Tlatoltoani

Dear friends:

Once again, many thanks for your kind and encouraging comments about my music. It is indeed a daring endeavor to lay bare one's innermost feelings in any artform before the public, as if one were an explorer heading out into the sea into uncharted waters.

Any music is good as long as it is well crafted, sincere and stimulates your own creativity no matter the field. In these difficult times when we all have to stay put, listen to some soothing, comforting and uplifting music and give it a loving home in your hearts and thoughts so that you can draw strength from it in order to cope with the situation.

Heed the instructions given by the health authorities and stay safe. My best wishes are with you.

Tlatoltoani (aka) The Pre-Electric Dawn (aka) Michael Drewes

Сны, 9/VII 2010 г.
To convert themes connected the Holocaust into art is a very delicate enterprise. Literature and sculpture are perhaps the most adequate media for carrying it out, due to their capability of giving a testimony without falling into manifestations of bad taste or lack of sensibility. The bronze sculptures of concentration camp inmates created by the Polish-Israeli artist Samuel Willenberg (1923-2016) are an eloquent expression of the Holocaust.
I tried to externalize my feelings of mourning and also, anger, about the Holocaust in music, including reminiscences of better times, the suffering, and, as a conclusion and culmination, variations on the Israeli national anthem.
The different sections appear here separately, but they are meant to be played one after the other without interruption, and their titles are:

I. Большая славянская симфония (Great Slavic Symphony)
II. Путешествие (Travel)
III. Воспоминания (Remembrances)
IV. Последняя остановка (Last Stop)
V. Разрушенные надежды (Destroyed Hopes)
VI. Государственный гимн Израиля (National Anthem of the State of Israel)
The idea to section III which appears again in V, I had already in 1961, when it came to me in a school excursion in Mexico City.

The cover artwork, a photograph of sunflowers, alludes to the book "The Sunflower" by Simon Wiesenthal.

Liebe Freunde,
Möge sich das Karrussell des Lebens auch im neuen Jahr weiterdrehen und die Menschheit bessere Manieren, Höflichkeit und Erbarmen aufweisen.
Dear Friends:
May the merry-go-round of life go on turning during the new year and humanity show better manners, politeness and consideration.
Chers amis,
Je vous souhaite que le carrousel de la vie continue se tournant aussi pendant le nouvel an et que l'humanité montre meilleur savoir-vivre, civilité et compassion.
Estimados amigos:
Les deseo que el tío vivo de la vida siga girándose también durante el año nuevo y que la humanidad muestre mejor comportamiento, cortesía y consideración.
Дорогие друзья,
Я вам желаю что карусель жизни тоже будет двигаться с новым годам и что человечество будет вежливо и сострадательно.
חברים יקרים,
אני מכווה לכם שהסחרחרת חיים תמשיך לפנות גם בשנה אזרחית חדשה ושהאנושות תהיה יתר מנומסת, מחוננת ומתחשבת באחרים.

Dear Friends:
You can trust my music; it is absolutely honest. I can only write and create according to how and what I feel; otherwise it would not be worth the effort, resources and thoughts. I do not ape any other composer or songwriter in order to be "in." Sometimes I feel compelled to imitate styles of other epochs; nevertheless, not of a particular composer but to capture the spirit of that period of time in question. Of the Baroque music, for example, I admire the sensuousness, sentimentality and solemnity of the slow movements, and the vivaciousness, overpouring joy and rhythmic precision of the allegros, on which I hang up my feelings as if they were clothes on a clothesline. Or, on the other hand, I use Beethoven's influence for expressing what I call "the tragic grandeur of humanity" or that of eastern European composers for converting my own brooding and melancholic feelings into reality. And the outcome is always Michael Drewes and not any of the great masters under which spell I had been. I rather tried to emulate them, saying: "Oh, if Tchaikovsky can do it, why not I?" But that was more in bygone times of my youth, and later in life I found out that I did not need these crutches to prop up my feelings. I am also open to experiments and try to stray from the trodden paths in order to experience new sonorities.
My music cannot really be "used." I guess that you would not even get a decent dinner together in your kitchen with the help of it, but I guarantee you it will nourish your soul. I always feel very flattered when I hear from my listeners how my music helped them overcome difficult times and that it even strengthened them. I do wish that this happened and will do so in the future, and the knowledge of this gives me the sense of purpose and fulfilment.
In prehistoric and ancient times, art had indeed a "practical" purpose, namely that of appeasing the deities and, as a consequence thereof, the forces of nature. But in the course of our evolution we have overcome this stage and can project our thoughts towards our own inner world, thereby enriching it and that of our fellow human beings.

Ein Stück für den Carl-Orff-Wettbewerb, für Baritonsolo, Rahmentrommel und Harfe als Vertonung des Gedichts "Orpheus" von Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). Für den musikalischen Ausdruck war der Text maßgebend, der mich zu den Melodien inspiriert hat. Ich wollte irgendwie den Charakter von Rilkes Feinfühligkeit musikalisch übermitteln. Nachfolgend der Text des Gedichtes auf Deutsch:

ORPHEUS. EURIDIKE. HERMES.
Sie war schon nicht mehr diese blonde Frau,
die in des Dichters Liedern manchmal anklang,
nicht mehr des breiten Bettes Duft und Eiland
und jenes Mannes Eigentum nicht mehr.
Sie war schon aufgelöst wie langes Haar
und hingegeben wie gefallner Regen
und ausgeteilt wie hundertfacher Vorrat.
Sie war schon Wurzel.
Und als plötzlich jäh der Gott sie anhielt
und mit Schmerz im Ausruf die Worte sprach:
Er hat sich umgewendet –,
begriff sie nichts und sagte leise: Wer?


A piece for the Carl Orff Contest, for Solo Baritone, Frame Drum and Harp, to be set into music, of the poem "Orpheus" by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). The text guided me for the musical expression, which inspired me to the melodies. Somehow, I wanted to convey musically the character of Rilke' s sensibility. In the following, the text of the poem in English translation:

ORPHEUS. EURIDICE. HERMES.
She was no longer that woman with blue eyes
who once had echoed through the poet's songs,
no longer the wide couch's scent and island,
and that man's property no longer.
She was already loosened like long hair,
poured out like fallen rain,
shared like a limitless supply.
She was already root.
And when, abruptly, the god put out his hand to stop her,
saying, with sorrow in his voice:
He has turned around--,
she could not understand, and softly answered Who? ...


Una pieza para el concurso Carl Orff, para barítono solo, tambor de marco y arpa, para ponerse en música, del poema "Orfeo", de Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). Para la expresión musical me guiaba por el texto, que me inspiró a las melodías. De alguna manera quería transmitir musicalmente el carácter de la sensibilidad de Rilke. Sigue el texto del poema en traducción al español:

ORFEO. EURÍDICE. HERMES.
Ya no era más la bella mujer rubia
que por momentos resonaba en los cantos del poeta,
ya no era isla ni perfume en la ancha cama
y no era más pertenencia de aquel hombre.
Ahora andaba suelta como cabellos largos
y como el agua llovida, explayada,
y como provisión, partida en cien porciones.
Raíz era ya. Y cuando con voz triste la detuvo el Dios,
diciendo de pronto: “Él ha mirado atrás”,
ella sin despertar preguntó quieta: “¿Quién?” ...

Dear Friends:

Please receive my most heartfelt thanks for your kind wishes for the Holidays and New Year, which I reciprocate hereby, albeit belatedly. Very soon, some of my music will be available for purchase. When you click on the "buy" button, you will be directly connected to the site. Have fun and enjoy!

Dear friends:

Thank you for your kind and beautiful comments on my music, of which many were very moving. I do feel indeed flattered. Since I am still new to this site, I do not yet know how to meet your expectations, since I depend on other musicians for playing and recording my works so that I can obtain the MP3 files needed for uploading to websites. Right now, I don't have more adequate files for this purpose. If anybody has some suggestions, they are most welcome.

Thanking you again,

Sincerely yours,

Tlatoltoani