Es sang var langen Jahern

In
1984 the musicologist and composer Diether de la Motte invited ten
composers to set this poem by Clemens Brentano. Es
sang vor langen Jahern
was the Pärt’s first foray into setting a German poet, albeit a
German who was one of the high priests of Teutonic romanticism.
Brentano was joint editor with Achim von Arnim of the collection of
German folk poetry known as Des
Knaben Wunderhorn, which,
as every schoolboy ought to know, inspired such magnificent responses
from Gustav Mahler. Some of the Wunderhorn
atmosphere
pervades Es
sang, whose
vocal line is at once wistful and consolatory, recalling now a folk
song, now a religious incantation, now a children’s tune, now a
troubadour’s melody. The two strings provide a kind of running
commentary, which is developed more fully in the central instrumental
interlude after the third verse and the concluding postlude that
vanishes into silence.