| Composition Year | 1987/92 |
|---|---|
| Genre Categories | Pieces; For organ; Scores featuring the organ; For 1 player |
| Work Title | Skorpion für Orgel mit zwei Manualen und Pedal |
|---|---|
| Alternative. Title | |
| Composer | Knopper, Klaus |
| I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | IKK 7 |
| Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. | 1987/92 |
| Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Modern |
| Piece Style | Modern |
| Instrumentation | Organ |
My favourite tempo for this piece is Larghetto, but the player may choose anything faster or slower. In the first and last segments the fingers of each hand move across the manuals like scorpion's legs. Ever see a scorpion walk? It shifts its legs asynchronically, lifting a left foot while releasing a right one. The rhythmically irregular chords accompanying the continuing left hand theme in the second segment contrast with the regular meter of the first section. In the third, quieter section, different themes run against each other, ending in short, abrupt chords. I think this came out of thinking about a musical representation of a constellation. The tone cluster in the next section should be so registered that only the delicate beating of the interference patterns from the low minor seconds can be heard, not the distinct notes. The chromatically descending trills crawl down against the pedal theme. The following section, formed out of "towers" of sixteenth and thirtysecond notes in the upper voices and quarter notes in the pedal, resolves to an unexpected C major chord. In the last segment the opening theme returns, somewhat differently. It should be played more gently than at first. "Skorpion" is one of my first "atonal" pieces.
