For seconds in star dreams

Commentary on the star-shaped work "For seconds in star dreams" for guitar and piano (2022).

3rd movement of the Cycle Throw your fear into the air. Seven fantasia sparks for guitar/guitar and piano on a poem by Rose Ausländer (2021/22)     

(Commissioned composition by guitarist Stefan Barcsay, sponsored by the Culture Department of the Town of Augsburg)  

The special feature of this movement: It represents a "musical game" written in the shape of a star, in which the respective rhythms form the spikes of the star. Their sequence is determined by the performers` ad libbing (according to the specific game rules).

Who would have thought in the autumn of 2021 – when I received this commission – that the important message communicated by Rose Ausländer in her poem, “Carpe Diem”, would turn out to be doubly topical at the time of its first performance due to the dramatic turn of events in Ukraine?

That’s the reason why my work is prefaced by the special line “Throw your fear into the air” as its motto and title. In order to give the best possible compositional form to the profundity of the original poem so full of meaning, my cycle consists of 7 fantasia sparks, short sound patterns that musically characterise powerful themes or excerpts from the poem in a creative, multi-layered fashion.                                                              

The number 7 was deliberately chosen here as it symbolises wholeness and perfection in the mysticism of Christian and Jewish traditions which also played a certain part in Ausländer’s life. The systematic inclusion of number symbolism is intended to lend an overarching meaning to round off and encapsulate the work.

There are therefore three “symbolic pieces” to be found in this cycle – inspired by Macrocosmos by the recently deceased composer George Crumb – No. 3 For seconds in star dreams, No. 6 Heavenly crowns and No. 7 Lux Aeterna. These movements written in the form of a star, crown or candle reveal their relevance to the title of each piece both in terms of the pattern of the notes and the sound.

Based on the 8th line of the poem (“soon your dreams will fall”), the 3rd movement, For seconds in star dreams – intermezzo miniature for guitar and piano represents a symbolic piece written in the shape of a star. The respective rhythms form the spikes of the star, and their sequence is determined by the musicians’ ad libbing. This interpretational freedom is intended to give a glimpse of the infinite possibilities in the world of dreams in which the boundaries between what is possible and the other side, the world behind the comprehensible and tangible to which Rose Ausländer refers here, become blurred.

To this end, two numbers shape this piece both in terms of the sound and the symbolism:

-       the number 3 which in a figurative sense is seen as a symbol of completeness or the divine trinity and points to the position of the piece as the 3rd movement in the cycle;

-       the number 2 which stands for the cosmic duality (heaven and earth), i.e. the relationship between two complementary variables.

This context is intended to underpin the connection just outlined between dreams and reality in the movement on a higher level of significance. From a compositional point of view, this context is expressed in the exclusive use of motifs and intervals by the second on the basis of which a resonant backdrop of sound is created with occasional, piercing effects in the dialogue between guitar and piano.

Complete Cycle:

"Throw your fear into the air. Seven fantasia sparks for guitar/guitar and piano on a poem by Rose Ausländer" (2021/22)

1. In nowhere for guitar and piano

2. The coy premonition ofthe thrush for guitar solo

3. For seconds in star dreams - Intermezzo miniature for guitar and piano

4. Time and Life for guitar solo

5. Gifted words - faces ofa conversation for piano solo

6. Heavenly crowns - Intermezzo miniature for guitar solo

7. Lux aeterna for guitar and piano