Der Frühling

Wenn neu das Licht der Erde sich gezeiget,

Von Frühlingsregen glänzt das grüne Thal und munter

Der Blüthen Weiß am hellen Strom hinunter,

Nachdem ein heitrer Tag zu Menschen sich geneiget.

Die Sichtbarkeit gewinnt von hellen Unterschieden,

Der Frühling­shimmel weilt mit seinem Frieden,

Daß ungestört der Mensch des Jahres Reiz betrachtet,

Und auf Vollkom­menheit des Lebens achtet.

Mit Unterthänigkeit,

Scar­danelli

d. 15. Merz 1842

Spring

Whenever earth’s bright light reveals itself anew,

The verdant valley gleams with springtime rain and gaily

Snow-white blossoms breast the bright-toned stream

Where once a cloudless day has bowed before mankind.

Such varied colours heighten our perception,

The springtime heavens linger with their peace,

Allowing man to see the year’s attractions undisturbed

And heed his life’s perfection.

With devotion,

Scardanelli

15 March 1842

Der Sommer

Die Tage gehn vorbei mit sanffter Lüffte Rauschen,

Wenn mit der Wolke sie der Felder Pracht vertauschen,

Des Thales Ende trifft der Berge Dämmerungen,

Dort, wo des Stromes Wellen sich hinabgeschlungen.

Der Wälder Schatten sieht umhergebre­itet,

Wo auch der Bach entfernt hin­un­ter­gleitet,

Und sichtbar ist der Ferne Bild in Stunden,

Wenn sich der Mensch zu diesem Sinn gefunden.

Scardanelli

d. 24. Mai 1758

Summer

The days drift past with gentle breezes’ rustling,

Exchanging cloud for meadows’ splendour,

The mountains’ twilight strikes the valley’s end

There where the river’s waters have wound their downward way.

The woodlands’ shadow lies there, spread around,

Where, far away, the brook glides downward

And the distant picture can be seen at times

When man collects his thoughts and to such sense inclines.

Scardanelli

24 May 1758

Der Herbst

Das Glänzen der Natur ist höheres Erscheinen,

Wo sich der Tag mit vielen Freuden endet,

Es ist das Jahr, das sich mit Pracht vollendet,

Wo Früchte sich mit frohem Glanz vereinen.

Das Erdenrund ist so geschmükt, und selten lärmet

Der Schall durchs offne Feld, die Sonne wärmet

Den Tag des Herbstes mild, die Felder stehen

Als eine Aussicht weit, die Lüffte wehen.

Die Zweig’ und Äste durch mit frohem Rauschen,

Wenn schon mit Leere sich die Felder dann vertauschen,

Der ganze Sinn des hellen Bildes lebet

Als wie ein Bild, das goldne Pracht umschwebet.

d. 15ten Nov. 1759

Autumn

The gleam of nature is a higher revelation

Where daylight ends with many joys.

It is the year in splendid consummation

Where fruits are merged with blithe resplendence.

The world is thus bedecked, and rarely

Does a sound transcend the open fields. How mildly

Does the sunshine warm the autumn day, the fields

Extend before us like a vista, breezes blow

Through twigs and branches with their cheerful rustling

While all the fields give way to emptiness.

The total meaning of this bright-toned picture lives

As if it were a picture framed in golden splendour.

15 November 1759

Der Winter

Wenn sich der Tag des Jahrs hinabgeneiget

Und rings das Feld mit den Gebirgen schweiget,

So glänzt das Blau des Himmels an den Tagen,

Die wie Gestirn in heitrer Höhe ragen.

Der Wechsel und die Pracht ist minder umgebre­itet,

Dort, wo ein Strom hinab mit Eile gleitet,

Der Ruhe Geist ist aber in den Stunden

Der prächtigen Natur mit Tiefigkeit verbunden.

Mit Unterthänigkeit,

Scar­danelli

d. 24. Januar 1743

Winter

When once the year’s last day has bent its head

And field and mountains all around fail mute,

The azure of the sky gleams brightly on those days

Which soar aloft like stars to cloudless heights.

The changes and the splendour seem less widespread

Where a river swiftly runs its downward course.

And yet the spirit of tranquillity is merged

With depth at all those times when nature gleams with

splendour.

With devotion,

Scardanelli

24 January 1743

 "I have been familiar with the late poems of Hölderlin for some time now and used some of them for several little pieces (Die Aussicht, Überzeugung). The idea for Tag des Jahrs for choir came to me a few years ago when someone very dear to me suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and commu­ni­cation with her acquired a new logic (or rather lack of it) because she no longer had any sense of time or place. I do not know what had happened to Hölderlin, for he signed his poems under different dates, decades, even centuries from the time in which he lived, and under the name of Scardanelli. I never­theless acquired a new insight into his poems as visions of lived moments that pass in the twinkling of an eye and then vanish or transform into new, intensive moments. Our minds are full of such clear; sensuous moments, and they in fact make up our own expe­rience of the life we live.

The text begged to be given an archaic choral treatment. I also wanted to expand the sound world in the direction of the nature that is so present in these poems. Hence the material consists not only of taped human voice but also of birds, the wind and other nature sounds. The electronic part was realized in summer 2001 at the Civitella Ranieri studio, Italy with Jean-Baptiste Barrier.

         Tag des Jahrs is dedicated to my mother.”   - Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) was a leading voice of her gener­ation of composers, in her native Finland and worldwide. She studied compo­sition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she lived from 1982 to her death. Her studies and research at IRCAM, the Parisian center for electroacoustic exper­i­men­tation, had a major influence on her music, and her charac­ter­is­ti­cally luxuriant and myste­rious textures were often created by combining live performance and electronics. 

After her breakthrough piece Lichtbogen for ensemble and electronics in 1986, Saariaho gradually expanded her musical expression to a great variety of genres, and her chamber pieces and choral music have become staples of instru­mental and vocal ensembles, respectively.  www.saariaho.org