Niels Rosing-Schow

Windgeboren

Windgeboren belongs to a group of works in which musical conceptions are nourished by the wind as a gathering metaphor of the perceptible but invisible natural forces behind the music. In addition to this image a number of other impressions have arisen during the process of composition which have to some extent left their mark on the three strongly contrasting movements, for example, wind and spirit are said to be expressed by the same word in Hebrew. The archangel Michael is portrayed as the weigher of souls in many wonderful Danish frescos. Saint Michael in the role of standard-bearer and soul leader performs in the offertorium of the Requiem Mass. He leads the souls toward clarity, the holy light, the tripartition: beginning - middle - conclusion; birth - life - death; intonation - passage - hymn.

This work is dedicated to Die Michaelstrompeter and Markus Stockhausen.