MUTED

Monica Germino - viool
Floriaan Ganzevoort - licht, mise-en-espace

Na de diagnose hyperacusis (extreme gevoeligheid voor geluid) moest Monica haar gebruikelijke optredens staken. Het Amerikaanse componistencollectief Bang on a Can en Louis Andriessen sloegen de handen ineen om een stuk te maken dat haar in staat stelt de grenzen van het hoorbare te verkennen. Het resultaat: MUTED. De enorme verzameling dempers (‘mutes’) van violiste Monica Germino was het uitgangspunt. Zij bespeelt naast haar eigen Ceruti-viool ook een zeldzame ‘frame-viool’ (zonder klankkast) én een speciaal voor dit project ontworpen ‘fluisterviool’.

In coproductie met: De Doelen, Music on Main, Vancouver, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival en Festival Oranjewoud

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i was once a vers libre bard

but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach

it has given me a new outlook upon life

i see things from the under side now

 

there is a cat here called mehitabel

boss i have discovered that mehitabel’s

soul formerly inhabited a human also

at least that is what mehitabel is claiming these days

who were you mehitabel I asked her

i was cleopatra once she said

well i said

i suppose you lived in a palace

you bet she said

and what lovely fish dinners we used to have

and she licked her chops

 

this is the song of mehitabel

of mehitabel the alley cat

 

as i wrote you before boss

mehitabel is a believer

in the pythagorean

theory of the transmigration

of the soul and she claims

that formerly her spirit

was incarnated in the body of cleopatra

 

i have my ups and downs

but wotthehell wotthehell

yesterday sceptres and crowns

fried oysters and velvet gowns

i wake the world from sleep

as i caper and sing and leap

when i sing my wild free tune

wotthehell wotthehell

 

cage me and i’d go frantic

my life is so romantic

capricious and corybantic

and i’m toujours

i’m toujours gai toujours gai

 

oh i should worry and fret

death and i will coquette

there is a dance in the old dame yet

toujours gai toujours gai

 

I once was an innocent kit

but a maltese cat came by

with a come hither look in his eye

and a song that soared to the sky

and i followed adown the street

the pad of his rhythmical feet

wotthehell

 

my youth i shall never forget

but there is nothing i regret

 

 

 

 

Moth

 

i was talking to a moth

the other evening

he was trying to break into

an electric light bulb

and fry himself in the wires

 

why do you fellows

pull this stunt i asked him

because it is the conventional thing for moths or why

if that had been an uncovered

candle instead of an electric

light bulb you would

now be a small unsightly cinder

have you no sense

 

plenty of it he answered

but at times we get tired

of using it

we get bored with the routine

and crave beauty

and excitement

fire is beautiful

and we know that if we get

too close it will kill us

but what does that matter

it is better to be happy

for a moment

and be burned up with beauty

 

 

 

than to live a long time

and be bored all the while

so we wad all our life up

into one little roll

and then we shoot the roll

that is what life is for

it is better to be a part of beauty

for one instant and then cease to

exist than to exist forever

and never be a part of beauty

our attitude toward life

is come easy go easy

we are like human beings

used to be before they became

too civilized to enjoy themselves

 

and before i could argue him

out of his philosophy

he went and immolated himself

on a patent cigar lighter

i do not agree with him

myself i would rather have

half the happiness and twice

the longevity

 

but at the same time i wish

there was something i wanted

as badly as he wanted to fry himself