Träume (English: Dreams) was commissioned by the Flanders Symphony Orchestra with Christianne Stotijn, mezzo soprano, to be premiered in combination with Mahler's Rückertlieder.
Although it was my first intention to work with texts by Rückert as well, I soon noticed that Rückert's most beautiful poems were already geniously set, among others by Mahler.
 
This song cycle on texts by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) and Theodor Storm (1817-1888) is composed in one movement, so the composition is experienced as a whole. By placing the poems in this order a narrative entity is created in which the singer usually sings in the I-person. The character experiences the last hours of life, floats between dreams and reality and eventually meets death.
 
The music is composed entirely in function of the expression of this romantic poetry. As a result, the composition is very lyrical, flirts with late romantic gestures and the listener even recognises a solo for English horn, as in Mahler's Rückertlieder (in Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen). The poetry forced me to write lyrical melodies. The harmony also recalls tonality, but within my own harmonic system, which also allows dissonances.