Heinz Tiessen (1887-1971) was a German composer, conductor and music educator. He spent his entire life recording bird songs. His particular preference was the blackbird. In 1951 he published his studies in the book “Music of Nature”. (Deutschlandfunk portrayed the composer in its broadcast

"The blackbird as a source of inspiration" from November 26th, 2021.)
Heinz Tiessen was an important pioneer of musical expressionism in Germany.

I took the theme used here from his piano piece Amsel op. 31, No. 2 removed. 2021

Karsten Mittag: Reflection picture series on elegies

Our lives are shaped by experiences, adventures and emotions. Buried in our consciousness, they shape our nature, our personality, our attitude to life.

This is how my creative mind creates order and creates new meaning in the chaos of constantly changing life. Art as food. 2022

"It's hard to talk about music; it's better to paint it."

Martha Argerich

The real fear of unlived life is letting go. At this point at the latest, the question of whether you lived life according to your own ideas becomes clear. We must face the truth of our hearts and with the realization that we may have just functioned comes the fear, irrevocably with death. The challenge of life is to live it according to our inner being. 2021

"Some wonderful, holy memory that one keeps from childhood is perhaps the best education of all. If a person takes many such memories with him into his life, he is saved for his entire life."

Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky

Melos (ancient Greek μέλος mélos, German 'limb'; 'wise', 'song', 'melody') is a basic term of melodically oriented ancient Greek music. Since the middle of the 7th century B.C. In the 1st century BC Melos refers to both the sung and the instrumental tune as well as later the sung lyric poem. In Plato we hear about the invention of musical tunes. Aristotle speaks of the melodic art, which brings the verses to their full development.

In the 1920s, the term Melos was used for more abstract melodic concepts that differed from the harmonically bound melody. The conductor Hermann Scherchen founded the German-language music magazine of the same name in 1920. The central theme was contemporary music and the communication of the ideas of musical expressionism. 2021

"After the Storm" piece for 2 pianos based on a painting by Karsten Mittag 2022

5 small piano pieces.

Sometimes calm, sometimes moved, sometimes tender.

Without beginning and without end. Sometimes sad with a lyrical sound. 2022

The French composer interprets it allegorically Olivier Messiaen the birdsong:

"Music is a new blood, a speaking gesture, an unknown scent, a bird without sleep.

A music like a stained glass window, a swirl of complementary colors,

a music that expresses the end of times,

the omnipresence, the transfigured bodies,

the divine and natural mysteries."

For me, bird song is one of the great wonders of nature.

The dreams at the window for happiness, to the gate of the soul.

In the light of the sun,

the true heart, that sings. 2023

1. Arietta
2. VAR. I in hiding
3. VAR. II Etude
4. VAR. III call
5. VAR. IV Reverie
6. VAR. V imitation
7. VAR. VI Weightless
8. VAR. VII Evening Psalm

Our perception needs silence. Only with distance, in moments of contemplation, can I form my own opinion, distance myself from expectations and ideas. I imagine silence as a space where I come into contact with myself. Here I protect my true being, reorient myself and realign myself.

The noisy world is forbidden to enter. 2024

Title from the album "Lost Places."

Former memorial in Marienberg for the soldiers who survived the First World War.

Erected in 1922/23, the statue was made of shell limestone by the Leipzig painter and sculptor Rudolf Lange.

The Soldier's Song

Fought bravely,

how far and how long,

against the war and for peace?

Soldiers!

Stop believing

that victory will bring you rich gifts.

It is peace

that comes for free,

in your hearts. 2024

Exhortation to peace

The battle has died down,

The soldier has fallen.

Now is peace coming?

Blood is blooming on the graves

and the barracks are calling us,

so that we are ready.

Sons and fathers!

It was not enough.

It is time to give up,

But the powerful demand violence.

Who fights against the enemy?

Who wins against the friend?

The little man.

Who wins against the power?

Nobody. 2024

Nothing lasts forever.

Conditions cannot be held on to.

Life is subject to constant change.

Letting go of the old, breaking off and tackling the new. Setting out to realize perspectives, giving space to dreams, testing limits and experiencing possibilities.

Giving the absurdity of life its own meaning, I am on the move. Life is movement.

Only death means standing still.

Every departure is a path into the unknown, into uncertainty, into fear.

Despite all the preparations, there is still a residual risk. Will my plan succeed?

In every departure, part of its success, part of its completion, shines through.

I accept the promise, enjoy the moment and the personal freedom

that it gives me. 2024

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