together have been called ‘dramas of listening’ Four texts of different provenance: internet orders, print-on-demand in the genesis of these recordings, – and ‘tragedia dell’ascolto’ (tragedy contemporary visual poetry, courtly and cloud databases, the interpre- leading into more than one laby- of listening) is Nono’s genre label for lines by Petrarch, and specific painted tational process of approaching a rinth or into the internet’s resources his Prometeo.” inscriptions on Greek vases. work requires a multitude of printed, (www.polifonicamonodiaritmica.de), (J. Stenzl, Continent Sciarrino, New formal solutions demand to published texts based on hand-writ- but moreover, connecting several Salzburg 2008) be sought out gradually, requiring un- ten manuscripts, editor’s corrections, continents. Life in anachronisms: at the moment usual approaches too. philological and pragmatic doubts Jürg Stenzl, a major expert on both of resounding, a work is congruent First of all, let us ponder the con- in the text and the performers’ own Nono and Sciarrino, expressed this in within itself and with itself. Resound- temporary text: the visual quality of the corrections, color copies and pencil 2008 as follows: ing, it comes alive. poems by the Brazilian Augusto de markings – that is what our story of “Nono dedicated La lontananza No version of Polifonica – Mono­ Campos, their space that is mechani- Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica nostalgica utopica futura … to Salva- dia – Ritmica that is available and cally delineated by the computer, have (p. 18f.) will show. tore Sciarrino ‘caminante esemplare’ ready to be heard could be more been transposed into musical articula- Indeed, it would show it, but it (Salvatore Sciarrino, the ‘exemplary wrong than the “new” version to be tion – but not in the sense of limita- would remain as irrelevant to Nono’s wanderer’). … Thus, in many ways heard here; and yet none has been tions, but as a veritable inspiration of “pure music” as the knowledge of the the ‘Continent Sciarrino’ has become closer to the original form of the work, other linguistic situations. It is about program (i.e. the poetic program – far interwoven since the 1980s with Luigi which never existed and was never more than the usual neighbor-relation- from computer sciences; cf. p. 20) Nono’s pathless, unlimited oceans. meant to. ship of music and words. that is hidden within Monodia. Sciarrino also explores microton- The fact that in 2019, KlangForum al areas, he reduced his materials, Thus, let us dare to look back upon 1 I. Pulsar (after Augusto de Cam- Heidelberg presents a CD of its two creating very soft music of the most new music.And why not do so pos) leads to a radical control of vocal ensembles with recordings that are al- delicate nuances by using highly dif- everytime anew, at every listening, utterances, steadfastly marking the ready ten years old, is achieved with a ferentiated sounds, unmistakable with every work? limit between breathing and sing- conscious acknowledgement that the poetry in which an intake of breath – ing. In the continuous flow of sound medium may be an anachronism of or the sound of an instrument’s key – waves, the verses find their place like itself, bearing a whiff of self-destruc- may become an event. Like Nono (and preconceived elements; however,

12 13 in the end their sequence seems to context, the text becomes intelligible; without any forms of life, a disturbing bleak eternity, or is it the echo of man- be changed by the superimposition it is sufficient to ensure the relevance planet: it is our earth, seen from a per- kind, which has disappeared? of excerpt-like readings. Asterisks, (due to) each particle every time. spective that seems far too large from E quasi in terra d’erbe which replace the letter E in Campos’ A sequence chosen according to vari- the human point of view. ignuda et erma, writing, and superscript dots replac- ous criteria, on the other hand, cre- Petrarch created the same image in né „fia“ né „fu“ né „mai“ ing the letter O, are differentiated in ates parallel texts which cannot be the “Triumph of Eternity” (Trionfi, 1374). né „inanzi“ o „’ndietro“. sound with the help of appropriate easily identified. Due to a continuous It is unique, incidentally, that here (Francesco Petrarca, utterances. The size of the symbols blossoming of overlapping and se- a believer was able to express a fu- Triumphus Aeternitatis) here corresponds to relative levels of quential readings of metrical relations, ture in which the meaning of life itself dynamics. the entire construct begins to float; seems dried up. [ No swiftness now, this is why the density of the mixture Music, then, wants to absorb the as there had been before. 2 II. Perhaps the setting of Quasar is somewhat homogeneous. apparition of emptiness here, as the As on an empty plain, (after de Campos) is about the mon- In allusion to the cyclical nature of eternal reverberation of echoes. Is it I now could see strous fascination of the automat. the procedure, one particle from the a surviving voice which tells us of this No “shall be” or “has been,” Throughout the piece, the sing- start seals the Quasar. “ne’er” or ‘before” ers are asked to separate phonemes Or “after,” filling life mechanically: this chanting or scan- 3 III. Futuro remoto – Distant with doubtfulness. ] ning as a rhythmic palpation on a pre- future (after a fragment by Fran- linguistic level, from which the listener cesco Petrarch) 4 IV. Vasi parlanti – Eloquent Vas- puts together the continuity of words I have had no opportunity to judge es (Inscriptions on ancient vessels) and senses, composing in the literal the nature of the relationship between The Greek art of painting on vases sense. H. G. Wells and Francesco Petrarch in displays their world in impressive The poem appears (or moves) greater detail. Yet precisely because completeness to us, even in detail, in within a closed framework of six let- so many centuries seem to divide the privacy of individual existence – as ters in six lines each. Musically, such them, a most odd fact must be re- if the Greeks had been reflected in the visual unity is created by reading ported. surface of their vases and these mir- simultaneously in a vertical reading In Wells’ novel The Time Machine rors still contained their images. The (limited to 4 of 6 lines), resulting in a (1895), the protagonist is able to travel potter, the painter, the persons por- significant complexity of the sound through time. However, when he push- trayed, the donor or recipient – they spectrum. If the order of these simul- es the lever of his machine to the floor, all speak and sing to us in a powerful taneities is gradual, ordered and in he finds himself on a desert planet figurative language, in which writing

14 15 O O O O O (Vowels in front of the mouth Specifically, Kopp identified stylis- J. Marc Reichow of Alcaeus: musical notation?) tic inspiration from the sphere of the Looking Back upon a New Work STANDING ERECT (a lover during inter- madrigal in the “sighing” gesture of – or, “what the listener does not course) the first piece, or the echo sounds know…” LILISLIS LOLOSLOS (nonsense?) that give the third piece its form, as LOOK, A SWALLOW well as, in the fourth piece, in the At the time, we were already familiar – YES TO HERACLES “wealth of different ornamentations, with the only known version of Poli­ – HERE WE ARE, ALREADY IN SPRING- which Sciarrino notes anachronisti- fonica – Monodia – Ritmica, which TIME (short dialogue). cally in abbreviations …. On the other had been abridged by Hermann hand, it would be too short-sighted to Scherchen without anyone’s knowl- In 2001, on the occasion of a concert interpret such ‘borrowing’ as an indi- edge, and had gratefully taken up the by SCHOLA HEIDELBERG, the com- cation of (neo-)classicism. The stylistic project of a “reconstruction of the poser Jan Kopp described Sciarrino’s elements used by Sciarrino are not original version” for concert purposes vocal style: fragmented, but rather they undergo in 1999. In this process, we had prag- “… sudden changes between long- a transformation and ‘re-motivation’ in matically dealt with the usual number held notes and short ones, in the spirit Sciarrino’s own musical morphology. of mistakes and contradictions in the of the madrigalists of the late 16th and One significant example for this is the printed material. early 17th century: departing from relationship between language and Given the prospect of a recording also has its place. structural and resounding virtuosity, music in L’alibi della parola: unlike – during this late flowering of public I have compiled some of these in- from artificial and rapid sequences in early music, Sciarrino’s expressive radio, such things were still possible scriptions; delicate lines escaping lips of notes and the interweaving of nu- content is not related to linguistic im- as co-productions – the project, how- eternally opened. merous noises, in Sciarrino’s case ages. Rather, the texts … (some of ever, acquired a special dynamic and vocalism often approaches a kind of them semantically nonsensical) are a an additional problem at the “wrong UNCHAIN ME dream-like speaking or whispering direct lever for the formation of sound time”. For a systematic attempt to (Ulysses, bound to the mast of his ship, – far from grand dramatic gestures; and structure, and thus – absorbed correct mistakes by no means re- hearing the siren song) registering seismographic, minute by the music and absorbing it at the duced the contradictions, but simply NETENARENETENETO (onomatopoeic stirrings of the psyche. In this sense, same time – they only ‘speak’ through shifted them – from our point of view flute) Sciarrino’s vocal music is ’mannerist‘, their musicalization.” – into a grey zone of the editor’s or TOTOTE TOTE (onomatopoetic ) equally naturalistic and illuminating the (after Jan Kopp, 2001) publisher’s ambiguity and disagree- ETOT (dito, perhaps read backwards) abyss through allusions.” ment. Despite the helpfulness of in- dividual employees at the publishing

16 17 house (and the traces of very pains- of new music, but also the differentia- the technical-structural type of the that it goes back to Webern, while the taking corrections, presumably by tion and combination of articulation work’s title and quickly vanished from truth is that it is based on the song of the hand of conductor Peter Hirsch), marks and the effects of collective the history of the work’s reception: Yemanya – that is the goddess of the only the 4-kilogram package of color indicators of dynamic processes for “In 1948, when Scherchen gave his sea in Brazil. It is a ceremonial song copies – which arrived soon after the individual instruments, and finally conducting course, a group of thirty which the native people in Brazil in- phone calls “to Berlin” (Scherchen’s a very specific problem of dodeca- Brazilians came to Venice. … Among tone as they throw wreaths dedicated estate at the Academy of the Arts) phonic and serial instrumental music, these Brazilians was a very talented to the goddess into the sea: it was and finally “with Venice”, with Dr. Erika namely the issue of octave doublings pianist and composer whose name Katunda who taught it to us. I took Schaller and Nuria Schoenberg Nono in the piano part. was Eunice Katunda. She was half- this material and used it in Polifonica – brought about a turning-point: it What was immediately impres- Indian from Mato Grosso, and Scher- – Monodia – Ritmica, both with re- seemed to hail directly from “Darm- sive was how the inkling of a different chen initiated a bond of friendship gards to rhythm and to intervals.” stadt 1951”, as a materialized missive world premiere than that given on between her, Bruno Maderna and me. (March 1987, quoted according to from the epicenter of post-war mod- July 10, 1951 under Hermann Scher- These were the years of the Popular Incontri – Luigi Nono im Gespräch ernism, that timeless, mythical place chen began to form “behind” all the Front with its violent climate of new mit Enzo Restagno, Hofheim 2004) that had achieved its status not least practical indications and cuts in this departures, and Katunda was a com- due to (successful!) world premieres material: an inkling of a theoretical munist. Bruno and I only joined the What Luigi Nono described here, such as that of Polifonica – Monodia world premiere as it might have taken party in 1952, but even then we were 40 years after the fact, is further – Ritmica. Copies of the score and place in the imagination of the young active in the party. Thus, there was a elaborated by musicologists and ar- individual parts, signed by the players composer Nono. (One way or another, profound unity of conviction between chival studies – for example by Erika in keeping with tradition, in color and it was the second important perfor- us and Katunda, and she provided Schaller, who published an article in original size, promised the true Urtext mance of one of his works after the the first information about the rhythms 2003 about “looking over the com- that would clarify numerous details. scandalous success of his Variazioni of the Mato Grosso, which in certain poser’s shoulder” (hence the title Suffice it to mention – anticipating canoniche the year before.) ways anticipated the lessons Varèse Dem Komponisten über die Schulter everything the listener does not need Unlike the later printed versions, had to impart. The most extraordinary geschaut). In order to “aid a profound to know, but may read on the inter- one of the clean manuscript co­pies thing, however, which we experi- understanding of the work”, she used net (cf. www.polifonicamonidiaritmica. of the Polifonica movement bears enced together, was the discovery of Nono’s sketches for the Monodia de) – for example the validity and the dedication (or the indication of a García Lorca, whom Katunda already movement (among other elements). consequence of signs for transposing gift) “PER EUNICE CATUNDA” (sic) in knew well. (… What is) special is that In a similar manner to his variations of to various octaves and instruments Nono’s characteristic capital letters, … Polifonica – Monodia – Ritmica audibly “Brazilian” rhythmical models and for naturals, which is a standard revealing a source of inspiration and … is also based on a Brazilian song. in the other two movements, Nono problem in the performance practice possibly a key which hardly matches Everyone says about this last work develops an endless Monodia from

18 19 the above-mentioned Yemanya pragmatism strikes us with which the the attempted correspondence with fact that this situation forced us (mor- material, which the instruments pass score and parts of the Darmstadt ma- the publisher’s editors via email on ally) to exploit the sources ourselves, between each other, often hardly terial had been prepared, or perhaps May 21, 2005: for the most part, and to take on the noticeably or only noticeable in ret- one should say mauled: hand-written, “In fact, for rehearsals Mr. Nußbaum work of comparison of versions and rospect, and this form of passing on easily legible and playable parts, cut used a score synopsis compiled by the editorial role. Ultimately the Urtext messages corresponds in several with colored pencils by another hand, us, with color indications for the vari- was collated from individual cop- ways to an idea of spiritual and socio- eliminating pages and pages of mu- ous variants (articulation, phrasing, ied pages, distributed on the floor of political communion. Thus, despite sic. “Poor Nono cried bitterly,” it says playing instructions, tempo markings), Frankfurt’s Sendesaal in the spring the hidden nature of the program, in one of Scherchen’s letters on the while the individual parts were re- of 2005. the “intense experience of nature and subject, and given the materials used constructions of the parts written by This, however, was followed by an- love” leads to “a political engagement for his world premiere, even in 2005 Nono himself for the world premiere, other anachronistic turn or loop – a – albeit one that is necessarily ex- it was obvious why. It was clear now ‘before Scherchen’s interventions’. detour back through musicological treme” (Schaller) – in other words, to (and only now) that the “short” Scher- This seemed to us the most sen- literature in Italian, through archival an attitude which was difficult to com- chen version of the world premiere sible point of departure – of course it substitutes for missing prefaces or bine with the “pure, ‘objective’ musical was much further removed from the is hardly compatible with the editorial critical reports, ending up at the point idiom” of the Darmstadt avant-garde “reconstruction of the original version” practice of creating a Spielfassung or of the work’s second birth, described in 1951: “Extra-musical content was on our music stands, published with- “stage version” like the rental mate- in a Venetian congress report dated considered reactionary, viewed from out a preface, explanations or critical rial, for in many questions of detail, 1997 (cf. www.polifonicamonodiarit- this aesthetic perspective”. reports, than just a few steps or cuts. such a diversity of the material only mica.de). After a trial performance of The programmatic descriptions In order to save our recording project leads to questions being asked, and Scherchen’s short version and Nono’s correspond to the sequence as – a question of “intellectual honesty”, the rehearsal process becomes more original version, both played from the shown here on p. 36 (based on to use one of Scherchen’s character- intense, but also longer and more materials used for the world premiere, Schaller and Rizzardi, cf. izations of Nono – the only practical expensive.” a listening comparison had led to a www.polifonicamonodiaritmica.de). possibility was the construction of One of the anachronisms of musi- resolution to “reconstruct the original a synoptic score on the basis of the cal life already indicated earlier – and version”. Where the spirit of an Afro-Brazilian publisher’s materials (which, at that one that seems paradoxical in the Ever since, any exploration of the Yoruba goddess lives inside Nono’s time, still bore the name of an editor). age of mechanical reproduction and work – be it from the viewpoint of “cerebral” (Scherchen) youthful work, A more extensive documentation telecommunications – but one that performance practice or of the edi- on the outside barbarianism had can be found at www.polifonicamono- also offered valuable learning pro- tor – presumably has taken place at raged – that is how, at first glance, diaritmica.de. In order to describe the cesses in the day and age of general this interface – and, strictly speak- back on another level of time, the situation, it shall suffice to reproduce belief in the Urtext gospel, was the ing, any renting of the materials too.

20 21 Until 2005, no responsible edition had AGAINST his work is its truly cerebral sense) of Punctualism or Pointillism, hand on the serial composition tech- been established, but in confident nature, which I had toned down to a but at the same time considers the niques which had emerged from the retrospection, we know that after sup- mere minimum – and also by shorten- work the overcoming of Punctual- instrumental compositions of the plying a synopsis and list of correc- ing (!) it to 1/3 of its length ism; he interprets its transformation “” since the begin- tions (or accounting) several pages a fact which truly is no recommen- processes as sociopolitical develop- ning of the 1950s; on the other hand, long, the further history of the new dation for the NECESSITY of such mu- ments of tonal points into associations on an understanding of language work with the old title Polifonica – sical creativity of forms, even “social” associations. which, according to Nono, was in- Monodia – Ritmica should be differ- everyone was shouting: ‘repeat’ Boehmer also emphasizes the conti- spired by the philosophy of Maurice ent, and better. but I refused nuity between Nono’s structural musi- Merleau-Ponty. Both prerequisites Its first history was an ambigu- luckily NONO seems intellectually cal idiom and his relationship with the pointed Nono in the same direction: ous one, marked by the two-faced honest enough, on the basis of the word: towards a fragmentation of linguistic role of the mentor and midwife: baton experience, that he will forego drawing “Nono’s characteristic treatment of and musical entities and their “re- in one hand, scissors in the other. the wrong conclusions from this suc- text has its roots in purely musical prin- composition” in a form of vocal mu- However, any rough criticism of Her- cess.” ciples, such as the composer developed sic which tied linguistic and musical mann Scherchen is misguided, like from his earliest works. Their observation structural elements closely together. criticism of any successful midwife. Long after Scherchen’s score, we also also illuminates the specialties of Nono’s Briefly outlined, Nono’s under- Like the above-mentioned Venetians, closed ours, but our conclusion and language and Nono’s relationship with standing of language, which he de- we recommend a listening compari- our recommendation would be differ- musical time and its articulation.” scribed in detail in his 1960 lecture son and provide the recording of the ent: “repeat” – and instead of reading, Text – Musik – Gesang (Text – Music world premiere of his version in the try listening! After all, in the presence Jan Kopp, Notes on – Song), is based on the assumption appendix for discussion. Furthermore, of the resounding work, it is especially 8 Luigi Nono – Sarà dolce tacere that not only words and sentences, we recommend reading Scherchen’s “… what the listener does not know” (2002, on the occasion of a concert by but also individual syllables and pho- letters, especially when he discusses which is transient and ephemeral. SCHOLA HEIDELBERG) nemes convey meaning, and therefore the dilemma of his protégé Nono after www.polifonicamonodiaritmica.de are “important” in a more general the success of the world premiere, features not only our insights on the Between 1955 and 1963, Luigi Nono linguistic sense. Accordingly, larger which he described as follows on July textual critique of the work, but also a wrote a series of choral works – start- units of language, i.e. words and sen- 11, 1951: reference to a remarkable essay writ- ing with Il canto sospeso and rang- tences, also seem combinations of “NONO was celebrated like hardly ten by the composer and Nono com- ing to the Canciones a Guiomar – in such simple meanings. Nono found any of the young ones – at the end of rade Konrad Boehmer in 1968, who which he developed a new form of the musical correlate of this under- the piece, there were general shouts describes the work as one of the most choral writing and text setting. This standing of language in a serial – or of ‘Bravo’ and jubilation – what argues “symptomatic” works (in the positive development was based on the one more accurately, a punctual – com-

22 23 position technique, which holds that Rather, Nono’s understanding of in its re-composition in the acoustic And it is not your land. every single note has an independent the melody brings to mind a great space.” There is a silence that endures expressive quality. Starting from this room in which the reverberation of Among the plants and hills. premise, creating larger musical and song is always heard alongside the Cesare Pavese, There are streams and fi elds. 2:46 linguistic contexts of meaning means note as a shadow, an echo or a de- 8 Anche tu sei collina [1945] Your are an impenetrable silence amalgamating isolated individual lay. The double-chorus structure of You too are the hill That yields nothing, you are lips events in a meaningful confi guration. Sarà dolce tacere also points in this And lightless eyes. You are the Nono used the term “melody” for direction: to a musical tradition which You too are the hill vineyard his own music; however, he differen- has to do with the architectural and And the sonty path It is a land that awaits 3:36 tiated it from its traditional mean- acoustic characteristics of the Ca- And the game among the reeds, And says not a word. ing: “It is a melody of simultaneity, in thedral of San Marco in Venice, and And you know the vineyard Days have passed which the uniform rhythmic value is which was familiar to the Venetian Which is silent by night. Beneath burning skies. differentiated in its duration and rela- Nono. However, musical space was You say not a word. 1:01 You have played among the clouds. tion. … The melody should not be no mere acoustic phenomenon for There is a land that is silent, 1:30 It is a hard land – understood in its sequential perspec- Nono, as he pointed out with regard Your brow knows that well. tive, which is typical for tonal music.” to Schoenberg: “Special emphasis In other words: in a traditional melody, must be placed on [Schoenberg’s] one note follows the other in one innovations to the technique and func- voice; this sequence is given a clear tion of the double chorus: this is no direction by the accompanying (tonal) playing with the sound­space, but the harmonics. Nono’s “melody”, on the expressive fullness of a text which is other hand, is articulated by several now achieved within the space by a voices, so that the same melody tone double and different sound projec­ can resound simultaneously in differ- tion.” The importance of Cesare Pavese ent lengths, dynamics and sound col- In this spirit, Nono also commented (1908–1950) for Luigi Nono and his ors, and subsequent notes are occa- upon Sarà dolce tacere: vocal music has been variously ex- sionally superimposed. The common “the fi nding and re­encountering of amined. References to literature by differentiation between melody and the ability to communicate, of words, Stenzl, Schaller and Breuninger et al. harmony thereby becomes obsolete, phonemes which are shaped into just as the one between homophonic bearers of musical meaning in the can be found at www.polifonicamono­ and polyphonic settings. apparent ‘fragmentation’ of language diaritmica.de .

24 25 This too is the vineyard. Salvatore Sciarrino, Notes on The music will explain the second Anyone who has managed to fol- You will find again the clouds 4:40 Tre canti senza pietre (1999) Canto (0 II.). Regarding the third low this explanation may replace the And the reed-bed, and the voices (q III.), it is necessary to point out an term “spoken sentence” with the term Like a shadow of the moon. The “Three Songs without Stones” important device: “sound image”, and then he may gain You will find again words 5:15 are taken from a cycle for voices and Take, for example, any spoken sen- a better understanding of what my Beyond the brief life, instruments – Cantare con silen- tence and a few equally long periods aim is. the dark life of the games, zio (Singing with Silence) – in which of time. We shall let them interweave Beyond flaming childhood. the pattering of pebbles emphasizes in such a way that the sentence is 9 I. (omaggio a Michel Serres) some important moments. Compared temporarily interrupted and flows past (murmuring) Sarà dolce tacere 5:43 to the original version, the solo flute us as if in slow motion, but fitfully and Silence shall be sweet and the live electronics have disap- repeatedly. This results in a kind of clear knowledge produces certainty peared; in return, a seventh voice has ostinato which changes unnoticeably, and the certainty a shadow You are the earth and the vineyard. been incorporated into the group, a window by window. The direction of of ignorance. You A flaming silence countertenor. The work begins with a our reading depends on the relation- next to what you understand Will burn the countryside kind of initiation (9 I.). What seemed ship between the expansion of the learn what you do not understand As a beacon at evening. like a mere performance instruction time frame, the volume of the sen- nourish the solitude (translated by Richard Stokes) reveals its inherent character. In the tence and the speed of its flow. There- yes, do part: exit following, I quote an odd performance fore, the sentence can run in the same towards the intersection of the winds instruction, since it offers food for direction as time (from left to right) or you don't know which one will touch you thought: while the countertenor sings, in the opposite direction (from right to discover the other, that which gener- he is to press a handkerchief between left). In the first case, the sentence first ates in you. his lips; he is supposed shows itself within the sections with (Salvatore Sciarrino) “not to try too hard to make himself its end, and then disappears from understood, but not to act completely the window with its beginning; the 0 II. passively either. The adaptation of the sentence will seem strange to us, it voice (and the listener’s ear) to the remains recognizable in its elements, Lots of things and sand tear away obstacle requires a certain amount but it loses intelligibility, since the con- with them of time: one must take that into ac- texts are unclear. In the second case, Things and sand, which then form count in order to achieve the right the sentence remains intact, starting One dam. Suddenly suppressed sound and the necessary with the beginning and disappearing the river stops flowing degree of semi-intelligibility.” at the end. because he flowed before.

26 27 q III. J. Marc Reichow different accents to the musical Epilogo events. In front of a microphone, noise through an eternal swishing, is nothing but noise, and must take the emptiness testifi es to its existence The live recording of the world pre- the place of the visible gestures of en- within the luminous apparitions miere of Polifonica – Monodia – Rit­ thusiasm or fatigue of the performers, of all possibilities. For that, mica should not tempt the listener to the place of the powers of music itself, the quantum blank is the infi nite con- consider Hermann Scherchen naïve which must be awakened delicately. tainer. or insensitive. One composer subject Because of the microphone, for the In the beginning were two infi nite con- to it may have characterized Scher- fi rst time music must rely exclusively tainers, chen’s treatment of world premieres on its own resources.” one for the possibilities and one for the as “precise, orderly, objective, lickety­ energy split. So many measures – don’t which forms the curvature of space-time ask, next piece” (Diether de la Motte, (based on fragments by the French phi- 1996), but he must be imagined as losopher and systems theoretician Michel having full possession of his critical Serres, by the Belgian philosopher and sci- power regarding his role and neces- ence theoretician Isabel Stengers, sary pragmatic considerations: by the Belgian physicist and quantum “I have now become something theorist Edgard Gunzig, akin to a familiar spirit of new music adapted by Salvatore Sciarrino) … who is trusted because of his som­ nambular clairvoyance (which is what otherwise, one called profi ciency and knowledge) regarding the sound, the meaning, the task of new music,” he wrote from Darmstadt in 1951, and as early as 1944 he had made the decisive differentiation: “If there is dramatic noise in the concert hall and the concertmaster’s fi sts attack the listener, the energetic Hermann Scherchen effect this causes may add new, (1934)

28 29 SCHOLA HEIDELBERG sent-day composers. SCHOLA HEI- ensemble aisthesis shape in close conjunction with the DELBERG performs in its home city, A sensory understanding of new composers. The ensemble aisthe- Virtuosity coupled with versatility. all over Germany and at international sound worlds. The ensemble focuses sis performs regularly in Heidelberg Both individually and collectively, the festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, on contemporary music from the and has been invited to international vocal soloists of the SCHOLA HEI- Milano Musica, and the Biennale di 20th/21st centuries. Its Greek-inspired festivals. One much-noted recording DELBERG are equally at home with Venezia, in pieces like Luigi Nono’s name reflects the bid for all-encom- by the ensemble is LEIBOWITZ-COM- widely differing styles and vocal tech- Prometeo. passing perception. The instrumental- POSITEUR (DIVOX Excellence CDX- niques, all the way up to microtonal The SCHOLA has successful coop- ists (up to 20 in number) have steadily 21103/4), issued to coincide with the intonation and vocal and respiratory erative partnerships with the Ensem- built up an extensive repertoire rang- 100th anniversary of René Leibowitz’ noise. Works from the 16th/17th and ble Modern, the WDR Symphony Or- ing from forward-looking Romantic birth and impressively document- the 20th/21st centuries meet head-on chestra Cologne, the SWR Symphony via modern classics to a large number ing the impact of his compositional and new interpretive culture material- Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony of commissions which invariably take œuvre. izes from an intensive concern with Orchestra. SCHOLA HEIDELBERG’s historically informed performance and CD recordings of vocal compositions contemporary music. The ensem- from the 20th/21st centuries have re- ble’s extensive repertoire is the fruit of ceived several international awards. close collaboration with leading pre-

30 31 Walter Nußbaum studied church music and conducting. Up to 1992 he was cantor at Jo- hanneskirche church, Heidelberg, subsequently teaching choral and orchestral conducting at Hanover’s University of Music, Drama and Me- dia until 2015. In 1992 he founded KlangForum Heidelberg with its two ensembles. Nußbaum’s musical pref- erences extend from early vocal mu- sic to vocal and instrumental works by contemporary composers, includ- ing many first performances (e.g. at the National Theatre, Mannheim and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival) and guest appearances at various inter- national festivals and events. Walter Nußbaum has received numerous awards for his CD recordings.

Nono, Polifonica – Score, working version with synopsis, February 2005

32 33 IMPRINT

Recording places & dates: 1–4 = 25./26.6.2007 HR Frankfurt, Sende Typesetting: DTP + TEXT Eva Burri (dtp-text.de) saal | Chr. Classen – Recording producer | Lectorate, Editing: Guido Johannes Joerg Casa Ricordi Editore, Milano 5–7 = 7.–9.2.2005 HR Frankfurt, Sendesaal | Graphic Design: CC-CONSTRUCT, Barbara Huber Udo Wüstendörfer – Recording producer | (Divox-CI: Schaffner & Conzelmann, Basel) Ars Viva Verlag, Mainz | Autographs ALN 02/06ff. Archivio Luigi Nono, Venezia Photos: Nono: www.luiginono.it | Sciarrino: Luca Carrà, 8 & 9 – 11 = 24./27.5.2003 Schlosskirche ©RaI-Trade, www.salvatoresciarrino.eu | Bad Dürkheim (Pfalz) | Siegbert Ernst – Record prod. Scherchen: 1934 Archives Famille Scherchen | | Ars Viva Verlag & Ricordi Editore SCHOLA HEIDELBERG: D. Mayr | 12–14 = 10.7.1951 at Darmstädter Ferienkurse SCHOLA HEIDELBERG & ensemble aisthesis: für Neue Musik KlangForum Heidelberg e.V., ©Thilo Ross u.a. Research assistance: Werner Grünzweig (Akademie der Künste, Cover Digipack: William Turner (1775–1851): «Boats at Sea» Berlin) | Erika Schaller (Archivio Luigi Nono ) (Tate Gallery, London) Digipack (inside): Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica, visual comparison Special thanks to: HR 2 Hessischer Rundfunk (Astrid Gubin, of the two versions - reconstruction 2005 (top), Bernd Leukert) | Internationales Musikinstitut WP abridged version 1951 (bottom) Darmstadt IMD (Jürgen Krebber) | Jan Kopp | Myriam Scherchen | Nuria Schoenberg Nono | Booklet english front: Luigi Nono Orchester des Staatstheaters Darmstadt Booklet deutsch front: Salvatore Sciarrino (Gernot Wojnarowicz, Orchesterdirektor) Co-production (Tr. 1–7): HR-Media Lizenz- & Verlags GmbH / HR 2, CD concept, producer: J. Marc Reichow (KlangForum Heidelberg) Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt Music: Ricordi | Schott | diverse Ms. Archivio L. Nono Label Producer: Wolfram M. Burgert (Divox) CD audiofile mastering: Siegbert Ernst Further Documentation: see www.polifonicamonodiaritmica.de English translations: Alexa Nieschlag

34 35 Nono, Monodia – Words or Images from the Sketches

Measure Translation (partially based on Schaller 2003, p. 19f.) Timing (long) within 6 1 In the face of nature (sand dunes – sea – serene nocturnal 0:00 atmosphere) distant echoes of natural life can be perceived 9 Inklings of confused reactions from us, and echoes that are still 0:50 distant, but less undefined 13 The ability to participate! Very difficult 1:22 15 They seem less dark: perhaps not only echoes 1:34 18 Still difficult! 1:50 20 The longing for understanding and participation, strengthened by 1:56 the will to liberate ourselves from the social constructs which have conditioned us, … 25 … but how is that possible? The echoes are revealed gradually as 2:23 free chants 29 Participation in nature begins 2:39 31 It is already less difficult to understand 2:45 40 The joy this gives us: we feel the relationship ever more clearly – 3:17 perhaps 47 Nature continues singing 3:47 60 Nature calls us, now we feel it, with loving insistence, gently yet 4:41 forcefully permeating us [Ritmica] We are sand dunes, sea: serene nocturnal atmosphere (until?) [7] Ritmica

(based on the Italian transcription compiled in: Veniero Rizzardi, La Nuova Scuola …, 2004, p. 28, and German excerpts from: Erika Schaller 2003, p. 19f.)