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The poetic source of my composition Nature Morte is the work of Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996). The piece is based on fragments of two works by the Russian poet of Jewish background – Nature Morte (1971) and The Butterfly (1973), which were written shortly before and after Brodsky moved to the United States in 1972: The poems brilliantly reflect Brodsky’s emotional state at the time. The basic themes of Brodsky’s poetry from this period touch on the relationship between people and society, the choice between good and evil, the search for truth, and the relationship with God. For my piece Nature Morte, I have chosen the poem’s English translation. Brodsky was actively involved in the translation of his words; therefore the English versions of his texts may be considered just as valuable as the originals, or, in any event, not any less valuable than the originals.
Galina Grigorjeva
Vocal Text
I NATURE MORTE
People and things crowd in. Eyes can be bruised and hurt by people as well as things. Better to live in the dark.
I sit on a wooden bench watching the passers-by –sometimes whole families. I am fed up with the light.
This is a winter month. First on the calendar. I shall begin to speak when I’m fed up with the dark.
(From Nature Morte, 1971)
II THE BUTTERFLY
Should I say that you’re dead? You touched so brief a fragment of time. There’s much that’s sad in the joke God played. I scarcely comprehend the words “you’ve lived”; the date of your birth and when you faded in my cupped hand are one, and not two dates. Thus calculated, your term is, simply stated, less than a day.
Who was the jeweler, who from our world extracted your miniature –a world where madness brings us low, and lower,
where we are things, while you are the thought of things?
Should I say that, somehow, you lack all being?
What, then, are my hands feeling that’s so like you? Such colors can’t be drawn from non-existence. Tell me, at whose insistence were yours laid on?
There are, on your small wings, black spots and splashes –like eyes, birds, girls, eyelashes. But of what things are you the airy norm? What bits of faces, what broken times? What places shine through your form?
As for your nature morte;
Yet you’re akin to nothingness –like it, you’re wholly empty. And if, in your life’s venture, Nothing takes flesh, that flesh will die. Yet while you live you offer a frail and shifting buffer, dividing it from me.
(From The Butterfly, 1973)
III WHO ARE YOU? *
Mary now speaks to Christ: “Are you my son? – or God? You are nailed to the cross. Where lies my homeward road?
Can I pass through my gate not having understood: Are you dead? – or alive? Are you my son? – or God?”
Christ speaks to her in turn:
“Whether dead or alive, woman, it’s all the same –son or God, I am thine.”
(From Nature Morte, 1971)
Texts by Joseph Brodsky (1940)
* The title of this part by Galina Grigorjeva
Excerpts from Nature Morte and The Butterfly from Collected Poems in English by Joseph Brodsky.
Copyright © 2000 by the Estate of Joseph Brodsky.
Used by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.
The premiere of Galina Grigorjeva’s Nature Morte took place on October 23, 2008 at Niguliste Church, Tallinn, Estonia. The performers were the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conductor Daniel Reuss. Nature Morte was commissioned by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Joseph Brodsky
not together, as fast as possible
ben marcato ben marcato
Peo - ple and things crowd in, crowd in,
Peo - ple and things crowd in, crowd in,
peo - ple and thing,
poco a poco cresc.
peo - ple and things,
poco a poco cresc.
poco a poco cresc.
poco a poco cresc.
*) not together, as fast as possible
Peo - ple and things crowd in,
peo - ple and things,
not together, as fast as possible poco a poco cresc. poco a poco cresc.
Peo - ple and things crowd in,
crowd in, peo - ple and things,
Peo - ple and things crowd in,
crowd in, peo - ple and things,
& & & & & V
ben marcato
ben marcato
Peo - ple and things crowd in, crowd in, peo - ple and things,
Peo - ple and things crowd in, crowd in, peo - ple and things,
cresc. molto
crowd in, peo - ple and things,
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
cresc. molto
- ple and things
- ple and things crowd in,
cresc. molto
not together, as fast as possible
peo - ple and things crowd in
lento gliss. lento
gliss. lento
lento gliss. lento
crowd in, peo - ple and things
peo - ple and things crowd in,
lento
peo - ple and things crowd in,
- ple and things crowd in
lento gliss. lento gliss. lento
Grigorjeva: Nature Morte - 11
gliss.
gliss. gliss. gliss. gliss.
peo - ple and things crowd in,
peo - ple and things crowd in
* Onesingertopronounceclearlytheendoftheword, theotherssimplytoholdthevowel.
* Onesingertopronounceclearlytheendoftheword, theotherssimplytoholdthevowel.
Onesingertopronounceclearlytheendoftheword, theotherssimplytoholdthevowel.
when
when
when
I am fed up with the dark
People and things crowd in
People and things crowd in
I am fed up with the dark
I am fed up with the dark
People and things crowd in
I am fed up with the dark I am fed up with the dark I am fed up with the dark
People and things crowd in
mezza voce
People and things crowd in I am fed up with the dark
People and things crowd in
People and things crowd in
People and things crowd in
I am fed up with the dark
People and things crowd in People and things crowd in
I am fed up with the dark
*) Text cresc. molto **) Text dim. molto
The text in the rhombus are to be spoken. Beginning with Alto III and Tenor I (and moving out into the rest of the choir as shown - exept for Soprano I and Bass III)each singer choose a phrase and recites it freely. The overall dynamic shape is a crescendo molto to the middle point followed by a diminuendo molto. The total duration of the rhomb text should be ca 14''. Soprano I, II, III and Bass I, II, III (from the middle of rhombus): after ending(before next voice) the word( when, I'm, fed, ...etc.) singers will continue singing on same vowel as it was in the word.
œ œ œ b œ œ # œ # œ
I am fed up with the dark œ œ œ b œ œ # œ # œ
I am fed up with the dark, I am fed up œ œ œ b
I am fed up with the dark, I am fed up with the dark œ b œ J œ J œ b œ œ œ #
I am fed up with the dark
œ b œ I am
poco a poco sussurando poco a poco sussurando poco a poco sussurando poco a poco sussurando poco a poco sussurando poco a poco sussurando
sussurando sussurando sussurando sussurando sussurando sussurando
poco a poco senza voce
poco a poco senza voce
poco a poco senza voce
poco a poco senza voce
poco a poco senza voce
poco a poco senza voce
Lento
Tranquillo molto, senza vibrato, senza colore
There's much that's
com - pre - hend the words "you've
...like it you're whol - ly emp - ty. And
the cross.
the cross.
ww b thine. ww b thine. ww b ...thine. w