Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Urworte Receives North American Premiere in Cleveland
Urworte, Bernd Richard Deutsch’s setting of Goethe poetry, receives its North American premiere in September with The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, led by Franz Welser-Möst.
Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Urworte for chorus and orchestra is given its North American premiere on September 26-28 with The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and Franz Welser-Möst. The world premiere in February 2025 was met with acclaim, performed by the MDR Radio Choir, NDR Vocal Ensemble, and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and led by Alan Gilbert; Die Welt praised Deutsch’s “truly remarkable mastery of orchestral writing.”
From 2018-2021, Bernd Richard Deutsch served as The Cleveland Orchestra’s tenth Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow, during which time the orchestra gave the US premiere of his organ concerto Okeanos with soloist Paul Jacobs, and the world premiere of the orchestral work Intensity, both led by Franz Welser-Möst. Urworte is the final work commissioned during Deutsch’s tenure as the orchestra’s Composer Fellow.
> Listen to Okeanos performed by The Cleveland Orchestra
Urworte, approximately one hour in length, is set to Goethe’s poem Urworte Orphisch (Orphic Primal Works), featuring five stanzas named after different fundamental forces that drive human existence: “Daimon,” “Tyche” (the accidental), “Eros” (love), “Ananke” (necessity), and “Elpis” (hope). The five stanzas cover the entire life span of a person, from childhood to old age.
Deutsch explains, “The ‘Urworte’ are a kind of ‘song of destiny’ for me. For a long time I had the idea of writing a piece about the elemental forces that determine our lives. While reading a book about the actor Oskar Werner, for whom the first poem had a special meaning, I came across this cycle and began to study it intensively. I found that the ideas I wanted to express were formulated here in an exemplary way.”
When asked about writing for a large choir and orchestra, Deutsch responded: “In my opinion, these texts call for a large scoring. I could not imagine setting them to music with solo voices, nor with a reduced instrumental line-up, or as a song. This is certainly due to the meaning and universal validity of the poems, but also to the fact that although Goethe addresses a ‘you’, he ultimately means all people.”
> Read the full B&H interview with Deutsch
Following the world premiere, critics remarked on the influence of early- 20th century composers present in the work. Die Welt stated that Urworte “bears a strong affinity to Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner, reflecting not only the timeless within the present, but also the composer’s heritage.” The Hamburger Abendblatt affirmed: “There was a powerful echo of Mahler; the grand gesture of a large orchestral-choral cantata seemed deliberately reminiscent — perhaps not coincidentally — of the Faust finale in his Eighth Symphony, or of the monumentally expansive Gurre-Lieder of early Schoenberg.”
Additionally, this season sees the world premiere of Deutsch’s Massenkristall for a cappella choir with the SWR Vokalensemble and Peter Rundel in Salzburg (Nov 12-16). Franz Welser-Möst also leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in the German premiere of Intensity next summer (Jun 11-13).
Concert Information
Friday, September 26 at 7:30pm ET
Saturday, September 27 at 7:30pm ET
Sunday, September 28 at 3pm ET
Severance Music Center | Cleveland
More info
The Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
BERND RICHARD DEUTSCH Urworte (North American Premiere)
RICHARD STRAUSS “Salome’s Dance” from Salome
MAURICE RAVEL Boléro
> Further information on Work: Urworte
Photo: Wolf-Dieter Grabner