Peter Hübner - Hymns of the Great Stream

Richard Wagner

“To begin with, I wish to say that inspiration is a very evasive, a most illusive subject, which is not easily defined and about which we know very little. Few indeed there be who know how to tap the source whence it flows, and this undoubtedly is the reason why there has been so little written about it.

I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that anyone who can feel those vibrations is inspired, provided he is conscious of the process and possesses the knowledge and skill to present them in a convincing manner, be he composer, architect, painter, sculptor, or inventor.

While working on my scores, I have had many wonderful and exhilarating experiences in that invisible realm, which I can define to some extent at least.

I believe first of all, that it is this universal vibrating energy that binds the soul of man to the Almighty Central Power from which emanates the life principle to which we all owe our existence.

This energy links us to the Supreme Force of the universe, of which we are all a part. If it were not so, we could not bring ourselves into communication with it. The one who can do this is inspired.”

Wagner

THE COMPOSER ON HIS
HYMNS & SYMPHONIES
OF THE GREAT STREAM

The Rhine Daugthers

“When I commenced work on Rheingold in 1853, I was lying in bed. I felt suddenly as if I were immersed in a flood of flowing water. I imagined myself lying at the bottom of the Rhine. I could certainly feel and hear the moving, surging water sweeping over me.
I was in a semi-trance condition and when I awoke, I immediately realized that this vision was an inspiration – that my prelude to Rheingold had taken shape in my inner consciousness.

Then I understood the real essence of my own nature and that this vision of the rushing water was to be symbolic of my future musical creations – that the stream of my life was to flow from within me.”

Wagner

“I have very definite impressions while in that trance-like condition, which is the prerequisite of all true creative effort. I feel that I am one with this vibrating Force, that it is Omniscient, and that I can draw upon it to an extent that is limited only by my own capacity do so.
Why did Beethoven appropriate it to a far greater degree than Dittersdorf, to name only one of the many minor composers of that period?

Because Beethoven was much more aware of his oneness with Divinity than was Dittersdorf. Beethoven himself said so. We have documentary evidence to that effect.”

Wagner

CLASSIC-Life: Herr Hübner, what can you tell us about the symphonies and hymns of the “Great Stream”?

PETER HÜBNER: The “Great Stream” is the archaic synonym for the “Course of the Soul”.
This course which – according to the statements of the great wise people – happens in very great intervals, is the basis of everything that occurs all around as part of evolution: the development of the individual, the development of whole nations, the development of entire galaxies, indeed, the development of entire universes.

Everything external has its inner being.
The external is loud, the inner being quiet, the innermost is inaudible, but extremely powerful – like the soul, and, if necessary, omnipotent, like the “Great Soul”.

I have tried to present and clarify these conditions as archaically and musically as possible. The person who listens to the tones, is ruled in his thinking by the tones – up to the knowledge of the great tonal connections in space and time.

And the person who in all this action seeks stillness, at the same time making less and less effort and relaxing more and more, and in the end only simply listens without any inner resistance and analytical show of strength, might advance to that stillness of archaic harmony, which rules the development of the sound in this piece of work.

In this cosmic stillness of his consciousness and/or thinking, he might even advance to the fields of his own soul, and perhaps glance briefly into the world of the “Great Soul” – beyond space and time, where everything streams as from a boundless golden source, and enlivens the cosmic stillness of consciousness: animates it.
This person has experienced the “Great Stream”.

A Micro Music Laboratories production • Digital studio recordings under the artistic and technical direction of the composer Peter Hübner.
© Aar Edition International 1999 • ℗ United Productions International 1999 • All rights of the manufacturer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, lending and copying of this recording prohibited.

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