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In Which Lenz is Calmed in the Presence of Oberlin, by Anton Vishio

from Sonic Divide by Payton MacDonald Various Projects

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composed by Anton Vishio, first performed at an unnamed Divide crossing in the Brazos Mountains in New Mexico

When Payton asked me for a piece for the Sonic Divide project, I was reading Georg Buchner’s Lenz in the excellent translation by Richard Sieburth. I remembered a striking, almost devotional passage that describes the calming effect the pastor Oberlin could have on the often-agitated Lenz, who suffered from mental illness through much of his life. In particular, Buchner describes how “the immense peace” we might experience in the “tranquility of nature” is brought “closer” to Lenz through his contemplation of Oberlin’s “noble solemn face.” This seemed an ideal text for performance in the contexts I imagined Payton would encounter on his ride. The composition is in three parts: the percussionist sings a melismatic line against a rendering of the rhythm of the original German; then the English translation is spoken over a lengthy roll; finally an improvisatory passage follows, linking the rhythms of the German and English texts according to the performer’s wishes. I thought through these textures I could create kinds of reflections – between the German and English texts, between the performer-as-percussionist and the performer-as-vocalist – that would enact in different ways the moments of calm Lenz experienced through Oberlin’s presence.


I am grateful to Richard Sieburth for allowing the use of his translation in this work.

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from Sonic Divide, released August 31, 2019
sonicdivide.com
See the Sonic Divide film on Vimeo: vimeo.com/214775555

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Payton MacDonald Various Projects Wayne, New Jersey

Payton's various creative projects, often with special guests.

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