Nachtfuchs I

Nachtfuchs (Night Fox) tells the story of a woman bored with the predictability of her own life. Her desire for immense power over others and profound insights into the workings of the universe is fulfilled: she becomes the "Nachtfuchs" and is no longer human. But she and her confidants pay a very high price for it. The first musical sketches for Nachtfuchs appeared in 1995; some restored recordings survive. From the start, the idea was an evolving multi-act piece built from cascading variations of eight bars. Its themes and the legendary, gender-neutral figure “Nachtfuchs” were already present, though the early version had no vocals.
Around 2000, the original three parts grew into four acts. Key scenes became arias sung by Stefanie Pirnay, while most of the plot remained musically encoded. As the piece became a recurring midnight event at house parties, explanations were often needed. Nachtfuchs soon belonged to the culture of the Freiburg shared flat.
In 2002, Joana Schick joined and her first demo recordings created new momentum. With her, the protagonist of Nachtfuchs was found. Daniel Umber then agreed to write the libretto—an enormous gain for scope and clarity. Recordings for Nachtfuchs I began, much of which remains today. Parts II and III followed in 2003, created in intense phases. Part IV proved so complex that further work was needed in 2004. Vocal and soloist sessions ran in parallel, and the rising complexity soon exceeded what free time allowed. Later revisions led to replacement recordings in 2009 and continued work on the score.
Between 2010 and 2018, professional demands slowed progress. Returning to a project with more than six hundred tracks was daunting, yet updates ensured it survived changing technology. After moving the studio from Freiburg to Halle in 2018, more focused work became possible. By 2019–2020 the whole production was modernized, enabling new solo recordings for parts II–IV from 2021 onward. The project became generational: the youngest soloist was one year old when the earliest “Time is Falling” recordings were made.
From 2022, final mixing and early mastering began. Electronic textures were modernized carefully to preserve continuity, and instrumental recordings had to bridge twenty years of technological change while keeping a coherent inner sound world. The composition itself supported this: act I is deliberately more electronic, and each narrative step becomes more orchestral. In many ways, Nachtfuchs required the technological development that came with time.
Over the years, listeners were drawn deeply enough to hear all four and a half hours in one sitting, often with headphones, returning to the world changed. Nachtfuchs became a document of a special period filled with shared experiments. More than a memory box, it is its own recurring yet strangely familiar world. Gratitude goes to all friends and companions involved; much remains between the lines, but everything can be found within the piece.