Schein und Sein

”You see the clothes but not the heart” – Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908)

We never know exactly what the other person is feeling or what they have just experienced, even if we say a thousand words or look at folders of photos. And what do we really mean with our words? We build illusion of our own life . We choose a suitable filter for the pictures and voila, digital life bursts with moments of happiness and joy. Is a photo collage or gallery or feed a strip of reality?

The composers and poets we have chosen deal with illusion and truth. They illuminate the innermost selves of various characters, or do they show more of themselves? The centerpiece of the program is the rarely heard song series “Schein und Sein” (Outer shell and reality) composed by Eero Sipilä to Wilhelm Busch’s poems. Humor, sharp irony and seriousness color the series, which is framed by the song series of Schumann, Ibert, Rautavaara and Ullmann.

Robert Schumann´s Op. 40 consists of five songs to texts by H. C. Andersen translated by Chamisso. The three songs in the middle of the series describe horrific human fates. The songs from Don Quixote composed by Jacques Ibert show what kind of inner world the “mad” knight has. Rainer Maria Rilke’s sonnets composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara take the listener to the core of reality and authenticity. The Orpheus of the sonnets is more than we humans can comprehend. The program ends with Hafis’ wine and love-filled texts composed by Viktor Ullmann.