Zwei Gefühle

… zwei Gefühle …
Musik mit Leonardo
by Helmut Lachenmann
Lachenmann in 2017
LanguageGerman
Based onLeonardo da Vinci's Codex Arundel
Composed1991 (1991)–92
Duration20 min.
Scoring
  • 2 speakers
  • ensemble
Premiere
Date9 October 1992 (1992-10-09)
LocationStuttgart
ConductorPéter Eötvös
PerformersEnsemble Modern

Zwei Gefühle (Two Feelings), subtitled Musik mit Leonardo (Music with Leonardo) is a composition for narration and ensemble by Helmut Lachenmann, based on a text by Leonardo da Vinci from Codex Arundel. Lachenmann styled the title as … zwei Gefühle …. He completed the work in 1992, and it was premiered on 9 October 1992. He integrated it in his 1996 opera Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern. Both pieces have become classics of 20th-century music.

History

Helmut Lachenmann composed … zwei Gefühle … in 1991 and 1992,[1] based on a text by Leonardo da Vinci translated into German by Kurt Gerstenberg.[2] The composition was inspired by his teacher Luigi Nono, who had died in 1990; Lachenmann worked on it in Nono's empty house on Sarsinia.[2] It is a work following his "musique concrète instrumentale", using traditional instruments in many ways for sound production including noises.[2]

The text by da Vinci, which Gerstenberg translated under the title "Verlangen nach Erkenntnis" ('Desire for knowledge'), first describes the discovery of a cave and then the conflict of the feelings of fear of its threatening danger and the desire to explore the unknown place.[2] Max Nyffeler, reflecting transcendence in Lachenmann's work, offers three interpretations: the Renaissance quest for scientific knowledge, the observer in front of a cave feeling the unknown beginning to resonate within himself, or a person's longing for freedom and at the same time fear of it.[3]

Lachenmann split the text into particles, which the listener may "decipher"; he expected that "structurally” oriented listening", as a perception of the sound and its connections, would lead to "inner images and sensations", and that "the possibly laborious recognition and compilation of signs on the one hand, and the power of the emerging message on the other" might "form a closed complex of experience".[2]

Lachenmann first set the work for two speakers and an ensemble[2] of flute (also piccolo), cor anglais, clarinet, bassoon, two trumpets, trombone, tuba, two percussionist, guitar, piano and strings.[4] He styled the title, a phrase from within the text,[2] as … zwei Gefühle …. It was premiered in Stuttgart on 9 October 1992.[4] by the Ensemble Modern conducted by Péter Eötvös.[5] The work was published by Breitkopf, giving the duration as 20 minutes.[4]

He later wrote a version for only one speaker.[2] The work features an interplay of sound and silence: "The music breaks off, restarts, pauses – a dialogue between sound and silence that subtly challenges the audience".[1]

Opera

Lachenmann used the work as part of his opera, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl) that he created between 1990 and 1996, based on the fairy-tale by Hans Christian Andersen and texts by terrorist Gudrun Ensslin.[3][6] It was premiered in 1997.[6] In a later version of the opera, written for Tokyo,[3] Lachenmann replaced it by a different setting of the same text[7] which uses five long "noise" orchestral fermatas instead of the instrumental texture, giving more weight to the text.[3]

Recording

Zwei Gefühle was recorded on DVD, in the version for one speaker and combined with piano works by Lachenmann. It was filmed at Columbia University, with the composer taking the part of the speaker, playing the piano pieces and introducing the works in a short interview.[8]

Documentary

Uli Aumüller created a documentary film about the work of Neue Musik Berlin chamber ensemble from first rehearsals to a performance at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. It was presented at the Berliner Festspiele in 1998.[9]

Legacy

… Zwei Gefühle … was played by several ensembles in 2025, celebrating the composer's 90th birthday. EnsembleKollektiv Berlin, conducted by Enno Poppe played it in one of three events in honour of the composer at the Musikfest Berlin 2025.[10] It was included in a long concert att the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, played by members of the orchestra of the university conducted by Roland Kluttig.[11] Lachenmann was the speaker in a concert in Vienna, including the work on the occasion of Pierluigi Billone, a student of Lachenmann, receiving the Erste Bank Prize. Performed with Klangforum Wien conducted by Emilio Pomárico, it was broadcast by ORF.[12] The composition has become a classic of 20th-century music, as well as the opera.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Breitkopf 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Musikfabrik 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Nyffeler 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Breitkopf 1992.
  5. ^ Ensemble Modern 1992.
  6. ^ a b Nyffeler 2025.
  7. ^ Leipold 2015.
  8. ^ Falentin 2013.
  9. ^ Berliner Festspiele 2025.
  10. ^ Schellhorn 2025.
  11. ^ Quellmalz 2025.
  12. ^ ORF 2025.
  13. ^ Frei 2025.

Cited sources

  • Falentin, Andreas (2013). ""More than just interesting" – Musik als Haltung". Theater Pur (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • Frei, Marco (27 November 2025). "Der Meister der "Kratz- und Ächzmusik" – Helmut Lachenmann wird neunzig". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • Leipold, Fridemann (2015). "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern". In Csampai, Attila; Holland, Dietmar (eds.). Opernführer (in German). Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach. pp. 1444–1450. ISBN 978-3-79-306025-3.
  • Nyffeler, Max (7 April 2018). "Helmut Lachenmann und die Transzendenz". beckmesser.info (in German). Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  • Nyffeler, Max (27 November 2025). "Der unangreifbare Außenseiter". FAZ (in German). Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  • Quellmalz, Wolfgang (30 November 2025). "Langer Abend für einen Impulsgeber". Neue (musikalische) Blätter (in German). Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  • Schellhorn, Fabian (16 November 2025). "Haltung zeigen in der Musik". night out @ berlin (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • Whittall, Arnold (2005). "Contemporary German Music. Lachenmann, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern". Tempo (59): 67. ISBN 978-3-79-306025-3. JSTOR 3878783.
  • ""… zwei Gefühle …" von Helmut Lachenmann …". Berliner Festspiele. 1992. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • "Zwei Gefühle – Music with Leonardo". Breitkopf & Härtel. 1992. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • "Helmut Lachenmann – 90th Birthday 2025". Breitkopf & Härtel. 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  • "Das Ensemble Modern". Ensemble Modern. 1992. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  • "Helmut Lachenmann: "Zwei Gefühle"". Musikfabrik. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  • "Lachenmann performt bei Billones Preisträgerkonzert". Musikfabrik. 23 November 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
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