1. Gitarre (Stille Nächte.Global)

 Silent Nights.Globally was commissioned by the Silent Night Museum Hallein/Austria in 2021. The work combines the simple Christmas carol Silent Night with the expressive possibilities of our time - as well as, from a historical view, an arc is drawn between the difficult time after the Napoleonic Wars and the quiet nights of the Corona period with the almost complete standstill of art and culture. There are many references to the Silent Night song. Again and again the melody starts through all instruments with the characteristic upward and downward second step and develops in numerous variants in a new direction every time. Bars 3 and 4 of the song with the lyrics „all is calm, all is bright“ is processed or reinterpreted, especially in bars 152 to 172. At the end of the composition, as a reminiscence, the first bar of the melody is quoted one last time in natural harmonics. A passage entitled „One minute´s silence“´ is dedicated to the victims of the Napoleonic Wars as well as to the numerous victims of the Corona Pandemic. The final section is aggressive in its basic character with several individual phrases separated from each other. 

Tuning of the instruments:  

Guitar 1: E - A sharp - D - g - a sharp - e; from bar 132 (133) both E strings are tuned a sixth-of-a-tone higher (33 cents)  

Guitar 2: E - A flat - D - a flat - b - e; from bar 132 (133) both E strings are tuned a sixth-of-a-tone higher (33 cents)  

Viola: C - G - D (minus 1/6-tone lower = 33 cent) - A (plus 1/6-tone higher = 33 cent)  

Double bass: E - A (plus 1/6-tone higher = 33 cent) - D (minus 1/6-tone lower = 33 cent) - G  

Execution: 

All glissandi have to be started immediately from all instruments - the first note has to be played distinctly. 

molto sul ponticello: means a sound played very close to the bridge with a clear noise component (strings) 

Microtonality is referred to in the text only in some cases verbally or by appropriate accidentials. Otherwise it results from the scordatura of the respective instrument. Under no circumstances should the notes on the microtonally tuned strings be „corrected“ in direction of the normal tuning. 

Duration: ca. 12 min.