Lebenskreise ('Life cycles')
Symphonic cantata to poems by Hölderlin and Goethe, for 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (boys, SATB) and orchestra, Op.70 (1955)

'Der Morgen' (Hölderlin), 'Das Werk' (Goethe), 'Sinnen und Suchen (Hölderlin,Goethe), 'Natur' (Goethe), 'Dämmerung' (Hölderling, Goethe, Fontane), 'Das ewige Licht' (Goethe)
2,picc,2(cor),2,2(cbn); 4,2,3,0; timp; perc; str
Duration: 90'
First published by Alkor Edition, Kassel, 1956
Available from Bärenreiter: available on hire (Alkor Edition 297)

First performance: Mainz, Oct. 1956 (Mainzer Liedertafel/Schmidgen)

Other performances (selection):

Mainzer Liedertafel/Schmidtgen, Südwestfunk Radio, Mar. 1957 (Broadcast of 1956 concert)
Choir and Orchestra, University of Hamburg/de Greeve, Feb. 2009 (see concert programme here)

"Life proceeds in phases, in which we can recognise continual change and unceasing development. These phases are divided into six episodes, each of which deals with a specific aspect of life and a particular view of it. The work has a symphonic structure inasmuch as each of the six parts is implemented independently like the movement of a symphony, and the movements stand in a relationship to one another corresponding to the cyclical principle of a symphony." [Wilhelm Waldstein: Hans Gál: eine Studie, 1965, p. 93]