work in progress

Nr. 1 »KOSMOS« (op. 17, Nr. 1)

»For Martin Haselböck«

For organ
Duration: ca. 10 minutes
World premiere: 24 September 2014, Jesuit Church in Vienna, by Ines Schüttengruber

Published by Edition Contemp Art (Verlagsgruppe Hermann),
Obtainable via www.schott-music.com
Product number: VGH 1914-70

In 1986 I started working on a triptych for organ that I wanted to call »Three Visions for Organ.« The cosmos, life, and love would have been the themes of this piece. At that time I was concurrently working on several series of works, which I could only realize in outline form. On the one hand, a drastic switch from freelance working to a long-term commitment at a renowned music institute took place; on the other hand, after a certain amount of time, a compositional project would oftentimes be replaced before its completion. During the following years, I completed the transition to working with chord alignments, which I had developed especially in the Bagatelles in the Name of György Ligeti op. 14/3a (1989-95) and the 6 Sketches for String Quartet Vanished Dreams op 22c (1992/93).

Begun at the suggestion of Martin Haselböck, the project of the »Visions for Organ« came to a standstill—also due to founding of the »Wiener Akademie,« which left him with little time to play the organ.

Vision No. 1, entitled »Cosmos,« was nevertheless completed. It was finished in March 1987 in Vienna, and is dedicated to Haselböck. It is a piece that consists of many smaller sections, but without exhibiting references to a variation form. The last vestiges of an unconsciously applied tonality characterize the work. These include not only abruptly emerging octaves, but also the arch that stretches from the beginning to the end of the piece, starting on a very low d and reaching a high d at its conclusion.

The wide range of the partially rapidly-changing pitches, the switching between thicker and thinner textures, and the contrast between lyrical and dance elements make up the Cosmos of this Vision, whose resting and central point is marked by the appearance of a »Berceuse.« From this, a short piece for violin and organ was distilled: Lullaby (to my unborn children) op. 17 bis.

Although this triptych has so far remained a torso of which only one-third has been completed, I have released this first piece »Cosmos« for performance.