Samuel Beckett, Words and Music

Samuel Beckett could not stand musical settings of his texts. However, in his experimental radio play »Words and Music« of 1961, next to a speaking character called »Words« (aka Joe), there is one called »Music« (aka Bob), who only utters wordless sounds. In order to bring him to life, the author needed a composer as a partner. For a new production in 1987, Beckett himself suggested Morton Feldman, possibly because he saw parallels between his own working method and that of the American, who was known for subtle variations and new combinations of highly reduced material. »It was a huge amount of fun to do something for Beckett,« Feldman declared, »a sort of tribute to him, i.e. someone who has been part of my life since the 1950s.« The programme of the E-MEX-Ensemble is rounded out with a new work by the Catalan composer Helena Cánovas i Parés, which also refers to a Beckett text, the 1979 novella »Company«. 

​Supported by Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen