Wohär U Wohi?

In spring 2006, I began studying, memorizing, and singing Mozart arias. Soon I realized that within just a few minutes, I felt completely different: awake, recharged, refreshed, full of lightheartedness and joy. I then started to explore other songs and poems from past centuries: usually, a text that was suitable for translation immediately caught my attention. In a short time, about 20 texts and songs were created. Of course, I took some liberties: I biographically expanded "Pangur Ban," the old Irish poem from a biblical manuscript. I added three stanzas of reflections to the quatrain "I come, I know not whence / and I am, I know not what / I go, I know not whither / it amazes me that I am so joyful." The Danish "Schärischlyferballade" is considerably shorter and less concrete in its original form. I finally wrote a response to the "Amerikabrief," which I had translated back in 1980. Paul Fleming's famous sonnet "To Oneself" is my latest adaptation. I particularly enjoy singing the four sonnets on this CD. However, it’s not just songs from classical and high literature included: from 1966 to 1969, when I was reworking a series of jokes and anecdotes into stanzas, I was unaware that several decades earlier, there had already been two poets in the canton who did the same: Johann Howald and Jakob Schrag, both of whom are now represented here with a song each.