Composer

:

György Kurtág

Genre

:

Choral

Style

:

Choral

Compose Date

:

1980 - 1994

Average_duration

:

21:52

Movement_count

:

6

Movement ....

György Kurtág's 'Songs of Despair and Sorrow (6), Op. 18' is a song cycle composed in 1980. The premiere of the work took place in Budapest in 1981. The cycle consists of six movements, each of which is a setting of a poem by the Hungarian poet János Pilinszky. The first movement, 'The Wind Has Taken Away', is a haunting and sparse setting of a poem about the transience of life. The second movement, 'The Night is Filled with Night', is a more complex and dissonant setting of a poem about the darkness of the human soul. The third movement, 'The World is a Prison', is a stark and angular setting of a poem about the limitations of human existence. The fourth movement, 'The Desolate One', is a mournful and introspective setting of a poem about the pain of loneliness. The fifth movement, 'The Cry of Peter', is a dramatic and intense setting of a poem about the betrayal of Christ. The final movement, 'The Old Lament', is a somber and reflective setting of a poem about the inevitability of death. Kurtág's 'Songs of Despair and Sorrow' is characterized by its spare and austere musical language, which is perfectly suited to the bleak and introspective poetry of Pilinszky. The cycle is a powerful and moving exploration of the human condition, and it stands as one of Kurtág's most important works.

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