Musik für Daniil Charms II

Could be a music theater scenery:

MUSIC FOR DANIIL CHARMS II for soprano, viola and microtonal keyboard, composed 1995

Text collage by M Stahnke (after Daniel Charms)

today I couldn’t tell you anything

no sooner do I open my mouth than I shut it again

then I wink very very rapidly

lord, feed me with your body that the thirst for your movement may awaken in me

scatter golden yellow sand before my feet that I may find the purest way to your house

all my strength is gathered yet I know it will soon fade terribly

prepare yourself to hear the catalogue of the animals

I am a singer [tschirsch.]and this is the anteater. when he spies an enemy, he retreats and runs away. where does he run to? he looks as if he is running into a shop. but no, he runs past the shop and heads for the forest. in the forest he knows many secret hiding places. there he saves his life.

I simply don’t know what to say

along came the fox

this is how I count on my fingers

- I think I have a sore throat -

stool, little table, little barrel, bucket, little tree, little cup, knife, little thumb, ball, smithy, little tree, door of trap, handle of blade

tiny balls fly through the sky, they fly and they fly - they glitter and rustle -and the people rustle too

the conclusion is nearer to my subject

life must be enchantingly beautiful

out!

let us close our eyes people people

let us open our eyes warriors warriors

carry us safely across the water angels angels

thrust the enemy under the water devils devils

and we closed out eyes people people

and we opened our eyes warriors warriors

give us the strength to fly across the water birds birds

give us the courage to die beneath the water fishes fishes

god thou art greater than I, higher than snow and rain, finer than symbol and line

I know why the paths, when they tear themsleves free of the earth, play with the birds

now the teeth appear

grow, grass, you need no time

to you, I give the bottle of terror. you lust after everything, my cap, chestnut hair and ashes of my beard. I am a son of poverty. vultures ..

I lie on the floor only for for beauty’s sake. and it is, indeed, very beautiful.

papyrus blossom, your rest is beautiful

I, too, want rest, yet all is in vain

today I couldn’t tell you anything

[fir fir murr murr]

the little bird’s song: the little bird cries bitterly in his inkwell. [fir fir murr murr]. the little bird is the nightingale, and little boards fall from him into the sand. nightingale, thou little bird - if only more than anything you were my little girl

stop! not so fast, you there, don’t curl your lips so soon into a smile upon your shameless face, and don’t leap immediately out of my way. let’s have a look at you. perhaps you’re crooked and misshapen and your shoulders are too narrow? and perhaps you sleep in filth?

so begins the hunger

marina. to ask for a glove for marina. [fir fir murr murr]. dress for marina.

father savva, I have fallen.

in the clock something struck and the messengers came to me.

then I understood that the messengers had come to me but I couldn’t tell them apart from the water.