born for a short time

antoine beuger
1991

for manfred peters and the ag neue musik at the leininger gymnasium, grünstadt

Performance notes

Dominance of silence.
Primacy of silence.

Silence:
the activity of hearing — not the object of hearing;
the openness of the listener, her preparedness,
without expectations or demands.

Activity:
do almost nothing.

Time:
Events; experiences, intensities.

Instruments:
Objects — musical instruments, other things, or also
one’s own voice — with which something can be done.

Events:
happen, incidentally (as if by chance) — also when intended.

born for a short time

64 indications, to be interpreted as descriptions of events (also readable as a poem)

Time Plan

shows (approximate) entry points for the realizations of the indications (1—64)
some are realized (allowed to happen) more than once, some only once, or even not at all: indication 35
does not occur.
born for a short time

1 born for a short time 33 syllables

2 strong and tender 34 words

3 beautiful 35 four letters

4 almost 36 a lamp

5 let it 37 on my table

6 so little 38 book

7 action 39 at the end

8 as little as possible 40 hand

9 a long while 41 feather

10 up and down 42 in the blink of an eye

11 becoming 43 on the surface

12 falling 44 time

13 altitude 45 from left to right

14 warm and clear 46 ten times

15 at the same time 47 distant

16 unbroken 48 emerges and submerges

17 a moment 49 suddenly so small, so fine

18 both 50 brushing

19 extremely attentive 51 disappears again all at once

20 a minimum 52 scattered

21 voice 53 marking with sand

22 each time a different way 54 departure or arrival?

23 for the whole duration 55 always in the distance

24 four 56 very deep

25 six 57 on foot

26 letter 58 abbreviations

27 then it stops 59 regularly

28 on the threshold 60 its course

29 coming in 61 reproduce

30 reading 62 from nearby

31 with it 63 the back side

32 similar 64 the front side