The term “tragicomedy” in the title refers to the way in which all our conflicts, all our contradictions, all the drama and meaning in our lives become almost comic when observed from a distance. As Thomas Berhard put it, “when one thinks of death, everything becomes absurd”. I was inspired to the use of the [German] word “Wie” [“as”] in the title by the work of my friend, the painter Max Weiler, who often gives his pictures titles beginning with "Wie ...", as for example in his work “Wie eine Landschaft" [Like a Landscape]. It is an indication that the work is symbolic and not programmatic.

In this piece, dramatic scenes alternate with melancholy quieter sections, in which (although this is already interpretation) the measured repetition of tonal phrases points us towards infinity. The finale opens out into what for us lowly mortals appears to be a state of timelessness, in which further change is barely possible.

Friedrich Cerha