Helga Michaelis (* 4. April 1932 in Oberschreiberhau; † 20. Juni 2020 in Hamburg)

Wenn ich gen Himmel blicke, sehe ich die blauen Reflektionen, weiße Wolken. Meine Vorstellung reicht weiter: an die Grenzen der Erde, die Stratosphäre, zum Mond, den Planeten, den Sternen. Dort finde ich Dich nicht.

Ich weiß nicht, wo die Erinnerung wohnt, im Kopf, im Herz. Dort finde ich Dich, solange ich lebe.

Memento - Analyis

First of all: I'm aware that it seems a pretty bad idea to analyze the music you wrote by yourself.

Doing so, you risk to be perceived as a musician that is steered “by her head”, rather than by her intuition. Using one's head is not a bad thing at all (I would consider anyone who thinks otherwise – well: headless?!). But an artist is supposed to follow her emotions rather than the “cold” working of her conscious mind. To conform with these expectations, I should keep my mouth shut.

To tell the truth: I don't think so much when playing my guitar or my violin, improvising on an attempt to come up with new ideas. What I do, though, is analyzing my playing afterwards (and writing it down, so I can get back to it later).

Nevertheless: here are some unsorted remarks to Memento:

There is a certain structure of rhythm: the entire section before the solo vocals kick in, is a straight 4/4, but structured as 3+3+2/8. In the first verse, there are some “breaks” in 3+2/8 (just “leaving out” one 3/8). The following passage leads from 3+3+2/8 to 3+3+3/8 (just “adding” one eight). The choir in the finale is a 9/8 (strictly “in time”, by the way – no tempo changes here), although the melody “hides” the simple meter.

Memento

Wien, Staatsoper
(right lower corner: mirroring myself)

Words: Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)
Music: Michael Michaelis

The Bustle in a House

The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth.

The sweeping up the heart
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.

To the memory of Hedwig Getraude Michaelis (*19. March 1926; †28. February 2017), my father's older sister, my »Tante Traudchen«.

Michael: Vocals, Guitars, Violin & Viola, Bass, Cymbals & HiHat, Wave Drum (Snare, Bass Drum, Toms), Percussion (Shaker, Caxixi, Tambourine).

Recorded, edited, and mixed proudly using Cubase.

(Last Update: 27.10.2019)

[All Rights reserved. © Michael Michaelis, 2019]

Memento - Cantata

I was almost done working on my latest piece of music (Memento), when I noticed – quite surprisingly, actually – that it might be a Cantata. At least it has a lot of it's elements: recitatives, arias, a pretty wild mixture of different styles, and last but not least a choir at the end. I'm far from comparing myself with Bach – but he is not just famous for his polyphonic masterpieces, but also started a revolution by ignoring the boundaries between sacred and secular music. That gives me quite an excuse to clash elements of “classical” music with those of Jazz, Blues, and Rock, even in a piece dealing with grief and mourning.

The Bustle in the House

(Emily Dickinson)

When You Are Old (William Butler Yeats)

Den Text von William Butler Yeats hatte ich schon eine ganze Weile vor mir, mich aber schwer damit getan, ein Konzept für die Vertonung zu finden. Das Resultat ist ganz knapp (keine vier Minuten lang), harmonisch und formal sehr einfach, in einer eher kleinen „Besetzung”, aber – so hoffe ich zumindest – frei von Klischees. Ich habe nicht versucht, die Aussage des Textes zu verdeutlichen; das Gedicht ist derart stark, daß das nicht nötig ist, oder vielleicht sogar ein Fehler wäre.

Ich will jetzt nicht mit einer ausführlichen Analyse des Textes daherkommen; zwei Anmerkungen kann ich mir aber doch nicht verkneifen:

When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats

Words: William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)
Music: Michael Michaelis

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Michael: Vocals, Guitars, Violin & Viola, Seaboard, Bass, Cymbals & HiHat, Wave Drum (Snare, Toms, Bass Drum).

Recorded, edited, and mixed proudly using Cubase.

[All Rights reserved. © Michael Michaelis, 2019]

(*) Some remarks (German)

When I Have Fears

John Keats

Words: John Keats (1795 – 1821)
Music: Michael Michaelis

When I have Fears

When I have fears that I may cease to be
  Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
  Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
  Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
  Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
  That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
  Of unreflecting love - then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
  Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

Michael: Vocals, Guitars, Violin & Viola, Piano, Bass, Cymbals & HiHat, Wave Drum (Percussion), additional sequencer programming (Marimba, Clarinets, Timpani).

Recorded, edited, and mixed proudly using Cubase.

(Last Update: 3.11.2018)

[All Rights reserved. © Michael Michaelis, 2018]