Poem
Rutger Kopland
A CHORALE
According to his contemporaries Johann Sebastian Bach wasa virtuoso organist – he played with
an inimitable ‘Leichtigkeit’
light-handedness you could call this, but then so
light that it seemed as if it weren’t hands
that were playing
I think I know how it sounded
as if I can hear it’s the man himself
up there in this church in his tiny engine room
making music
you can hear the age-old mechanism, the groaning
of hinges, the clatter of keys
the floor creaking, the wind sighing
how music is made out of air
and a chorale slowly floats through this space
as an invisible weightless bird
Leichtigkeit
From: What Water Left Behind: Rutger Kopland
Publisher: Waxwing, Dublin, 2005
Publisher: Waxwing, Dublin, 2005
EEN KORAAL
EEN KORAAL
Volgens zijn tijdgenoten was Johann Sebastian Bacheen virtuoos organist – hij speelde met
een onnavolgbare ‘Leichtigkeit’
lichthandigheid zou je het kunnen noemen, maar dan zo
licht dat het was alsof het geen handen waren
die speelden
ik vermoed dat ik wel weet hoe het klonk
alsof ik hoor hoe hij het zelf is die daar boven
in deze kerk in die kleine machinekamer
muziek zit te maken
je hoort het eeuwenoude mechaniek, het gekreun
van scharnieren, het geklepper van toetsen
het gekraak van de vloer, het zuchten van wind
hoe er van lucht muziek wordt gemaakt
en er een koraal langzaam door de ruimte zweeft
als een onzichtbare gewichtloze vogel
Leichtigkeit
From: Verzamelde Gedichten
Publisher: Uitgeverij G.A. van Oorschot, Amsterdam
Publisher: Uitgeverij G.A. van Oorschot, Amsterdam
Poems
Poems of Rutger Kopland
Close
A CHORALE
According to his contemporaries Johann Sebastian Bach wasa virtuoso organist – he played with
an inimitable ‘Leichtigkeit’
light-handedness you could call this, but then so
light that it seemed as if it weren’t hands
that were playing
I think I know how it sounded
as if I can hear it’s the man himself
up there in this church in his tiny engine room
making music
you can hear the age-old mechanism, the groaning
of hinges, the clatter of keys
the floor creaking, the wind sighing
how music is made out of air
and a chorale slowly floats through this space
as an invisible weightless bird
Leichtigkeit
From: What Water Left Behind: Rutger Kopland
Publisher: 2005, Waxwing, Dublin
Publisher: 2005, Waxwing, Dublin
A CHORALE
According to his contemporaries Johann Sebastian Bach wasa virtuoso organist – he played with
an inimitable ‘Leichtigkeit’
light-handedness you could call this, but then so
light that it seemed as if it weren’t hands
that were playing
I think I know how it sounded
as if I can hear it’s the man himself
up there in this church in his tiny engine room
making music
you can hear the age-old mechanism, the groaning
of hinges, the clatter of keys
the floor creaking, the wind sighing
how music is made out of air
and a chorale slowly floats through this space
as an invisible weightless bird
Leichtigkeit
From: What Water Left Behind: Rutger Kopland
Publisher: 2005, Waxwing, Dublin
Publisher: 2005, Waxwing, Dublin
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