François-Xavier Roth, Musical Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, will conduct Die Soldaten the legendary opera by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Cologne, Hamburg, and Paris. He discusses this extraordinary but nonetheless too little-known composer.
Antoine Lévy-Leboyer (ALL): I’ve travelled to Cologne to listen to Die Soldaten. I believe it’s an distinctive work and I wish to talk about its composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann with you.
François-Xavier Roth (FXR): Fantastic! And also you’re not alone. Many are fascinated by this work and are available particularly to listen to it.
ALL: When Pierre Boulez returned to France within the 70s, we have been lucky to find a plethora of recent composers, however not Zimmermann. I didn’t come throughout him till 2012 on the Salzburg Competition (overview right here). Might I ask the way you found him and what your journey was to get to know him?
FXR: Actually, I used to be conscious of Zimmermann once I was a pupil in Paris. I had heard of Die Soldaten, the Requiem for a Younger Poet. Certainly, for Zimmermann’s era, which included composers like Boulez, Maderna, Berio, and Stockhausen, his music was considerably sacrificed within the identify of postwar avant-garde.
Nonetheless, I actually found Zimmermann’s music once I arrived in Cologne in 2015. There was discuss on the time of staging a brand new manufacturing of Die Soldaten to rejoice his anniversary. I met his daughter Bettina, who turned a buddy. I mentioned Zimmermann’s work with quite a few specialists, together with Peter Reiner. I additionally bought to know his music by means of the orchestra, which had performed quite a bit with him, in addition to by means of college students like York Holler, a composer whose work aligns with mine right here in Cologne.
It’s true that Zimmermann stays considerably unknown to many as a twentieth-century composer. He had a really singular persona, and his work on the radio right here at WDR [Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln], the place he contributed to creating musical collage and different improvements, continues to lift questions on his place within the twentieth century.
ALL: Are you able to clarify the way you put together for such a demanding work?
FXR: The rating could be very wealthy and dense. In Die Soldaten, Zimmermann expressed every part he labored on and thought of all through his life. I believe it is likely to be the work of his life, each by way of the libretto and the depth of expression. It displays his personal life and struggling. The music presents varied sides. As an illustration, the overture, the primary prelude, will be in comparison with the final act, the opening of the final act, the rape scene, the on line casino, and so forth. Extraordinarily dissonant, advanced, virtually anarchic music, with numerous layers. At occasions, musicians play as much as seven or eight totally different rhythms without delay. This music is what one would possibly name ‘cluster’, dissonant, advanced, virtually anarchic.
Then, there’s a big a part of the work that could be very chamber-like in writing, similar to the music of Webern, Boulez, or Berio, extraordinarily pointillist the place each notice has its place. It is a large distinction to the beforehand talked about dissonant music. Furthermore, there are show-stopping passages, like the primary scene within the café with the troopers within the second act, the place Zimmermann creates a polyphony of motion and dialogue within the music, a way that had by no means been heard earlier than 1965. There’s a contrapuntal profusion that echoes the theatrical motion. There are additionally moments like within the third act with the countess, the place Zimmermann invents fluid music with overlapping rhythms and completely fascinating string legato, which has a hypnotic impact on the viewers.
So, there are totally different sides to this work, and for preparation, one should perceive these totally different worlds, as every half is sort of a murals. Then, one should construct. This work can’t be rehearsed like others. It requires a whole lot of rehearsal time, meticulous preparation of the teams, and whole dedication.
ALL: Relating to the vocal half, you talked about its complexity. Might you inform us extra about that?
FXR: Certainly, the vocal half presents important challenges. Vocal steadiness just isn’t simple to attain, particularly in massive venues like these in Paris or Hamburg. I generally use slight amplification for the singers to assist them dialogue with the orchestra, as some passages are difficult to render in a live performance model. Singers face a number of challenges, significantly concerning pitch and the tone rows used as compositional materials, which complicates intonation. The rhythm is extraordinarily advanced, and reminiscence is severely examined. Many singers have been performing this work for a very long time, and it requires an funding of time, power, and persistence that deserves our admiration.
I have to spotlight the position of Marie, which is probably probably the most demanding and longest. Emily Hindrichs is actually distinctive; she has mastered the rating to the purpose of singing it with a freedom and mastery worthy of a Mozart opera. It’s simply outstanding.
Nevertheless it’s not simply the singers, the instrumentalists and everybody concerned in Die Soldaten present extraordinary dedication. The preparation and overcoming of difficulties are integral to the interpretation of this work, and this interprets into a novel power that reaches the viewers.
Through the latest normal rehearsal, the collective emotion was indescribable. Talking about it deeply strikes me. I believe that in Wagner’s time, when he was mounting Parsifal or Die Meistersinger, there should have been an analogous transcendence of difficulties. It brings a novel and human dimension to the interpretation.
ALL: Do your musicians recognize the work past the efficiency? Has it now turn out to be a part of their musical id?
FXR: It’s an fascinating query concerning the orchestra as a result of it’s the identical orchestra that premiered Die Soldaten in 1965. Again then, it was significantly difficult. My predecessor, Günter Wand, oversaw the live shows on the time and had led intrigues towards Zimmermann’s music. I even imagine that a big a part of the orchestra had expressed resistance, calling it incomprehensible noise and too tough to play. But Zimmermann was a robust native determine, which could clarify a few of these reluctances. The rehearsals have been very tough, and I’d have been uncomfortable attending them.
After we revived the work in 2018, the musicians have been anxious and questioning if they might succeed. The primary rehearsals have been chaotic, to be sincere. Nonetheless, with persistence, issues improved. On the time, I spoke quite a bit with the musicians, who shared their vulnerabilities and fears. The performances have been profitable, and so they understood that this music, when correctly ready and performed, makes full sense.
Right now, because of these 2018 performances and subsequent ones, this work is among the orchestra’s prides. An orchestra that premiered Until Eulenspiegel by Richard Strauss, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Brahms’s Double Concerto, and so forth., now considers Die Soldaten as an emblematic work. Zimmermann is now recognised in Cologne, in addition to by our WDR colleagues, and his music has turn out to be a real musical id for our metropolis.
Throughout his lifetime, after the conflict, Zimmermann suffered from competitors with Stockhausen, however in the present day, he’s much more positively regarded by professionals and the general public. It’s a really encouraging signal.
ALL: If we don’t have the chance to listen to Die Soldaten which different works of Zimmermann would you suggest?
FXR: Zimmermann was a prolific composer who explored varied musical genres. For these wanting to find his universe, I’d first suggest listening to his Music for King Ubu’s Dinner. It’s an accessible work that borrows components from totally different musical kinds. One can recognize his expertise for pastiche and collage, in addition to delicate humour and sarcasm. In any other case, his Violin Concerto incorporates South American rhythms and can also be very approachable.
Alternatively, there’s the Requiem for a Younger Poet, the Sonata for Viola solo, the Symphony in a single motion, the Concerto for oboe and chamber orchestra, and a piece for 2 pianos and orchestra. All of those can immerse you in Zimmermann’s universe.
ALL: You could have labored extensively on color in French music. What does a German orchestra deliver to this work that may be harder to acquire with a French orchestra?
FXR: That’s a wonderful query. Zimmermann was nicely acquainted with the Gürzenich Orchestra, in addition to many different German orchestras, which have, I’d say, a barely darker sound tradition than French ones. It’s no coincidence that he used the brass and percussion group in a particular approach. It corresponds to a German sonic aesthetic.
Furthermore, German orchestras have a unique relationship to rhythm in comparison with French orchestras. In France, the main target is on the precision of solfège [concerned with musical pitch], which is criticised in the present day however is a rare device. It’s a form of rhetorical virtuosity for decoding and understanding music. In Germany, conventional solfège with notice names isn’t used, which influences their relationship to rhythm. In France, there’s a really exact sharpness, whereas in Germany, although precision can also be current, there’s a distinction within the method to rhythm.
Nonetheless, I have to emphasise that this work will be carried out by any orchestra as a result of it transcends mere nationwide tradition. It’s common.
ALL: One final query: is there a sure continuity between Wozzeck and Die Soldaten? What comes after Die Soldaten?
FXR: It should be stated that within the Sixties, there weren’t many who have been nonetheless betting on the type of opera. Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten is nearly an accident as a result of at the moment, opera was actually condemned by the avant-garde. One may definitely discover curiosity in replaying the works of Wagner, Richard Strauss, or bel canto for many who have been , however there wasn’t actually a future for this inventive type. One can definitely understand a lineage with Wozzeck, in addition to with Pelléas et Mélisande, on this new approach of redefining the style, the shape, and telling a theatrical story, by mobilising sources to create a novel musical and theatrical work.
As for what this has spawned, I usually suppose that one of many composers who has managed to catch the ball and reinvent the style is probably Georges Benjamin, together with his personal codes and music. He has additionally opened a brand new chapter within the historical past of opera.
Nonetheless, I’ve additionally not too long ago carried out Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre which has no relation to Die Soldaten besides that it’s also a piece that, on the one hand, buried the style and, however, fully regenerated it.
I believe in some methods, it’s tough to create one thing afterward. It’s very fascinating to see how the work ends with this final notice, this D that concludes the work. This notice has a perform of dying in Zimmermann’s music. There may be nothing after Die Soldaten and it doesn’t matter. I believe there are works like this the place one says that after this, one can solely do one thing in a different way, one thing else. The way in which Zimmermann managed to depict the abysses of humanity, our struggling, and our despair as human beings, I imagine we will’t go a lot additional.
Nonetheless, there may be at all times hope…
