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8 – October 2017

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Wandrers Nachtlied

Evelin Brosi & Tijl Moons

 

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A Genealogy of Adaptation

Thomas Chadwick

 

A Genealogy of Adaptation — Thomas Chadwick

Evelin Brosi & Tijl Moons’s 19 minute and 54 second adaptation of Goethe’s poem “Wandrers Nachtlied” is brutal. Supported by a thudding bass and staccato bleats, the words of Goethe’s poem are buried deep within the soundscape, growled out a syllable at a time. Each syllable is repeated both at the start of each bar and through the generous use of delay, meaning that the listener has to clamber through every syllable several times before they are allowed to move on to the next one. The words are for the most part incomprehensible and it is only with the original German to hand that it is possible (for this listener at least) to follow the course of the poem. In this sense, Brosi & Moons’s arrangement appears distant from both other arrangements of the poem and the musical tradition more widely. Yet, this sense of distance is perhaps misleading. In the alternative version of Evelin Brosi & Tijl Moons’ track “Wandrers Nachtlied” presented here their new composition is set back against five other musical renditions of Goethe’s poem. The first is Franz Schubert’s1 1824 arrangement for voice and piano (D786). The second is Franz Liszt’s2 1842 arrangement, also for voice and piano. The third is Robert Schumann’s3 1850 arrangement, again for voice and piano. The fourth is Dutch composer Alphonsus Diepenbrock’s4 1916 arrangement for unaccompanied choral ensemble. The final track is the 1998 arrangement by French composer Philippe Hersnat5 for female voices and bassoon. By placing Brosi & Moons’s work in direct conversation with the genealogy of the poem’s adaption it is possible to pick out a series of tonal resonances with five very different adaptations, pulling the new version into direct proximity to its forebears. More specifically, it is possible to trace the passage of Goethe’s original words from the sonorous tenor that sits above the piano accompaniment in Schubert, Liszt and Schumann, through the flattening choral ensembles of Diepenbrock and Hersnat to the grunted syllables that Brosi & Moons have sunk beneath a thudding soundscape. As such this adaptation of their track demonstrates how rather than working outside of a musical tradition their work can in fact be rooted directly within it and the incomprehensibility of the poem is the continuation of a process that has developed across the twentieth century. In this sense Brosi & Moons’s work speaks to both the shifting currents of musical adaptation as well as the enduring influence of Goethe’s work for composition.

  • 1Franz Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828): Wandrers Nachtlied II, D768 for voice and piano (1824)
  • 2Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886): He first set “Wandrers Nachtlied” in 1842, but went back to the version in both 1849 and 1856.
  • 3Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856): He set “Wandrers Nachtlied” for voice and piano as part of Lieder und Gesänge volume IV in 1850.
  • 4Alphonsus Diepenbrock (September 2, 1862 – April 5, 1921): He set “Wandrers Nachtlied” for choral performance in 1916.
  • 5Philippe Hersant (June 21, 1948 –): He set “Wanderers Nachtlied” for female voices and bassoon in 1998.

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Mount Egaleo

Michiel De Cleene

L.463.MES

MOUNT EGALEO’S SHADOW

On 8.9.1984 the AUTHENTICITY arrived at the Chalivdemboriki scrapyard in Aspropyrgos. The scrapyard in question is now long gone and large warehouses have taken its place. The plot of land where the ship was scrapped can be seen from the adjacent MOUNT EGALEO that separates Aspropyrgos from Athens. The hill's protected woods have seen an increase in scattered traces of illegal logging since a rise in tax on heating fuel. At sunset the hill's shadow slowly envelops Athens.

 

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L.463.ILT

TRACES OF LOGGING ON MOUNT EGALEO

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a, b, c, d and e are most likely traces of illegal logging: the saw cuts are sloppy and appear to be made in a haste. The cuts are situated at a height of approximately seventy centimetres from the ground. The reason for the other indications of logging is uncertain.

 

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A.132.ASM

ASPROPYRGOS BAY AND THE THRIASIAN PLAIN, SEEN FROM MOUNT EGALEO

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  1. Mount Egaleo
  2. Elefsis Shipyard
  3. Aspropyrgos Bay
  4. Laid-up ships, bunked in anchorage area
  5. The former Chalivdemboriki shipyard where the AUTHENTICITY was scrapped
  6. Thriasian plain (A feud over the ownership of the region between Athena and Poseidon drove the latter to flood the plain in wrath.)
SEE ALSO

A.132.APC AUTHENTICITY IN PLYMOUTH SOUND, POSTCARDA.132.ASA AUTHENTICITY AT THE SCRAPYARDA.132.ASC ASPROPYRGOS SCRAPYARD, AKORIA.132.ASD SHIPS BUNKED IN ANCHORAGE AREA IN ASPROPYRGOSA.132.ASF FISHERMEN IN ASPROPYRGOSA.132.ASM ASPROPYRGOS BAY AND THE THRIASIAN PLAIN, SEEN FROM MOUNT EGALEOA.132.ASR ASPROPYRGOS REFINERYA.132.ELA FISHERMEN IN ELEFSINAA.132.ESM ELEFSIS SHIPYARD & MOUNT EGALEOA.132.ITY THE NAMES ENDING IN -ITYA.133.CLP CHEMAINUS, WHERE THE AUTHENTICITY’S POSITION WAS LAST RECEIVEDA.134.JAD DISAPPEARANCE OF AUTHENTICITYA.134.KCA AUTHENTICITY IN THE KIEL CANALA.134.KCM A PERSON ABOARD AUTHENTICITYA.135.ACC LETTER TO THE OWNER OF THE AUTHENTICITYA.135.ASH FIRST SIGHTING OF THE AUTHENTICITY (IN FRONT OF HARSTINE BRIDGE)A.135.ATA ABOARD THE AUTHENTICITYJ.957.SJB THE RESTORED MASTS OF THE SANT JUAN BAUTISTAJ.957.TFL TFL 44 (THE RESTORED MASTS OF THE SANT JUAN BAUTISTA)L.463.ILT TRACES OF LOGGING ON MOUNT EGALEOL.463.MES MOUNT EGALEO’S SHADOWT.127.PAC PORT ALBERNI CONVERSATIONM.193.SDT ACCIDENTAL SIGHTING OF A TURKISH SUBMARINE IN DEVONPORT YARDM.193.SDY SUBMARINES IN DEVONPORT YARDM.243.KLD KLD, HIDING AS A MEANS FOR CONSERVATIONM.253.TER TELERADM.392.DST DARK STRUCTURE IN A FORMER ATOMIC COMMAND BUNKERM.392.TNK KITCHEN OF A FORMER ATOMIC COMMAND BUNKERM.955.RBO BOEING 737 ARTIFICIAL REEF, CHEMAINUSM.955.WGS WRECK OF THE GLEN STRATHALLANN.567.PED PENRYN, ARTIFICIAL NIGHTLIGHT MESOCOSM-EXPERIMENT, DUSKN.567.PEN PENRYN, ARTIFICIAL NIGHTLIGHT MESOCOSM-EXPERIMENT, NIGHTN.567.PFI PENRYN, OVERLOOKING THE EXPERIMENT, SIGHTING OF THE FIREN.567.PFJ PENRYN, IN SEARCH OF THE FIREGROUND, BUZZARDN.567.PFK PENRYN, IN SEARCH OF THE FIREGROUND, SHIP’S HULLN.567.PFL PENRYN, IN SEARCH OF THE FIREGROUND, COMPOSITE STRUCTUREN.795.GSO SODIUM LIT GREENHOUSEN.796.LPX LOW PRESSURE SODIUM CAROUSEL PROJECTORP.454.IMD IMPLANTABLE DEVICEP.733.DIB PLUTONIUM 238 PACEMAKER, THE CREMATORIUM AS A DIRTY BOMBP.733.FLP THE PLUTONIUM MIGHT ESCAPE FROM THE PACEMAKERP.733.GAH GAYLE HOOD [OBITUARY]P.733.GAI GAYLE HOOD DISPLAYS A NUCLEAR HEART PACEMAKERP.733 PLU PLUTONIUM 238 PACEMAKERP.733.PLX PLUTONIUM 238 PACEMAKER LEFT IN A CUPBOARDP.815.TPH TWO EXPLANTED PACEMAKERS TAKING EACH OTHER FOR A HEART R.957.NAD A LOST NUCLEAR-POWERED LISTENING DEVICE ON NANDA DEVIR.957.RRR MOUNT ROBSON’S REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE WITH NANDA DEVIR.957.SMR MOUNT ROBSON REPLICAS.715.GAL GATUN LOCKS WEBCAMS.715.ISM ISLA MELONES, A GROWING ISLANDS.913.CDA CAP D’ANTIFER, DEEPWATER OUTPORTT.359.CUI UFO SIGHTING IN CHEMAINUS, BCT.792.CGR GROTTOT.792.CMY THE MYSTERIOUS CAVET.792.GRU PALEOLITHIC CAVES HOLLOWED OUT BY THE RUBICON ALONG THE N666T.815.FLT FLINTT.957.BRE BRIDGE [NAUTICAL]T.957.DSM WOODEN SCALE MODEL IN THE HOME OF A RETIRED SUBMARINER

REFERENCE GUIDE is a growing encyclopaedia on ships, forests and pacemakers. It is a collection of entries, connected and fueled by cross-references. These not only determine the characteristics of the encyclopaedia and its use, but they are also the mechanism behind its expansion. All* entries are transcripts of moments when objects and technologies challenge the strict boundaries that apply to them and emphasize their transitory nature.

*Although the main focus of Reference Guide lies within these moments of technological candour, the encyclopaedia demonstrates a surprisingly high interest in characters and phenomena along the side-lines of these episodes and displays a severe tendency to digress.

Reference Guide is a research project at School of Arts/KASK, Ghent