Peter Schindler

Perpetuum mobile

The Codex Buranus, the famous collection of medieval song and drama texts from the Benediktbeuern monastery, still holds many exciting secrets today: Who wrote the texts? Why, and above all: for whom? In his work "Perpetuum mobile", composer Peter Schindler has restaged 44 texts from the codex into a 90-minute song cycle in 4 acts for soloists, choir, jazz quartet and string ensemble (the latter ad libitum). , The message: The title refers to the overall concept of the piece: Creation set in motion the creation of the world, which remains eternally in motion. All events return again and again in variations. , The music: The music makes use of numerous stylistic devices. There are homophonic movements and fugues as well as pop and jazz-inspired pieces. Echoes of the organa of the Notre Dame era can also be heard. The songs are composed for four-part mixed choir, soprano and baritone solo and a jazzy quartet. An extension with string ensemble is possible. , The texts: The 315 song and drama texts from the 13th century were first published in full in 1847 as a book entitled "Lieder aus Benediktbeuern" - Latin: Carmina Burana. The content includes moral and satirical songs, spring and love songs, minstrel and drinking songs as well as sacred dramas. The Codex Buranus is a world cultural heritage site. Its relevance lies in the international nature of the collection, which transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries. As a valuable testimony to medieval culture and European history, it still has an impact today, as the texts have remained breathtakingly true to this day.
Since their rediscovery, the multifaceted texts have been repeatedly set to new music: The Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch of 1895 contains the drinking song "Ecce gratum et optatum". Carl Orff came across the texts in 1935 and set them to his choral work of the same name. Other ensembles, who are more committed to historical performance practice, have attempted to reconstruct the original melodies from the sparse surviving neume notations. Peter Schindler's composition is a new musical approach to the multi-layered Latin poems in a 21st century musical language. , The audio samples below are excerpts from the world premiere of the work on 14.11.2021 in the Mozartsaal of the Liederhalle in Stuttgart. The performers are Jochen Woll (conductor), Giorgia Cappello (soprano), Felix Rumpf (baritone), Peter Lehel (saxophone), Markus Faller (percussion), Dirk Blümlein (bass), the Kammerchor Baden-Württemberg and the Kurpfalzphilharmonie. Composer Peter Schindler sits at the piano.