As Once the Winged Energy

[Jerry Gerber]

Soprano: Katy Stephan
Tenor: Dale Tracy

Poetry: Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Translation: Stephen Mitchell

Composed and produced by Jerry Gerber

As once the winged energy of delight
carried you over childhood's dark abysses,
now beyond your own life build the great
arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed
in passing through the harshest danger;
but only in a bright and purely granted
achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with Things in the indescribable
relationship is not too hard for us;
the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,
and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two
contradictions...For the god
wants to know himself in you.

Play

[Paul McGraw]

I enjoyed that. Thanks for posting it.

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Jerry,

This is absolutely marvellous. So well set to the text with a delightful choice of articulations to express the maximum, without distracting from the poem itself.
You've captured the deeper content in a very effective way and the singers bring it convincingly. Their stage position and clearness in the mix is stunning, just like the overal sound.

In short: a superb job both as composition and producion. (I would love to hear this in German once...)

Thanks for sharing,

Jos