VWV 31 · Solo Vocal · 2026 ·
Votive
Lied — Cycle: Das Verlöschen I
- Catalogue
- VWV 31
- Key
- E major
- Form
- Lied
- Scoring
- Baritone & piano
- Composed
- 2026
- Duration
- 4:42
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 cycle is lit from a single flame. Votive opens in a luminous, almost weightless E major — the brightest the music will ever be — as the pilgrim kindles the one candle from which every later light is drawn and, in turn, surrendered. The piano states the four-note lamp motif (a rising tone, falling semitone, falling third) in its bare prime form; across the next thirteen songs it will be inverted, augmented, ground down to a chaconne bass, and finally heard only as its own shadow. Voss keeps the vocal line in long Fauré-like spans, the harmony already shadowed by the flattened sixth that foretells the descent to come.
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
- 979-0-706031-217-5
Text
Reading view →Das Verlöschen, No. 1 · Sung in German
Text by Nikolai Voss
Ich zünde eine Kerze an,
bevor die Nacht sich neigt.
Ein kleines Licht, das beben kann,
das jeder Wind erreicht.
I light a single candle now,
before the night comes on —
a small flame, one the wind can bow,
and one day will be gone.
Aus diesem Funken kommt das Licht,
das ich verlieren werde.
Halt fest, mein Herz, und fürchte nicht
das Dunkel dieser Erde.
From this one spark will come the light
that I am bound to lose.
Hold fast, my heart, and do not fear
the dark the earth will choose.
