Sascha Lino Lemke (*1976)
"Arnautz tramet sa chanson" (2017)
Tornada con frammenti di una Sestina
(sopra la Sestina "Lo ferm voler" di Arnaut Daniel)
per un(a) pianista e computer
Auftragswerk von Jennifer Hymer
In 2016 I wrote a piece for soprano, recorder, piano and tape based on Arnaut Daniels famous Sestina, which is a very strictly contructed medieval poem in occitan language for which exists also an ancient melody. Jennifer Hymer asked me afterwards whether I could turn the piano part into an extra solo piece which was supposed to be shorter. This was the starting point of this new piece. Whilst working on it I shortend the original piece a lot, added many things in the piano part and created a completly new tape part. The original trio was inspired by the strict structure of the poem by Daniel using the permutation algorithm he employed for his keywords (at the end of the lines of his poem (intra, ongla, arma, verga, oncle, cambra). This structure could not be kept in the new composition which is much shorter. The Sestina by Daniel has 6 verses with 6 lines each plus a so called Tornada with 3 lines only, which repeats the end of the melody with some extra text in which the poet "signs" with his name, greets his public and manages to quote all six main words of the poem once more. The melody of the Tornada is stretched over the duration of the piece like a cantus firmus of a medevial motet, speeds up and is heard in normal tempo once again as a coda of this piece.
Here is the poem by Daniel including a translation:
Lo ferm voler q'el cor m'intra
no'm pot ies becs escoissendre ni ongla
de lausengier, qui pert per mal dir s'arma
e car non l'aus batr'ab ram ni ab verga
si vals a frau lai o non aurai oncle
jauzirai joi, en vergier o dinz cambra.
Qan mi soven de la cambra
on a mon dan sai que nuills hom non intra
anz me son tuich plus que fraire ni oncle
non ai membre no'm fremisca, neis l'ongla
aissi cum fai l'enfas denant la verga
tal paor ai no'l sia trop de l'arma.
Del core li fos non de l'arma
e cossentis m'a celat deniz sa cambra
que plus mi nafra'l cor que colps de verga
car lo sieus sers lai on ill es non intra
totz temps serai ab lieis cum carns et ongla
e non creirai chastic d'amic ni d'oncle.
Anc la seror de mon oncle
non amei plus ni tant per aqest'arma
c'aitant vezis cum es lo detz de l'ongla
s'a liei plagues volgr'esser de sa cambra
de mi pot far l'amors q'inz el cor m'intra
mieills a son vol c'om fortz de frevol verga.
Pois flori la seca verga
Ni d'en Adam mogron nebot ni oncle
tant fin'amors cum cella q'el cor m'intra
non cuig fos anc en cors ni eis en arma
on q'ill estei fors on plaz' o dins cambra
mos cors no' is part de lieis tant cum ten l'ongla.
C'aissi s'enpren e s'enongla
mos cors e lei cum l'escorss'en la verga
q'ill m'es de joi tors e palaitz e cambra
e non am tant fraire paren ni oncle
q'en paradis n'aura doble joi m'arma
si ja nuills hom per ben amar lai intra.
Arnautz tramet sa chanson d'ongl'e d'oncle
a grat de lieis que de sa verg'a l'arma
son Desirat cuit pretz en cambra intra.
Versuch einer englischen Übersetzung (dabei wird der Sinn notwendigerweise eingeschränkt interpretiert):
The firm desire that enters
my heart no beak can tear out, no nail
of the slanderer, who speaks his dirt and loses his soul.
And since I dare not beat him with branch or rod,
then in some secret place, at least, where I'll have no uncle
I'll have my joy of joy, in a garden or a chamber.
When I am reminded of the chamber
where I know, and this hurts me, no man enters--
no, they're all more on guard than brother or uncle--
there's no part of my body that does not tremble, even my nail,
as the child shakes before the rod,
I am that afraid I won't be hers enough, with all my soul.
Let me be hers with my body, not my soul,
let her hide me in her chamber,
for it wounds my heart more than blows from a rod
that where she dwells her servant never enters;
I will always be as close to her as flesh and nail,
and never believe the reproaches of brother and uncle.
Not even the sister of my uncle
did I love more, or as much, by my soul,
for as familiar as finger with nail
I would, if it pleased her, be with her chamber.
It can do more as it wills with me, this love that enters
my heart, than a strong man with a tender rod.
Since the flower was brought forth on the dry rod,
and from En Adam descended nephews and uncles,
a love so pure as that which enters
my heart never dwelt in body, nor yet in soul.
Wherever she stands, outside in the town or inside her chamber,
my heart is not further away than the length of a nail.
For my heart takes root in her and grips with its nail,
hold on like bark on the rod,
to me she is joy's tower and palace chamber,
and I do not love brother as much, or father, or uncle;
and there'll be double joy in Paradise for my soul,
if a man is blessed for loving well there and enters.
Arnaut sends his song of the nail and the uncle,
to please her who rules his soul with her rod,
to his Desired, whose glory in every chamber enters.