Robert Walser’s composers

Silvan Moosmüller: Monograph Robert Walser Vertonungen – book vernissage GdN 27.1.22

In his new volume, musicologist Roman Brotbeck traces the history of Robert Walser’s works set to music and simultaneously sketches a fascinating panorama of 20th and 21st century music away from dominant trends.
On January 27, the book vernissage will take place at the GdN in Basel – Silvan Moosmüller, with a performance of Georges Aperghis’ Zeugen, based on texts by Walser.

 

Silvan Moosmüller
“Robert Walser – sein eigener Komponist” (Robert Walser – his own composer) is the title used to introduce Roman Brotbeck’s Töne und Schälle. Robert Walser set to music 1912 to 2021.

 

Robert Walser Berlin 1909 © Keystone SDA / Robert Walser-Stiftung Bern

 

Walser as literary composer

Indeed, many prose pieces and even more so poems of notorious “chatterer” Walser resemble a musical composition with their elaborate sound structure: every syllable, every letter contributes to the poetry of the whole. “To set Walser to music is a difficult, perhaps even insoluble task, because many of Walser’s texts are already music and therefore no longer need music,” says Brotbeck, summing up the delicate starting point.

 

200 works by over 100 composers

Nevertheless – or rather precisely because of the musicality of his writing – Walser has inspired a large number of composers to set his works to music. Along with Hölderlin, Walser is one of the most frequently set writers of the 20th century. Roman Brotbeck unfolds this sounding Walser cosmos on almost 500 pages. His book is the first comprehensive and systematic study of the musical reception of Walser’s literary works.

And as curator of last year’s Rümlingen Festival, Brotbeck himself added a new chapter to the history of Walser settings. 15 world premieres with works on Robert Walser were launched in September; among them, the revised new version of the théâtre musical Zeugen by Georges Aperghis for example, which will be performed together with the book vernissage at the GdN in Basel. Or the performative exhibition Patient Nr. 3561 by composer and performer HannaH Walter and her collective Mycelium.

 

From the beginning

But let’s start chronologically with James Simon. According to Brotbeck’s research, this Berlin musicologist and composer was the first to approach Robert Walser. More precisely, it is the two poems Gebet (Prayer) and Gelassenheit (Serenity), that Simon presented as songs in 1912 and 1914 in a romantic manner.

James Simon’s figure is groundbreaking for the further history of Robert Walser musical settings in two respects: Firstly, he is not one of the great, well-known composers, he has even been almost forgotten today and secondly, with his ‘belated’ romantic compositional technique, he stands at odds with the dominant trends of his time.

 

Music historiography on this side of the ridge

These two qualities form the DNA for everything that follows, as in general, the now 110-year old history of Walser’s musical settings does not align with established music historiography. Rather, it reads – in Roman Brotbeck’s own words – as a “history, or better stories of attempts to break out of the avant-garde”.

It is fitting that Walser’s musical reception started very gently. In the fifty years after James Simon’s first musical realisations, there are only two further records; in the next 25 years until 1987, according to Brotbeck’s research, one can count 13 composers with 20 works. Among them further song settings are to be found, but also the twelve-tone dramma-oratorio Flucht by Wladimir Vogel, which exhausts the rhythmic polyphonic possibilities of the speech choir.

 


Wladimir Vogel, Flucht, Dramma-Oratorio (1964), Zurich Tonhalle-Orchestra 1966, in-house production SRG/SSR

 

The calm…

Of these “early” Walser composers, to whom the first part of the volume is devoted, the Swiss Urs Peter Schneider has been particularly persistent and versatile in his engagement with Walser’s body of work. Over almost sixty years, Schneider has created an entire Walser laboratory – from the “extreme stereophony” of his radiophonic portrait Spazieren mit Robert Walser to the polyphonisations of text material in Chorbuch.

 


Urs Peter Schneider, Chorbuch, 12 songs 12 texts by Robert Walser for 8 voices, UA 2013 Basler Madrigalisten, Musikfestival Bern, in-house production SRG/SSR

 

According to Brotbeck, most of Walser’s musical settings, only came into being in the last 34 years, but at an exponentially increasing rate. Initiated by Heinz Holliger’s Beiseit cycle and the great Schneewittchen (Snow White) opera, a veritable Walser boom began in the 1990s.

 

…before the storm

It is no coincidence that this boom corresponds with the trend towards new forms of music and theatre under the sign of post-dramatic theatre. Thus, the piano song loses its dominant position and Walser becomes man of the hour. But according to Brotbeck, socio-political changes also favoured Walser’s reception in the 1990s: “Arts were at that time characterised by an ambivalent mixture of an urge for freedom and disorientation, deconstruction of grand narratives in the wake of post-modernism and fascination with new media and technologies”. Not much has changed in this respect to this day.

In order to clearly present the wealth of material in the second part of his book, Brotbeck divides the works primarily according to genre, namely various forms of music theatre, song and song cycles as well as melodramas. The range is enormous, from improvisational forms with actors of the new Swiss folk music scene (e.g. Oberwalliser Spillit) to scenic music such as Michel Roth’s music theatre Meta-Räuber to new contextualisations such as in ‘Der Teich‘ by multinational composer Ezko Kikoutchi, with a French-Swiss-German libretto in a Japanese setting.

 


Ezko Kikoutchi, Der Teich after a text by Robert Walser, Laure-Anne Payot, Mezzosopran and Lemanic Modern Ensemble, 2012

 

Deviation as norm

In this regard, the history of Robert Walser set to music resembles Walser’s twisted and constantly digressing narratives. Or as Roman Brotbeck puts it: “The Common Ground of Walser’s musical settings is, in a way, the absence of Common Ground”. The fact that Brotbeck points out precisely this “dissection of individualistic Walser approaches” and resists the temptation for a grand narrative is a great merit of his book. Since the works discussed are always contextualised in terms of social history and cultural politics, the chapters nevertheless present a detailed picture of the (Swiss) cultural landscape along with its currents and institutions in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Thus, over 500 pages, what emerges is the fascinating panorama of a “different music history of the 20th and 21st centuries” and the best thing is that this history will go on for a long time.
Silvan Moosmüller

 

Do 27.1.22, 21h GdN Basel: book-launch Töne und Schälle. Robert Walser-Vertonungen 1912 bis 2021 / 20h Concert: Georges Aperghis, Zeugen

Sa 29.1.22, 20h / So, 30.1.22, 17h GdN Basel: Roland Moser, Die Europäerin auf Mikrogramme von Robert Walser

Roman Brotbeck, Silvan Moosmüller, Georges Aperghis, James Simon

broadcasts SRF 2 Kultur:
Musik unserer Zeit, 8.9.2021: Klingender Autor – Walser-Vertonungen am Festival Rümlingen, Redaktion Silvan Moosmüller
neoblog, 13.7.2021: Alles was unser Menschengeschlecht ausmacht – Roland Moser erhält einen BAK-Musikpreis 2021, u.a. zur UA von ‘Die Europäerin’ nach Robert Walser, Autor Burkhard Kinzler

neo-profiles:
Robert Walser, Urs Peter Schneider, Heinz Holliger, Michel Roth, Ezko Kikoutchi, Kollektiv Mycelium, Neue Musik Rümlingen, Gare du Nord, Basler Madrigalisten, Musikfestival Bern, Roland Moser, Lemanic Modern Ensemble

“Now we can reinvent Usinesonore!”

The small and eclectic Usinesonore festival in the Bernese Jura should have taken place from June 10 to 13. Unfortunately the new resolutions and guidelines issued by the authorities and allowing certain smaller events to take place came have been communicated slightly too late, even if the new rules would have applied precisely from the first day of the festival onwards. This is all the more painful as the festival is only a biennial event and we may have to wait until 2022 for the next edition. On the other hand, the Les “Battements de l’Abbatiale” concert series in Bellelay will be taking place.

Portrait: Julien Annoni©Lucas Dubuis

Julien Annoni, co-director of Usinesonore and director of Les Battements de l’Abbatiale, tells us about new opportunities during these Covid-19 times and why streaming cannot be considered an option for these kinds of events.

Interview: Bjørn Schaeffner

Julien Annoni, Usinesonore was to take place from 9 to 13 June. What will we miss out on?
As always, a diverse programme ranging from contemporary music to traditional music and other artistic disciplines. We try to keep things as close as possible to the audience. As for the big names: Among others, a concert with Renaud Capuçon. Plus we had designed a wonderful tent again, especially for this year’s edition.

When did you realise that the festival had to be cancelled?
Early April. Two months before the official start of the festival was the very last deadline we had set, in order to keep things as harmless as possible organization wise.

Now the lockdown is over…
I’m glad, of course. It’s positive signal for Switzerland and for all those who work in the cultural field!

Doesn’t it bother you that the festival could theoretically have taken place? The authorities just decided that events with up to 300 people will be allowed again from June, 6 onwards.
The only possible way would have been to reduce Usinesonore and we knew from the beginning that this was not an option. Under these circumstances, the atmosphere of the festival would have been distorted.


Usinesonore 2018, Gérard Grisey, Le noir d’étoiles, WeSpoke

Why is that?
Because it would have happened at the expense of quality and we don’t want any compromise on that aspect.

But again: Isn’t it annoying to miss it all by a hair’s breadth?
It’s of course a pity. We had already put a lot of heart and soul into it. But in hindsight, one’s always much smarter.

What does the cancellation of the festival mean for you financially?
We’re doing relatively well. The Canton of Berne as well as the majority of the foundations supporting the festival have been very accommodating and kept their subsidies and contributions.

And what does it mean for the artists?
We can pay a large part of their fees and production costs and thus partly compensate for their work loss.

You have made the Biel festival premises which have become vacant, available to other artists free of charge.
Yes, of course, we did that very spontaneously so that people can rehearse there, or work on productions. Artists will be working there until the end of July, be it just for a few days or a week. Among others, Collective Mycelium, Camille Emaille, Lucie Tuma, Paquita Maria or Adrien Gygax with lot of enthusiasm even if nothing will be presented to the public!

Usinesonore Festival 2018

Are you, as a musician, affected by the crisis yourself?
I sure felt it financially. On the other hand, I enjoyed spending more time with my family, as in normal times I am on the road a lot.

A streaming Usinesonore was never an option?
We thought about the possibility, but decided against it. Usinesonore lives from the exchange with the audience and the whole atmosphere, which could never be replaced by a streaming format.

Trailer Usinesonore Festival 2014

Can you imagine digital formats for Usinesonore in the future?
Yes, definitely, but the outcomes are completely open. We are brainstorming, researching and setting bases something new.

Will Usinesonore take place next year?
It might, but it could also not take place until 2022. We don’t know yet. We are taking advantage of the time at hand, to intensively think about how the festival could be shaped in the future.

So you see this crisis as an opportunity?
Right. It is quite unique to get the chance to completely reinvent a festival.

Usinesonore Festival 2018

What else are you looking forward to?

To the concerts in the historical abbey of Bellelay, but those have nothing to do with Usinesonore. It is the result of three years of work, a season of ensemble concerts – I had invited Carine Zuber (Moods), Claire Brawand (Label Suisse) and Arnaud Di Clemente (Cully Jazz) as programmers. We had to cancel the part of the season, but at least some of the planned events between end of August and mid-September will take place.
Bjørn Schaeffner

Usinesonore Festival takes place biennially in June in La Neuveville. The next planned edition is in 2022.

The “Les Battements de l’Abbatiale” concert series will take place – as one of the first events in the Jura – from 29 August (Ensemble Contrechamps Genève) onwards.

Usinesonore Festival, Les Battements de l‘Abbatiale, Julien Annoni/WeSpokeKollektiv Mycelium

Neo-Profiles: Usinesonore Festival, Les Battements d’Abatiale, WeSpoke, Kollektiv Mycelium