for solo voice and mixed choir<\/p>\n
\nCalls have always fascinated me: their powerful, extrovert aspects as well as their weaker, introvert characteristics, like prayers.<\/p>\n
“Kulning” is a Swedish folk singing technique, a calling song once used out of doors to call cattle and to fend off predators. “Kulning” is a loud, high-pitched song-call with no vibrato, and with a different spectrum of overtones than traditional, classical song.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My original idea for what eventually became Teile dich Nacht was to explore the possibilities of combining “kulning” and choral song. How would their overtone spectra mix? What would happen?<\/p>\n
I hoped to compose a piece that was emotionally strong, that would be a challenge for the soloist and the choir from both technical and expressive points of view. As I searched for textual material, I discovered the incredibly highly-charge and bold poetry of Nelly Sachs. It went right to my heart, and during spring 2002, the piece took shape.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The solo part, composed for Lena Willemark, spans a nearly three octave register, and requires tremendous vocal flexibility and physical engagement. It also calls for quarter tones and improvisation.<\/p>\n
The sound of the choral part is intended to be permeated by the solo voice. The choral part, too, is very demanding and requires sophisticated dynamics and accuracy of pitch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The structure of the piece is quite unusual. Some of the movements are extremely short, interspersed with longer ones.<\/p>\n
At times the movements end very abruptly, almost as if they were cut short, and followed by total silence. Perhaps this symbolises the fate of Nelly Sachs. She grew up in Berlin and was of German-Jewish origin. She became mute after being interrogated by the Gestapo, and was unable to speak for 40 days. Her literary voice appeared after this involuntary silence, and her first work of literature was published when she was 55. In 1966 she became the Nobel laureate in literature.<\/p>\n
Most of the text for this piece is in the original German, but a few of the short verses are in Swedish translation.
\nTeile dich Nacht was composed for Lena Willemark and SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart for the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 2002<\/p>\n
\u2013 Karin Rehnqvist (English translation by Linda Schenck)<\/em><\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Texts:<\/em><\/p>\n 1. Die T\u00fcr der Nacht<\/p>\n 2. Ich suche die Nacht<\/p>\n solo, movt 2 and 4 in Swedish Ich suche die Nacht<\/p>\n Wo ist die T\u00fcr der Nacht<\/p>\n die wacklige T\u00fcr \u2013<\/p>\n \u00d6ffne sie mir<\/p>\n Suche suche die Nacht!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Chor der Sterne<\/p>\n Wir Sterne, wir Sterne<\/p>\n Wir wandernder, gl\u00e4nzender, singender Staub \u2013<\/p>\n Unsere Schwester die Erde ist die \u201dBlinde\u201d geworden<\/p>\n Unter den Leuchtbildern des Himmels \u2013<\/p>\n Ein Schrei ist sie geworden<\/p>\n Unter den Singenden \u2013<\/p>\n Sie, die Sehnsuchtsvollste<\/p>\n Die im Staube begann ihr Werk: Engel zu bilden \u2013<\/p>\n Sie, die die Seligkeit in ihrem Geheimnis tr\u00e4gt<\/p>\n Wie goldf\u00fchrendes Gew\u00e4sser \u2013<\/p>\n Ausgesch\u00fcttet in die Nacht liegt sie<\/p>\n Wie Wein auf den Gassen \u2013<\/p>\n Des B\u00f6sen gelbe Schwefellichter h\u00fcpfen auf ihrem Leib.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n O Erde, Erde<\/p>\n Stern aller Sterne<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Erde, Erde bist du eine Blinde geworden<\/p>\n Vor den Schwesternaugen der Plejaden<\/p>\n Oder der Waage pr\u00fcfendem Blick?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Erde, o Erde<\/p>\n Stern aller Sterne<\/p>\n Einmal wird ein Sternbild Spiegel hei\u00dfen.<\/p>\n Dann o Blinde wirst du wieder sehn!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Ich suche die Nacht<\/p>\n 5. Das Ewigheitzeichen<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nacht warum donnerst du<\/p>\n Wir wollen doch schlafen<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Siehe das Ewigheitszeichen auf der Wand<\/p>\n Siehe die beiden Nullen aneinandergekettet<\/p>\n Siehe sie schlagen die Augen auf<\/p>\n und es fliesst die Nacht<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6. Teile dich Nacht<\/p>\n Teile dich Nacht<\/p>\n deine beiden Fl\u00fcgel angestrahlt<\/p>\n zittern vor Entsetzen<\/p>\n denn ich will gehn<\/p>\n und bringe dir den blutigen<\/p>\n Abend zur\u00fcck<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whispered text movt 5 (not recognizable to the audience)<\/p>\n So wie im Anfang, so auch jetzt und alle Zeit (from liturgi)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wachstum w\u00e4chst dunkler als Nacht<\/p>\n Brot schmeckt ferner als Himmel<\/p>\n und Himmel blitzt voller Wahrsagerei<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Und einer ist blind<\/p>\n und einer ist lahm<\/p>\n und einer springt in der Nacht in den Bottich<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Solch ein Krach in der Nacht<\/p>\n Solche Lauferei und ein Wasserfleck an der Decke <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" for solo voice and mixed choir Calls have always fascinated me: their powerful, extrovert aspects as well as their weaker, introvert characteristics, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programme-notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79arM-i7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4296,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/autumn-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":0},"title":"Autumn 2026","author":"Kulturpartikeln","date":"October 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Upcoming performances during the autumn and winter.","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bakgr_abstr_kalendarium25namnteckn_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bakgr_abstr_kalendarium25namnteckn_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bakgr_abstr_kalendarium25namnteckn_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bakgr_abstr_kalendarium25namnteckn_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bakgr_abstr_kalendarium25namnteckn_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C643&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDie Nacht<\/p>\n
\nBy Nelly Sachs from various books and dramas;<\/em>
\nDer magische T\u00e4nzer, Ch\u00f6re nach Mittennacht, Versteckspiel mit Emmanuel<\/em>
\nTeile dich Nacht<\/em>
\n\u00a9 Suhrkamp Verlag<\/em><\/p>\n