Hummel, Bertold: Kopflos (Headless)

A song cycle based on droll and mischievous poems by Hermann Hesse

Hummel wrote this song cycle in the last months of his life and called it his “swan-song”. In the light of this, his selection of poems is highly unusual: the composer did not focus on qualities such as the wisdom of age and detachment from worldly affairs, but instead chose lines rich in scepticism and a mocking vein of humour; this can be heard particularly in the last song, where we hear: “My dear boy, everything that people say is more or less a pack of lies…” The music, which is delicately worked through in both the voice and piano parts, is vividly effective for performers and audience alike.