Amnesisch Blau
in series: Schwinden

2001
vn, va, vc, pno
00:12:00
2003-06-13
Oetkerhalle, Bielefeld, Germany
Ensemble Horizonte

Ein kurzer, genordeter Blick in den Himmel
in einen blau gefärbten blauen Himmel,
der metallene Zug nach Süden,
künstliche Blitze zu beiden Seiten
ein, mit Rembrandt übergossener Rembrandt
senkte sich herab
mit dem Gefühl von einem der anderen Orte,
an denen immer Blau gewesen war:
der blaue Dunst,
in blaue Augen,
Curacao, Kobalt,
der blaue Planet,
die blaue Stunde als opera folia
“Locus coeruleus”, der blaue Ort,
wie das blaues Husten der Frauen,
die vor- und rückwärts wandeln
auf der Geraden des biologischen Alters.
Und doch würden sie den Grund nicht nehmen,
so oder so nach oben zu blicken.

—

A brief, northward glance into the sky
into a blue-stained blue sky,
the metallic train bound south,
artificial lightning to either side,
a Rembrandt, drenched in Rembrandt,
lowered itself
with the feeling of one of those other places
where there had always been blue:
the blue haze,
in blue eyes,
curaçao, cobalt,
the blue planet,
the blue hour as opera folia,
Locus coeruleus, the blue place,
like the blue coughing of women
who walk back and forth
along the line of biological age.
And yet they would not take the reason
to look upward—one way or another.

Amnesic Blue for violin, viola, cello, and piano was written in 2001. It draws on the Trio d-is-appear, written in 1994, with the addition of a violin. Bornhöft has reworked the piece every seven years since then (Sepia 2008, Lethe 2015), adding one instrument to the instrumentation each time. “The prime number seven is a number charged with many meanings: the seven days of creation, the menorah, the Seven Wonders of the World, the Seven Brothers of early Christianity, the Seven Sleepers, the Seven Deadly Sins, the seven heroes of Greek mythology who fought against Thebes, the dreaded seventh year of marriage, the life cycle that supposedly changes every seven years. The fact that Bornhöft’s Amnesisch Blau has now also taken its place in this context of seven was not a deliberate concept, but happened by chance. And as luck would have it, counting back from 1994 in increments of seven (1987, 1980, 1973) leads to the year 1966, when, at least for Achim Bornhöft, it all began.” The title Amnesisch Blau refers to a lyrical text by Bornhoeft that deals with the blurring of memories: details that once seemed important disappear, while seemingly unimportant things remain. “This is also the case with the note D, the central sound in the series of works Sepia- Amnesisch Blau – disappear. The D repeatedly emerges and then flows away, steals away. The wordplay in the title of the oldest of the seven-year pieces, reminiscent of concrete poetry, sets the corresponding trail. Further, now musical traces of blurred memory are techniques of gradual fading, e.g., glissandi that fade into nothingness. Other techniques include deliberately omitted chords that should have been played according to the established system, and intentionally designed gaps in certain movement sequences, which the listener perceives as incomplete presentations and is willing to complete in their mind.”

(Text: German Music Council, WER 6577 2, 2010)

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)