Let There Be An End

An art song with declamations of the lyrics. The interplay of the soloist and the piano with the damper pedal sustained is ideal for the scene. It is about a deathbed scene of a philosopher who knows metaphysics, who believes in the universal law of cause and effect and cycle of life (and rebirth). Realizing, he somehow resents, for he claims he has learned the “art of living on the materialist and earthly plane,” and wishes to rest eternally, away from the sufferings of being alive (or to be born again).