Hölderlin's texts often speak of "song," and terms like "ode" or "hymn" already refer to texts intended to be sung. Many of Hölderlin's texts have been set to music (some, such as "Hälfte des Lebens," multiple times) or have inspired musical compositions. The concept of my musical settings is the attempt to set Hölderlin's texts to music in a songwriter's form for the guitar, using simple accompaniment schemes.
The selection of texts is not based on any theoretical considerations. Rather, they are texts that have spoken to me over the years, so to speak, and begged to be set to music. Hölderlin's work, however, is characterized by texts that are often based on a long and repeatedly revisited creative process. In making my selection, I drew on the Frankfurt Hölderlin Edition, which not only reproduces the historical style but also makes the poet's creative process particularly visible.
Hölderlin was very musical, played the piano and flute, and sang to his own piano accompaniment. However, there is no evidence that he actually sang his own texts ("songs"). Whether he sang to the sound of stringed instruments (like the first-person narrator of "Hyperion") is disputed; the only evidence for this can be found in his first biographer, Wilhelm Waiblinger.
On the other hand, singing to the mandolin was a common practice in middle-class circles around the turn of the 1800th century. Setting beautiful texts to music has been a meditative exercise for me for many years. The musical settings presented here were mostly created between 2000 and 2007 and were fundamentally revised starting in 2017, not least with a view to the upcoming anniversary year of 2020.
Of course, taking a project like this to the public eye required encouragement. For his unwavering encouragement during this second phase, I extend my special thanks to Johann Jacob Nissen, without whom this project would never have taken shape. I thank Patrick Dadaczynski for his kind patience during the recording sessions, and Leoni Marie Hübner for persistently asserting her expertise in graphic design.
1. Ambition. 1788.
2. To the Fates.
3. Diotima.
4. Empedocles.
5. To the wise counselors.
6. Gods once walked...
7. To Diotima.
8. Leisure.
9. CV.
10. Tears.
11. Hyperion's Song of Fate
12th half of life
