Brentano, Wiegenlied

Programme Note

Singet leise, leise, leise
Singt ein flüsternd Wiegenlied
Von dem Monde lernt die Wiese,
der so still am Himmel zieht.

Singt ein Lied so süß gelinde
wie die Quellen auf den Kieseln
wie die Bienen um die Linde
summen, murmeln, flüstern, rieseln.

In the german history of literature you can find Clemens Brentano described as the poet who protect the german language from the prejudice not to have a tuneful, fluent sound. The "Wiegenlied" is a poem which sounds like a lullaby coming from the soft phonems like i, ü, m, w. There are only two a´s in it which is really unusual in german. Like counted there are quite the same letters in the first and in the second four lines. The quantity of phonemes gives a qualitiy of a whished atmosphere.
On the other hand the content is nearly senseless. What means: "The tune is teached by the moon."? The poem seems to be more a description to make a lullaby." Sing a song so sweet and calme, like the springs on the pebbles like the bees around the linden hum, mumble, whisper, trickle.
My piece is not a lullaby in the meaning of something to fall asleep. It´s more my idea about how a lullaby in our times sounds like.