Helmut Oehring: cycle of works inspired by Goya
(February 2008)
Helmut Oehring has embarked on a major cycle of Goya-inspired works for a range of performing forces – orchestral music, string quartet, oratorio and opera.
The first in the series, GOYA I, was premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in October with the South West German Radio Orchestra conducted by Rupert Huber. Central to all four planned works is Goya’s etching Yo lo vi (I saw it) from his Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) sequence depicting the irrational horrors of the Napoleonic Wars in Spain.
The significance of Yo lo vi for Oehring is that the suffering of the war victims is captured by Goya through the figure of a child, with the French invaders not seen in the picture. This approach prompted a score exploring an event from triple perspectives: first-hand experience, second-hand treatment in documentary or artistic form, and the triggering of memories by the reported material.
Another artist important for the new orchestral work is Beethoven, who Oehring recognises as a spiritual brother of Goya: struck by deafness, isolated in society, disappointed in his revolutionary ideals, and seeking the creation of “tangible moments” (Oehring).
Ingo Metzmacher premieres the oratorio component of the cycle, GOYA III, with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester at the Berlin Philharmonie in October 2008. Metzmacher has conducted VERLORENWASSER with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Das BLAUMEER with the DSO and signalled his continuing close association with Oehring in an interview with the Berliner Tagesspiegel:
“Helmut Oehring is for me one of the best contemporary German composers. He is familiar with both classical and non-classical music, he thinks intelligently about music and has an individual, original voice. I find that particularly important. Many composers can write well, but only a few are really distinctive.”
> Further information on Work: GOYA I – Yo lo vi
Photo: details from Goya's Yo Lo Vi
> News Search
Mailing List
Sign up for news updates and offers via email
SIGN UPFeatured Publication
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
This classic orchestral showpiece is one of the best-sellers in the Masterworks series of full scores.
READ MORECompetitions
