Mountain of History - MVSR3495 | Music

The piece MOUNTAIN OF HISTORY was commissioned by the Stadtkapelle Asperg (Baden-Württemberg) on the occasion of the 1200th anniversary of the town in 2019. German composer Markus Goetz (*1973) chose the "Hohenasperg" mountain, characteristic of the town of Asperg, with its striking fortress as a thematic starting point. Based on the eventful history of this mountain, he created an exciting and diverse programmatic suite in four movements:

FANFARE
In our mind's eye, we see a trumpet player enthroned on the Hohenasperg fortress playing a festive fanfare. In addition to this fanfare, a second musical motif appears repeatedly (in fragments) within the composition: the folk song "Die Gedanken sind frei" (Thoughts are free). At the time of the Baden Revolution of 1848, this song accompanied the revolutionaries as a "unifying anthem".

DANCE FROM ANCIENT TIMES
The second movement of the work takes us back to the 15th century. We find ourselves in the midst of a court party where people are eating, drinking and dancing. In this part, Markus Götz works very skillfully with stylistic devices typical of the time, such as the so-called polychorality, in which the music seems to sound from different parts of a room.

ARIA
The "Aria" takes us from the Renaissance to the Baroque and Romantic period. The folk song, parts of which are repeatedly quoted here, reminds us of the numerous "free spirits" from the time of the revolution: only their thoughts were free, as many had to carve out a miserable existence in the prison cell of the fortress.

FINALE
The main themes presented so far are skillfully entangled in an energetic allegro: past and present merge into a whole.

With MOUNTAIN OF HISTORY, Markus Götz has created an impressive, captivating musical expedition through which the two musical guides, trumpet and flute, lead the way.