Vanitas Vanitatum (2026)
für 2 (verstärkten) Stimme
for 2 (amplified) Voices

Vanitas vanitatum is a multi-layered acoustic exploration of time, tradition, and emptiness. The macro-structure of the piece is strictly governed by the temporal proportions of John Cage’s Lecture on Nothing. Selected fragments of Cage’s text are spoken exactly at their original proportional placements, acting as temporal pillars throughout the work.

Beneath this rigid timeline lies a complex stratification of textual and musical borrowings. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas serves as the primary acoustic material. Goethe’s text is phonetically deconstructed – reduced to friction, breath, and resonance – until the untranslated text briefly reveals itself at the very end.

The harmonic and melodic skeleton of the piece is constructed from historical fragments: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Robert Schumann, and Giacomo Carissimi. Operating on multiple levels, these historical quotations are presented not only as stylistic pastiche but also function as a hidden pitch framework. They remain mostly submerged, only occasionally surfacing as audible fragments amidst the noise and vocal textures.

Cage’s lecture fundamentally rejected traditional narrative arcs, viewing time as a non-directional canvas. In direct contrast to this flat temporality, my Vanitas vanitatum deliberately constructs an acoustic narrative arc through its first three parts. The sound builds and transforms, creating a distinct physical trajectory that paradoxically drives toward "[…] nowhere […] slowly […] but suddenly […] we are having the pleasure […]"