Faithless, but hopeful

Since neo.mx3’s launch, the four SRG stations are gradually making Swiss avant-garde archive recordings accessible. In the meantime, an enormous pool of rare recordings are already available.

This blog draws attention to individual musicians, ensembles and important works, starting with Basel composer Jacques Wildberger (1922-2006) and his relation to Paul Celan.

Corinne Holtz: Jacques Wildberger sets Paul Celan to music
Paul Celan (1920-1970) was born 100 years ago as Paul Antschel in Czernowitz in what was then known as Great Romania. He is one of the German poets whose works have been most frequently set to music and therefore contributed in shaping the history of music for some 50 years. Swiss composer Jacques Wildberger turned to Celan again in his latest work.

Jacques Wildberger explains his composition method ©zVg Michael Kunkel

In April 1953 a written communication reached the Swiss Musicians Association’s members of the board, concerning the application for membership of Swiss composer Jacques Wildberger. Among the enclosed scores a Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon from 1952, written after his strict studies with Vladimir Vogel in Ticino. Wildberger’s first independent twelve-tone works were openly rejected. “No one will ever accept these works. We will never have to hear them and can therefore safely accept them.” This cynical statement comes from Paul Sacher, patron and contemporary music conductor.

Jacques Wildberger: Trio for Oboe, Klarinette and Fagott, 1952, Eigenproduktion SRG/SSR

Sacher had been president of the Swiss Association of Musicians since 1946. He can be considered central regarding music-political handlings and offices at the time and his influence on the Swiss musical landscape will be decisive for the five decades to come.

Jacques Wildberger stands for that 12-tone technique which Sacher describes as “constructed” and “aggressive”. He also represents political views that are considered suspect in the Swiss post-war context. Wildberger had been a member of the PdA (Labour Party) for three years and remained a self-confessed leftist after his departure in 1947 – in protest against Stalin’s regime.

The struggle for the possibility of hope

A central idea in Wildberger’s music is “the struggle for the possibility of hope”. The hope that things will get better and fairer one day. Although secular, Wildberger acknowledges the interpretation presented in Hebrews 11:1, that faith is a sort of confidence in what one hopes for.

This belief was first explored from a compositional angle in 1978, with An die Hoffnung for soprano solo, speaker and orchestra.

Jacques Wildberger, An die Hoffnung (1978/79), Sylvia Nopper, soprano, Georg Martin Bode, speaker, Sinfonieorchester Basel, conductor Heinz Holliger

Most recently in Tempus cadendi, tempus sperandi for mixed choir and six instrumentalists, written in 1998/99 for SWR Stuttgart. The cantata resembles a legacy of the 78-year-old composer. Once again Wildberger composes a memorial for the murdered Jews, with Paul Celan’s poems “Tenebrae” and “Es war Erde in ihnen” forming the centre of the four-part cantata.

Tenebrae seen in Celan’s and Wildberger’s perspective of is breaking taboos. The poet appears sacrilegious in his demand that God must pray, not man. The composer takes this transgression at its word and writes a series of protest songs, thereby returning to the protest songs of his youth, which he had written for the Basel workers’ cabaret ‘Scheinwerfer’ and the Neue Volksbühne Basel.

Jacques Wildberger: Wir wollen zusammen marschieren, Eigenproduktion SRG/SSR

Jacques Wildberger at piano with the ‘Kampflieder’ ©zVg Michael Kunkel

Celan knew the expressive Tenebrae-scores of French baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, who wrote 31 instrumental “motets concertants” on the lamentations of Jeremiah. Instead of staging anger over the destruction of the Jewish temples, Charpentier composed consoling music for the Holy Week, the darkest days of the liturgical year. Celan was also inspired by Friedrich Hölderlin’s Patmos hymn. From ‘Nah ist und schwer zu fassen der Gott’ (close and difficult to grasp) to ‘Nah sind wir, Herr, nah sind wir, Herr, nah und greifbar” (close and touchable). Then the poet turns to the gas chambers. ‘Gegriffen schon, Herr, ineinander verkrallt, als wär der Leib eines jeden von uns dein Leib, Herr.’ (Seized already, Lord, clawed into our selves as though, the body of each of us were your body, Lord)*. At the end there is an imperative: ‘Bete, Herr. Wir sind nah’ (Pray, Lord. We are near.)

Paul Celan reads Tenebrae

Wildberger picks up this tone and produces the highest intensity with the most economical means in his 2-minute 30-second short movement. Whip strokes from drums and four-handed keyboard open the music and interfere again and again as a signal. Tenebrae’s tempo indication is “agitato” and the speed is set at 108 BPM. God needs the whip to listen. Only then the choir begins: eight voices strong, homophonically led and with rhythmic shifts like an assembly of very different voices. The music is a wake-up call behind the text: ‘Nah sind wir Herr, nah und greifbar’.

In bar 10 the Lord is shouted at fortissimo. Wildberger reinforces the accented note with the performance indication “gridato” (shouted). Five bars long, the fortissimo is “crawled into itself”.

Then a quiet part starts with ‘Bete, bete zu uns’ (Pray, pray to us). The screaming is followed by pleading: sung, spoken and ending in the voiceless ‘nn-ah’ (close). Here, a general pause marks, already at bar 20, the midpoint of the 41 bars piece.

Wildberger starts anew and lets the protest grow step by step from Celan’s line ‘windschief gingen wir hin’ (leaning we went). The music ends like the text as choral imperative: ‘Bete, Herr. Wir sind nah’ (Pray, Lord. We are near).

Wildberger’s height becomes clear once again in his solitary approach to Celan. Instead of transcending the poet and his life drama as usual, Wildberger calls for resistance and action. “I do not have the right to prescribe hope” – but to compose hope he does, with musical means at the height of times.
Corinne Holtz

Jacques Wildberger at Karlsruhe-railway station ©zVg Michael Kunkel

Other works by Jacques Wildberger can found on his Neo-Profile and Playlist.

Broadcast SRF 2 Kultur
:
Musik unserer Zeit, 18.11.20: Lieder jenseits der Menschen – Paul Celan und die Musik, Redaktion Corinne Holtz
listen there: Jacques Wildberger, Tenebrae, from Min 53.36

Music as universal language

The Festival Les Jardins Musicaux will take place from August, 17 to September, 1: Interview with Valentin Reymond, artistic director

Valentin Reymond conducts the Orchestre symphonique de Krasnoyarsk © Pierre-William Henry

Each year, the festival “Les Jardins Musicaux” presents an original and daring programme, mainly focussing on 20th and 21st century music. During the 2019 edition – from August, 17 to September, 1 – 240 musicians and 15 ensembles will perform in different venues, in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne, Jura and Vaud. In this interview, the artistic director and conductor Valentin Reymond discusses and explores the relationship between music, audience and modern society.

Valentin Reymond, “Les Jardins musicaux” is well established in the region and the audience is fond of the festival: what is your secret?

The festival has been able to establish numerous links between nature and culture, city and countryside, art and heritage… the choice of proposing one hour concerts, without any intermissions, as well as the unusual places where they take place (Evologia, the parks of the Chasseral and the Doubs) allow us to share our “imaginary museum” with a wide, curious and faithful audience, that is not exclusively made of music lovers. We always aim for an original and often demanding programme, this couldn’t be possible without the support of the artists, who believe in our approach.

Your programmes feature many contemporary compositions. Do you see yourself as a kind of contemporary music ambassador?

The most relevant aspect to us isn’t necessarily contemporaneity, but rather modernity. Maryse Fuhrmann and I choose works that are meaningful to us in the present moment.

“Les Jardins musicaux, a place to meditate on what the world is like today”

This year, a discussion panel on the current climate debate will take place before the “Woodstock 50” concert: what is the relationship with (contemporary) music?

Woodstock represents a great moment in history, music and protest. We are not aiming for a “remake”, but wish to enable today’s young creators to express themselves and address their concerns, both artistically and socially. Louis Jucker, Andreas Schaerer, Carolina Katun and Arthur Henry all embraced this challenge enthusiastically. While developing the project, it soon became apparent, that if we wanted to draw a parallel with Woodstock, the climate issue as well as youth’s engagement on this matter were crucial. That’s why we decided to organise a round table with a climatologist, a philosopher, a high school pupil and a university student.

Trailer La ralentie, création édition 2019 (Pierre Jodlowski, Henri Michaux)

What role does contemporary music play in today’s society?

Throughout history, some composers have been actively engaging themselves through their works. Beethoven and Britten are good examples. In our case, the Bal(l)ades project, which is run in collaboration with both the Chasseral and the Doubs parks, combines heritage with musical discoveries: “Welcome to the castle” by Nicolas Bolens will be performed in the “Musée des beaux-arts” of Le Locle, “Le Tribun” by Mauricio Kagel in the former pulp mill of Rondchâtel and major works by Galina Utvoslkaya in St-Imier.

What will be the contemporary music highlights of this year’s programme?

We commissioned a piece on Henri Michaux’s “La Ralentie” to Pierre Jodlowski and music for large orchestra for Buster Keaton’s film “Le Mécano de la Générale” to Martin Pring (premiere to be held on August, 24). The celebrations for Heinz Holliger’s eightieth birthday, will feature him conducting some of his own works, as well as Jacques Wildberger’s wonderful “Kammerkonzert”, a sophisticated piece that speaks to everyone.

El Cimarron, Les Jardins musicaux 2019 © Giona Mottura

Interview by Gabrielle Weber, Neuchâtel 27.6.19

Émissions RTS: Musique d’avenir
1 septembre, 22h
, Concert Holliger du 29 août
15 septembre 22h, Concerts Jodlowski / A. Françoise et G. Grimaître du 28 août

Les jardins musicaux, Mentioned concerts:
Woodstock 50 (Louis Jucker – Louis Schild, Arthur Henry, Carolina Katun, Andreas Schaerer), le Tribun (Mauricio Kagel), La Ralentie (Pierre Jodlowski), Welcome to the Castle (Nicolas Bolens), Joyeux anniversaire Monsieur Holliger (Heinz Holliger, Jacques Wildberger), Le Mécano de la Générale (ciné-concert), La Femme marteau (Galina Ustvolskaya)
Panel: “Woodstock aujourd’hui : le climat ?”

neo-profiles: Les Jardins Musicaux, Nicolas Bolens, Ensemble Batida, Heinz Holliger, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain