D'Monstrantz Vöögeli

D'Monstrantz Vöögeli (The Disturbing Duckling) by Per Nørgård. Work for bird voices (CD) and human voices (12 SATB soloists), with text (sung in German) by Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930).

A CD of Bird Song is available separately - use product code KP00830.

Text (sung in German): Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930).

Programme note:

'D´Monstrantz Vöögeli' is the main (and middle) movement of my three-movement choir suite 'The Alarming Duckling', the title of which is borrowed from a painting from 1959 by the Danish artist Asger Jorn, apainting which - as this choral piece - is partly based on 'found objects': Asger Jorn painted on top of an idyllic old fashioned landscape painting with a house and trees - and he painted a very disturbing, alarming duckling. It may be ugly, the duckling, but in any case it is most peculiar in its surroundings, with spontaneous, colorful, wide painted feathers, standing and looking dreamy beyond a birch in the golden light of the afternoon (a very big duckling, indeed!)

In 'D´Monstrantz Vöögeli' the dark nightly visions are unfolding with texts by the Swiss schizophrenic artist Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930). His transcending poems, prose, paintings and ideas inspired me for many compositions in the 1980s, i.e. Symphony nr. 4 ('Indischer Roosen-Gaarten und Chinesischer Hexensee' - Hommage a Wölfli'), The opera The Divine Circus and a series of choral works.

The piece is written for 12 vocal soloists - singing, whistling, screaming and whispering.
In 'D´Monstrantz Vöögeli' - for a choir of humans and birds - many 'found objects' are used: The tape/cd only contributes with unmanufactured birdsong - even though using full, half and fourth speed, so it is easier to understand and learn from the brilliant birds (especially the fantastic American Musician Wren,