Category: Symphonic / Orchestral
One hundred years ago in October 1921, SIDDHARTA by Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was published, which became his most popular novel worldwide, translated into 50 languages and acclaimed many millions of times. The saxophone concert is inspired by this and outlines as a tribute to Hermann Hesse the search for meaning in general: an endless path! Always between light and dark, from the courtesan Kamala as a mysterious companion, the "child-people" as rather superficial contemporaries busily caught up only in the material world, to the wisdom of the river as recognised by the ferryman. An epilogue hints at the goal of an afterlife: the shadowless light that all people will encounter - as is reported 1000-fold across the globe in near-death experiences.
Movements: 1: Auf der Suche / In Search
2. Kamala, die Kurtisane / Kamala, the courtesan
3: “Kindermenschen” / The Childlike People
4: Beim Fährmann - Die Weisheit des Flusses / By the Ferryman - The Wisdom of the River
5: Das Schattenlose Licht / The Shadowless Light
Duration: 22 Minuten
Publisher of notes/sheet music: Ries & Erler Musikverlag (Berlin) , 2022
Instrumentation: Saxophon Solo (Sopran- und Baritonsaxophon)
, 2 Flöten (2. Auch Piccolo), 2 Klarinetten (2. auch Bassklarinette), 2 Fagotte, 3 Waldhörner, 2 Posaunen (T+B), Pauke und Percussion 1-3, Celesta, großes Streichorchester (Vl 1+2, Viola 1+2, Violoncello 1+2, Kontrabass)
Solo instruments: Saxophon
Introduction: Exactly one hundred years ago in October 1921, the first edition of SIDDHARTA by Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was published, which became his most popular novel worldwide, translated into 50 languages and acclaimed many millions of times. Henry Miller remarked on it "To create a Buddha that surpasses the generally accepted Buddha, that is an unheard-of deed!" Hesse wrote this search for peace and redemption as his response to the great crisis of meaning that set in everywhere after the horror of the First World War. His turn from the "recently broken-in shortness of breath of spirituality", with which he characterised the beginning of the war in 1914 in the preface to the novel, has gained visionary freshness today in the context of the Ukraine war.
Hesse created a Siddharta with the same name as the historical Buddha and also set in the 6th century B.C.E., who follows his own path beyond all religious teachings and dogmas: knowledge not through doctrine, but through personal experience. "Knowledge" can be communicated, but "wisdom" must be lived. Siddharta finds both Brahman - the absolute highest - and Atman, the breath of life, the essence of the spirit, in a silent ferryman and in the contemplation of the river. In the flowing of the water, Siddharta recognises the eternal cycle, that child, man and old man are the same - yet always new. Only then is nirvana reached - not a paradise in the distance, but a state of great contentment to be found in the midst of everyday life. Everything negative such as hatred, fear, envy or greed have now become void.
As in all his novels of development - such as "Steppenwolf", "Demian" or "Glasperlenspiel" - Herman Hesse also works out in "Siddhartha" the psychogram of the seekers and those who outgrow themselves: they find the immaterial light of a spiritual being and overcome the limitedness of the only worldly and sensual life, from which those who have remained still cannot find their way out. - One hundred years of "Siddhartha" - an occasion to immerse oneself once again in a masterpiece of literature.
Dedication: …für Christoph Enzel, ebenfalls ein Suchender
Additional remarks: A personal remark:
Living in the material world of polarities, strife and suffering is a struggle. Again and again in the search metaphors of the "abyss" and "despair"... only in front of these dark places does "enlightenment" then show its essence of a redemption, a transition to deep peace... Yin & Yang, the white and the black swan", light and shadow condition each other.... Only at the end, in the beyond, is there the shadowless light, which is always reported so intensively in thousands of documented near-death experiences from the realm of the other side.
World premiere: 13.11.2022, Heilbronn
Performers at world premiere: Christoph Enzel mit dem Heilbronner Sinfonie Orchester, Ltg.: Alois Seidlmeier
Records: 2022
