In his new work In Rudimente – Songs without Words for Ensemble , a work commissioned by the JCOM, the Munich composer Johannes X. Schachtner deals with a cycle of poems by the French poet André du Bouchet, which was translated into German by Paul Celan.
Du Bouchet and Celan knew and respected each other. Celan praised du Bouchet's translations of his poems into French, and he himself translated du Bouchet's poems into German as early as 1968, but the French poet remained relatively unknown in Germany. Both are similar - across the borders of their different native languages - in their use of language, especially what is between the lines, so that Celan's translations recreate du Bouchet's 'fill-in-the-blank texts' even in the unsaid.
“Through Paul Celan’s translations of the poetry of the poet André du Bouchet, who died in 2001, into German, there is something like a connection between the poet of the century and our own lifetime. I followed this trail in my Five songs without words for small ensemble , which were written around the turn of the year 2022/2023. The words of the small cycle Rudiments with its sparingly placed words, its suggested white areas, its listening before and after, provide the structure for the five short movements. I translate both the French original verses and the German translations into music - mostly distributed stereophonically across the ensemble's two flutes; only once can the word pair 'black/noir' be heard in the instrumental sound. The blending of the German and French prosody thus leads to a two-part harmony, which becomes the starting point for the harmonic and melodic developments."
- Johannes X. Schachtner
Rudiments is on the program of the JCOM concert Paul Celan on March 22, 2023 in the Munich Kammerspiele, further information about the concert here.