Description
Vocal setting of Marie Keyser’s Poem
“La Tour de Hölderlin”
Elle est près du fleuve dormeur debout
mais le saule incliné toucherait de sa cîme l’eau
L’église vieille dit les heures de l’île où la nuit descend
Je la vois encore son toit de gris dans le gris de l’eau.
pressens dans la tour de bois ma demeure la folie la folie le silence
clos clos vigilance
Oh Ne pas altérer ce qui reste qui reste, et le doit.
“Was bleibt aber stiften die Dichter.”
(It stands by the sleepy river
But the bending willow would touch the water with its very top
The church – an old church – tells the hours from the island where the night descends
I can still see it, its grey roof in the grey of the water
I have a presentiment in the tower of wood, of my dwelling place, of madness, of silence
Closed in, closed in but keeping watch
Oh never change what remains and should remain
Was bleibt aber stiften die Dichter…..)
[What remains, however, is the stuff of poetry
This quote from Hölderlin himself is reflected in the second instrument at bars 43 to 45]