VWV 37 · Solo Vocal · 2026 ·
The Miner's Lamp
Threnody — Cycle: Das Verlöschen VII
- Catalogue
- VWV 37
- Key
- G minor
- Form
- Threnody
- Scoring
- Baritone & piano
- Composed
- 2026
- Duration
- 5:01
First performed Wigmore Hall, London · 14 November 2026 — Nikolai Voss, baritone · Clara Henningsen, piano
Commissioned by Wigmore Hall
To all who keep a light burning
The central threnody and the cycle's first dance of death, after Mussorgsky: a miner's lamp extinguished far underground, set as a grim trudging measure. Open fifths and a flattened second toll under the voice until the darkness of the shaft becomes, without a seam, the darkness of the grave.
From Das Verlöschen · NV-014
On the cycle's thematic unity: The Lamp Motif →
Performance materials +
- Forces
- Baritone & piano
- Tessitura
- Baritone (G2–F4); soprano (C4–B5) where indicated
- Materials
- Voice & piano score
- Availability
- On sale · Voss Editions
- Grade
- Intermediate–Advanced — recital
- ISMN
- 979-0-706037-259-2
Text
Reading view →Das Verlöschen, No. 7 · Sung in German
Text by Nikolai Voss
Tief unter Tag, im schwarzen Stein,
ging eine Lampe aus.
Kein Stern, kein Mond, kein Morgenschein —
der Schacht ward ihm zum Haus.
Deep under day, in the black stone,
a single lamp went black.
No star, no moon, no morning shown —
the shaft became his back.
So trägt man jeden Mann hinab,
das Licht ihm in der Hand.
Der Schacht, der Sarg, das eine Grab —
ein einzig dunkles Land.
So every man is carried down
the light held in his hand.
The shaft, the coffin, the one ground —
a single darkened land.
