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The first verse sets the tone, with an atmospheric drawing about the alienation that the persona experiences in this life.

In the second verse, the beauty of nature is sung. In almost her entire work, Vasalis compared elements of nature with human emotions. In the third verse, that same nature is associated with the sentiments of loss, despair and loneliness.

Vasalis' poem Alienated was published in 1947 in the collection The Bird Phoenix.

As usual, I closely followed the intentions of the sentences and stanzas in my music, permitting repetition of lines of the verse to emphasize them or to emphasize them differently each time.
Sometimes intense in the participation of the different instruments and voices, sometimes also simple, sober and contemplative. So don't be rushed or impatient when listening - the music will come out better.
Furthermore, there is nothing left but to like the music - or not of course.

Soon I will publish my personal vision on the practice of composing and what it entails in an essay. It will be readable on this site.

Vasalis hereself gave no title. As a composer I took the liberty of adding this title to this composition - in the same way that through my music I give the poem an interpretation that would not necessarily have been hers - although I suspect she would have appreciated it. After all, as soon as someone reads or listens, the emotions no longer belong to the artist but to the reader or listener.

For people who do not know her yet: M. Vasalis is the pseudonym of Margaretha Droogleever Fortuyn-Leenmans. She was a Dutch poet and a psychiatrist by profession. She lived from 1909 to 1998.

In 1982 she was awarded the P.C. Hooftprijs - a renowned literary price in the Netherlands - and in the same year her last poetry bundle was published, as well as a number of novellas which went along.

As early as 1988 I wrote my first composition on her poem Skeleton - a title that may not be very accessible - but that is only an illusion. It's a nice story. You can here listen to that composition and read the poem. I later added a piano accompaniment to it and recently made minor tempo adjustments. The poetess gave me personal permission for the use of that poem at the time and she liked the result very much.

In this cycle of songs have appeared so far:

1. My spring and my love are gone
2. Skeleton
3. Time
4. The Idiot in the bath
5. Autumn
6. Sotto voce
7. Metastases
8. Friend
9. Sense
10. Alienated
In the menu at the top of this page, click on Compositions to go to the different lieder.

On Wikipedia there is more valuable information on Vasalis, might you be curious.

Aristos

The poem

Alienated

Deeply estranged from myself and from my singing
I hear in doubt nothing but tone after tone,
denying the tune, the old, dearly beloved melody,
denying everything that hints at connection,
and discover in the greatest oneness scorn.
Separate, alienated, is all I see.

One tree I spied, almost all day long,
it rained steadily and leaf after leaf
bend down like a drop weighed
and dripped and rose softly delicatedly...
So it rained from leaf to leaf,
so it rained all day long.

It's raining and I'm bending and rising
with some despair in the gray breast.
I feel so ill...
Where is the heavenly music,
the unity in earthly singing.
I only hear that everything suffers,
sick of the multitude of things,
of their utter loneliness.

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You can get an impression of the lied below.

© The complete copyright of the music (also this electronic version) has been deposited. This means that you can only listen but not use it nor partially, nor completely for your own purposes. Let alone that you use it for your own performances or productions. For citation rights please contact the publisher and the Buma/Stemra organization in the Netherlands.

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