N. 16 Drei Miniaturen nach Nietzsche

Drei Miniaturen nach Nietzsche is an unfinished piece. I had to interrupt the work on it because I was fully engaged for months, inter alia working as a music engraver on Helmut Lachenmann’s orchestra piece Schreiben. When I started composing again, I realised that I could not simply continue the work, but it felt like starting a new piece. This is why I decided to actually start a new composition. I had planned to write seven miniatures. The first three ones are based on poems by Nietzsche (Ecce Homo, Dem unbekannten Gott and Über meiner Haustür). The remaining poems are used in the later piece Utopia III. Hence it may be regarded as a continuation of Drei Miniaturen and is ideal to be performed right after them. In Drei Miniaturen nach Nietzsche, the pianist does not only play the piano, but also four cowbells. This is an idea derived from Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Kontakte. I have adapted it already in the piece Entgleisungen. The miniatures are very noisy. Ratchet sounds alternate with scratch and click noises. Additionally, the piano is recorded beforehand and becomes an additional retrograde electronic voice in each Miniatur. The soprano does barely sing, but mainly speaks – in the most diverse ways.

The parts are a compilation of the individual parts from the study score. Note spacing therefore shows irregularities. The reason for this is that the score was created in graphics software.