Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Stephen Barlow conductor
Daisy Brown soprano
Conrad Marshall, flute
Dov Goldberg, clarinet
Benjamin Powell, celesta
Tim Williams, percussion
Benedict Holland & Sophie Rosa, violins
Vicci Wardman, viola
Jennifer Langridge, cello
James Manson, double bass
The film of this performance was made possible through the support of the Granada Foundation.
Learn more about Psappha - psappha.com
i. Weltgeheimnis (Secret of the World)
ii. Lied der Welt (Song of the World)
iii. Was ist die Welt? (What is the World?)
Following a BBC Philharmonic performance of my Die Windsbraut inspired by the story of Alma Mahler & Oskar Kokoschka and his painting of them, I was over-joyed to receive a commission from the Psappha ensemble to write a piece on another Viennese theme of my choice: in the spirit of genius loci, I decided to go into a bookshop in Vienna to discover some Viennese poets and it was Hugo von Hofmannsthal that, like a genie from a lantern, sprang out to me. I loved the philosophical and mystical aspects of his poetry and I found three poems exploring questions about the world. Hofmannsthal is of course famous for his libretti for Strauss operas, but his poetry is less known, and so I felt it like a duty to attempt to resurrect these poems, which were written around the same time as Hans Bethge’s German version of ancient Chinese poetry, set to music by Mahler in his Song of the Earth, which will be played later in this Psappha season in the Schoenberg arrangement.
As I was spending a lot of time with the poems, I tried to follow Hofmannsthal’s spirit around Vienna, visiting his favourite cafes where he would discuss all of these world-questions, going to the Staatsoper to see Die Frau ohne Schatten and imagining him there at the world premiere one hundred years ago piecing the opera together with Strauss, but the most inspiring visit of all was to the Hofmannsthal-Schlössl on the outskirts of Vienna, where he lived for the second half of his life. When seeing his writing-hut on top of the hill in his garden, I had a vision of him looking out at the vineyards across the valley and asking the world, ‘what are you?’.
The first poem is saying that there are secrets in this world that we just cannot grasp and at the same time questions whether everything is purely just a dream. The wise well surely knows that there was a time when people brought a lot more meaning to the world and words than now, but love saves everything and makes us understand the depth through its kisses, and yet does it all fly away in a cycle of dreams?
The second poem was written later in his life when he started losing hope following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ironically, it is a much lighter poem and I tried to bring out its humour reflected through a Viennese ballroom. It is a battle with time, which starts out as the Maid, but then gets angry and turns into the Mistress. But he brushes the thought away in the end saying, ‘The Time is still far away…’
The last poem is the most contemplative and has a certain sadness to it, saying that there is all this unbelievable beauty in the world, but we are just one of a thousand rays from the Sun. And suddenly a ray of hope comes in, ‘and yet, it is also a world for one’s self’, followed by my favourite line of all, ‘Voll süss-geheimer, nievernommner Töne’/’full of sweetly-secret, never-heard sounds’, each one unique, without any other’s echo. Nevertheless, he concludes that no matter how much we try to decipher the meaning, we cannot ever grasp this eternal poem, which is the world, echoing ideas from the first poem.
© Alissa Firsova
This work was commissioned by Psappha with the support of: Hinrichsen Foundation; PRS Foundation (through the Talent Development Partnership); and Psappha’s Composition Bank.
About the Composer: Alissa Firsova
Since winning the BBC Proms Young Composer competition in 2001, Alissa Firsova received two world premieres at the Proms by the Royal Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras, both conducted by Andrew Litton. Her music has also been performed by Imogen Cooper, Dante Quartet, Netherlands Blazer Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, NTO Mannheim and BBC Philharmonic. Her Stabat Mater, recorded by The Sixteen, was featured in Gramophone’s Top 10 compositions by women.
Alissa’s debut composer portrait CD, ‘Firsova Fantasy’, was featured in Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in 2018, which includes her Tennyson Fantasy, recorded by the Tippett Quartet. She became Artistic Director of the Lincolnshire Festival (LICMF) in 2019 and received a further Proms premiere by the National Youth Choir and Southbank Sinfonia.
Stephen Barlow conductor
Daisy Brown soprano
Conrad Marshall, flute
Dov Goldberg, clarinet
Benjamin Powell, celesta
Tim Williams, percussion
Benedict Holland & Sophie Rosa, violins
Vicci Wardman, viola
Jennifer Langridge, cello
James Manson, double bass
The film of this performance was made possible through the support of the Granada Foundation.
Learn more about Psappha - psappha.com
i. Weltgeheimnis (Secret of the World)
ii. Lied der Welt (Song of the World)
iii. Was ist die Welt? (What is the World?)
Following a BBC Philharmonic performance of my Die Windsbraut inspired by the story of Alma Mahler & Oskar Kokoschka and his painting of them, I was over-joyed to receive a commission from the Psappha ensemble to write a piece on another Viennese theme of my choice: in the spirit of genius loci, I decided to go into a bookshop in Vienna to discover some Viennese poets and it was Hugo von Hofmannsthal that, like a genie from a lantern, sprang out to me. I loved the philosophical and mystical aspects of his poetry and I found three poems exploring questions about the world. Hofmannsthal is of course famous for his libretti for Strauss operas, but his poetry is less known, and so I felt it like a duty to attempt to resurrect these poems, which were written around the same time as Hans Bethge’s German version of ancient Chinese poetry, set to music by Mahler in his Song of the Earth, which will be played later in this Psappha season in the Schoenberg arrangement.
As I was spending a lot of time with the poems, I tried to follow Hofmannsthal’s spirit around Vienna, visiting his favourite cafes where he would discuss all of these world-questions, going to the Staatsoper to see Die Frau ohne Schatten and imagining him there at the world premiere one hundred years ago piecing the opera together with Strauss, but the most inspiring visit of all was to the Hofmannsthal-Schlössl on the outskirts of Vienna, where he lived for the second half of his life. When seeing his writing-hut on top of the hill in his garden, I had a vision of him looking out at the vineyards across the valley and asking the world, ‘what are you?’.
The first poem is saying that there are secrets in this world that we just cannot grasp and at the same time questions whether everything is purely just a dream. The wise well surely knows that there was a time when people brought a lot more meaning to the world and words than now, but love saves everything and makes us understand the depth through its kisses, and yet does it all fly away in a cycle of dreams?
The second poem was written later in his life when he started losing hope following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ironically, it is a much lighter poem and I tried to bring out its humour reflected through a Viennese ballroom. It is a battle with time, which starts out as the Maid, but then gets angry and turns into the Mistress. But he brushes the thought away in the end saying, ‘The Time is still far away…’
The last poem is the most contemplative and has a certain sadness to it, saying that there is all this unbelievable beauty in the world, but we are just one of a thousand rays from the Sun. And suddenly a ray of hope comes in, ‘and yet, it is also a world for one’s self’, followed by my favourite line of all, ‘Voll süss-geheimer, nievernommner Töne’/’full of sweetly-secret, never-heard sounds’, each one unique, without any other’s echo. Nevertheless, he concludes that no matter how much we try to decipher the meaning, we cannot ever grasp this eternal poem, which is the world, echoing ideas from the first poem.
© Alissa Firsova
This work was commissioned by Psappha with the support of: Hinrichsen Foundation; PRS Foundation (through the Talent Development Partnership); and Psappha’s Composition Bank.
About the Composer: Alissa Firsova
Since winning the BBC Proms Young Composer competition in 2001, Alissa Firsova received two world premieres at the Proms by the Royal Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras, both conducted by Andrew Litton. Her music has also been performed by Imogen Cooper, Dante Quartet, Netherlands Blazer Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, NTO Mannheim and BBC Philharmonic. Her Stabat Mater, recorded by The Sixteen, was featured in Gramophone’s Top 10 compositions by women.
Alissa’s debut composer portrait CD, ‘Firsova Fantasy’, was featured in Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in 2018, which includes her Tennyson Fantasy, recorded by the Tippett Quartet. She became Artistic Director of the Lincolnshire Festival (LICMF) in 2019 and received a further Proms premiere by the National Youth Choir and Southbank Sinfonia.
