KLANGSPUREN – 40 JAHRE KLANGFORUM WIEN 2025

Johannes Maria Staud Die schöne Müllerin / These Fevered Days
Instrumentation of Schubert's song cycle with 7 new songs after Emily Dickinson for tenor and ensemble (2024), ÖEA, 95'
Klangforum Wien:
Christoph Prégardien, tenor
Elena Schwarz, conductor

The timeless themes of nature and love form the basis for Johannes Maria Staud's exploration of Franz Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin (1823), which he carefully brings into the present without the pale reflection of a misunderstood historicity. In between, however, completely different tonal colours shimmer in seven Staud settings of poems by Emily Dickinson. She lived and wrote only a few decades after Schubert and "his" poet Wilhelm Müller, and she too wrote verses about nature and love - yet Dickinson seems not only an ocean away in reality, but also miles away in thought. With Schubert/Müller, the woman remains a projection surface for male desire, while Dickinson raises her voice in favour of female self-determination. She only published ten of her 1,789 poems during her lifetime. Emily Dickinson criticised religious dogma and formulated free thoughts on questions of life and love. She was well-read and well-informed about political debates. At the same time, she was fascinated by the terminology and linguistic style of the natural sciences. This resulted in an experimental style that was only really appreciated after her lifetime. Despite all the differences, Johannes Maria Staud finds references in his cycle between the world of The Fair Miller and the thoughts of Emily Dickinson - who, incidentally, wanted her poetry to be read "tenderly".
Event in cooperation with musik+ and Haus der Musik Innsbruck
19.3 pm, Introduction: Gunter Schneider in conversation with Johannes Maria Staud