Missing Words VI

Missing Words VI, Eric Nathan (2020) 16'for flute, clarinet,  violin, and cello Missing Words VI (2021) is part of a larger series of works, Missing Words (I-VI), composed in homage to the newly-created German words presented in Ben Schott’s book, Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition (Blue Rider Press/Penguin Group). These Seinfeld-ian words illuminate everyday experiences for which English has no synonyms. The words are therefore “missing” from English, and Schott has proposed German words we can adopt into English as we have adopted Doppelgänger, Schadenfreude and Wanderlust. I love the wit, humor, pathos and intimacy of these words, and use the situations they evoke as points of departure for the music. The series as a whole speaks to the complexity of life and human experience, and how all the little bits of the everyday “present” can help us find deeper meaning in our own. Some thoughts on each movement below (Schott’s definitions in quotes): I., III., V. Witzbehar