Wolf - Three Mörike Lieder

Hugo Wolf  was an Austrian composer who was a child prodigy. His father taught him the piano and violin beginning at four years of age.  He had little interest in other school subjects besides music and even after he entered the Vienna Conservatory of Music in 1875 was constantly at logger heads with his teachers. Rebellious by nature, he was expelled from the conservatory after two years because of his intense criticism of his masters whom he deemed too conservative.

While at the conservatory he met Richard Wagner who gave him encouragement, and he became a rabid disciple of Wagner.  He tried his hand at teaching but was temperamentally ill suited to it. Despite his somewhat irascible disposition, he could also be engaging and charming, enough that he gathered financial support from patrons so he could compose for a living.

After the death of Wagner in 1883 his style matured and his songs began to be noticed by Franz Liszt.  About this time he began working on larger compositions and also began to write a regular column of music criticism in the Vienna publication Wiener Salonblatt.  Between 1883 and 1887 Wolf wrote over 100 articles, and in keeping with his discipleship of Wagner, he took some incredibly vicious swipes at the music of Brahms as well as any other composer that he thought was in the Brahmsian camp. Wolf had this to say about Brahms' 4th Symphony:

He never could rise above the mediocre. But such nothingness, hollowness, such mousy obsequiousness as in the E minor symphony has never yet been revealed so alarmingly in any of Brahms' works. The art of composing without ideas has decidedly found in Brahms one of its worthiest representatives. Like God Almighty, Brahms understands the trick of making something out of nothing. Enough of this hideous game!

Eduard Mörike 

He gave up his music criticism column  in 1887 (but not before creating a lot of enemies) and began composing at fever pitch. Wolf's temperament had included bouts of crippling depression in his earlier years, and now the syphilis that he had contracted earlier in his life added to his mental problems. He composed rapidly during his good times, and sank deeper and deeper into depression and insanity in the bad times. He tried to complete an opera in 1897 before his mind was completely gone, but by 1899 he could no longer compose. He made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide by drowning, afterward he committed himself to an insane asylum where he died in 1903.

Wolf set many  poems of the Romantic German poet Eduard Mörike to music, 53 of them in 1888.  Mörike's poems are known for their humor and simple language.  Three of these Mörike lieder are discussed below. The accompanying link to a performance of the songs are sung by the late German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a master of German Lied.

Bei einer Trauung (At A Wedding) -  Wolf refined and expanded the direction of the German Lied that Schubert and Schumann had begun; that the piano accompaniment is an equal of the soloist in importance. The piano part of this song gives a hint of what kind of a wedding this really is, even before the soloist sings a word. In plodding, funereal chords, with dissonant grace notes punctuating the sorrow, the piano sets the stage for a marriage of two people who are not in love.  It is the nature of Mörike's poetic style that makes the listener wonder if the poem is really an expression of sorrow or a tongue-in-cheek mockery of arranged marriages. Wolf's music seems to emphasize the sorrow.

With no one but aristocrats for witnesses
the couple is being married.
The organ proclaims that all is fine,
but nothing else does!

Just look - she is crying her eyes out,
and he is making a dreadful face,
For you see, I am afraid
that there is no love in this union.

Zur Warnung (Word of Warning) -   In the accompanying video, the singer begins this song in the hoarse, coarse voice of one who has spent a night drinking.  The perky and rather trite piano accompaniment of the 'garbage verse'  with its sudden change of mood is a good example of Wolf's talent for matching music to words. The 'name' Wendehals  is an actual variety of a bird of the woodpecker family in Germany.  The song is an all together delightful warning to poets with a hangover: have some hair of the dog that bit you if you must, but don't try and write any poetry.

After a night out
I woke up feeling lousy;
I thirsted but not for water,
my blood pounded, I felt disturbed and sentimental.
Almost poetically I begged my Muse for a song.
Pretending sympathy, she mocked me,
and gave me this piece of garbage:
"A nightingale is singing
by a waterfall; 
another bird as well, 
who signs its name Wendehals, 
Johann Jacob Wendehals,
who dances
by the plants
of the afore mentioned waterfall."
And so it went until I became very uneasy.
I sprang up: wine! That would be my salvation!
Mark it well, you weepy bards,
when you have a hangover, don't call upon the gods!

Abschied - (Farewell) -  A poem that probably reflected Wolf's own feelings about his critics (while ignoring his own harsh criticism of others). How he would have enjoyed kicking his critics in the ass and watching them bounce down the stairs! The music is of shifting moods, from the curt notes of the critic to the racket of the critic bouncing down the stairs. The joy at seeing the critic roll down the steps is portrayed by the pianist playing a noisy Viennese waltz peppered with accented grace notes:

One evening, without knocking, in came a gentleman:
"I have the honor to be your critic!"
Immediately he took the light in his hand
and gazed long at my shadow on the wall.
He stepped close and then stepped back: "Now, my good young man,
kindly see how your nose looks from the side!
You must admit it is a nose and a half!"
Good gracious - so it is!
My word! I never imagined - my whole life long -
that such a huge world-sized nose was on my face!

The man said various other things about this and that,
but I honestly don't remember what;
perhaps he thought I had something to confess.
Finally he stood up and I lit his way out.
As we stood at the top of the stairs,
I cheerfully gave him
a small kick in the ass,
and by golly! What a jolting,
tumbling, and crashing!
I have never seen such a thing,
my whole life long,
a man that went so quickly down the stairs!

Chopin - Waltzes Opus 69

The Waltz as a form of dance had its origins in the Austrian/German Ländler, a folk dance that includes stomping, leaping and twirling about, although mention of gliding and twirling dances where dancers were described as walzen (German for turning or spinning) are mentioned as early as the 16th century in some texts.

Composers such as Beethoven and Schubert wrote waltzes, but these pieces were the equivalent of modern dance music. They were functional and meant to be danced to.  Carl Maria von Weber's Invitation To The Dance written for piano was the first instance of a waltz written to be listened to instead of danced to. Chopin helped refine the concert waltz and his first attempts in the form used Weber's as a model.

Chopin wrote at least 36 waltzes, but only 18 verified waltzes still exist. The others are either destroyed, held by private owners while the fate of others is unknown. Chopin had only eight waltzes published during his lifetime, and on his death bed he instructed his publisher to destroy all of his unpublished works, but this was not done.  Five waltzes were published shortly after his death and another five later.  The two waltzes of Opus 69 were published in 1854, 5 years after his death.

Chopin painted by Maria Wodzińska

No. 1 In A-flat Major, Valse de l'adieu or Farewell Waltz - This waltz was written in 1835 during Chopin's early years in Paris and was given to Maria Wodzińska as a gift. Chopin had proposed to Maria (a talented artist and musician that studied with John Field) in 1835, and while her mother consented her father considered Chopin too sickly and their engagement ended in 1837.  Chopin's waltzes have been considered to be lesser compositions by some, and there are a few of the waltzes that can be considered trifles compared to other works. but taken as a whole, the waltzes reflect a wide range of moods from the giddy and extroverted to the melancholy and introverted. The A-flat Waltz of opus 69 is one of the introverted works of the set.  Despite being written in A major, a feeling of nostalgia (perhaps for his native Poland and the native Polish mazurka) can be heard in the main theme, no doubt because the minor mode is interwoven with the major to creates an ambiguity of sound that equates to the reverie of a mind dwelling on things past. The waltz ends gently with the main theme.

No. 2 In B Minor -  This waltz was written in 1829 before Chopin left Poland.  The main theme is in B minor that is more melancholy and restless than the previous waltz, partially on account of the chromaticism of the main theme. Once again Chopin mixes major and minor (or in this instance minor with major) as the first episode after the statement of the theme changes to B major, but the overall feeling doesn't change.  This piece is one of the least technically demanding waltzes, but that's no reason to dismiss it. Chopin was above everything else, a master of the piano miniature, with this waltz being a good example of his skill and artistry.

Orff - Carmina Burana, A Scenic Cantata

In addition to being a composer and conductor, Carl Orff was a leader in the development of musical education for young people. His Schulwerk integrated movement, singing, playing and improvising. Percussion instruments played a major role in the innovative ways he and others used in teaching children music as a basic language.

As a composer, Orff's music was part of the movement away from 19th century Romanticism that began late in the 19th century and increased at the turn of the 20th. His music reflected his love of percussion, the elemental parts of music such as simple melody as well as repetitive accompaniment. He eventually focused on composing works based on texts and topics from the ancient world. His scenic cantata Carmina Burana was composed in 1936 and was the first part of a trilogy of compositions for vocalists and orchestra. The other two works of the trilogy Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite are seldom performed or recorded. Carmina Burana is not only the most well known and popular of the trilogy, but it is one of the most performed and recorded works of the 20th century.

Orff used 24 poems from the 254 poems and songs that were contained in a volume named Carmina Burana (Songs from Beuern) that were copied out in the 13th century, although the poems and songs range from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The poems are in Medieval Latin, early German and Old French and are thought to have been written by the Goliards, a group of clergy and students that satirized and criticized the Church. The poems and songs in the collection deal with many subjects, but mostly with the sins of earthly delights such as gambling, drinking and sex. Evidently the Goliards spent a lot of their time nose-thumbing authority (especially that of the Church).  The collection is a representation of a medieval movement that spread throughout Europe as songs and poems came from England, The Holy Roman Empire, Scotland, France, Spain and other regions with most of them written in medieval Latin, a language used by scholars and students all across Europe.

Neumes over medieval text

The manuscript of Carmina Burana lay in the library of Benediktbeuern Abbey in Bavaria for centuries until it was discovered in 1803. After a complicated history, the text was published in 1847.  About 25% of the original contents of theCarmina Burana were accompanied by neumes, an early form of musical notation that had no staff lines and  indicated by small marks over words and syllables whether a note was higher or lower than the previous one.

Orff's setting of Carmina Burana consists of 25 movements that are divided into five sections. The work is scored for a large orchestra with a very large percussion section, piano, chorus, and baritone, tenor and soprano soloists.  Sections are given Latin and English translation. Movement names are the first line of the text used - with the original language used for titles of each movement.

A) Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi - Fortune, Empress Of The World 
The first section consists of two movements that deal with the uncontrollable forces of Fortune and Fate:
1. Oh Fortuna  - 
[Choir]
O Fortune,
Like the moon
You are changeable,
ever waxing and waning.
Hateful life, first oppresses,
and then soothes as fancy takes it;
poverty, and power it melts them like ice.

Wheel Of Fortune from Carmina Burana manuscript

Fate - monstrous and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is in vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
To your villainy.
Fate is against me
in health and virtue,
driven on and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate strikes down the strong man,
everyone weep with me!

2. Fortune Plango Vulnera - 
[Choir]
I bemoan the wounds of Fortune
with weeping eyes,
for the gifts she made me
she perversely takes away.
It is written in truth,
that she has a fine head of hair,
but, when it comes to seizing an
opportunity,
she is bald.
On Fortune’s throne
I used to sit raised up,
crowned with
the many-colored flowers of prosperity;
though I may have flourished
happy and blessed,
now I fall from the peak
deprived of glory.
The wheel of Fortune turns:
I go down, demeaned;
another is raised up;
far too high up
sits the king at the summit –
let him fear ruin!
for under the axis is written
Queen Hecuba.

B) Primo Vere -  In Spring
Three movements that deal with the renewal that comes with spring. 
3. Veris leta facies - 
[Small choir]
The merry face of spring
turns to the world,
sharp winter
now flees, vanquished;
bedecked in various colors
Flora reigns,
the harmony of the woods

praises her in song. Ah!
Lying in Flora’s lap
Phoebus once more
smiles, now covered
in many-colored flowers,
Zephyr breathes nectar scented
breezes.
Let us rush to compete
for love’s prize. Ah!
In harp-like tones sings
the sweet nightingale,
with many flowers
the joyous meadows are laughing,
a flock of birds rises up
through the pleasant forests,
the chorus of maidens
already promises a thousand joys. Ah.

4. Omnia Sol temperat -
[Baritone solo]
The sun warms everything,
pure and gentle,
once again it reveals to the world
April’s face,
the soul of man
is urged towards love
and joys are governed

Illustrtation from Carmina Burana manuscript

by the boy-god.
All this rebirth
in spring’s festivity
and spring’s power
bids us to rejoice;
it shows us paths we know well,
and in your springtime
it is true and right
to keep what is yours.
Love me faithfully!
See how I am faithful:
With all my heart
and with all my soul,
I am with you
Even when I am far away.
Whoever loves this much
turns on the wheel.

5. Ecce gratum - 
[Choir]
Behold the pleasant
and longed-for
spring brings back joyfulness,
violet flowers
fill the meadows,
the sun brightens everything,
sadness is now at an end!
Summer returns,
now withdraw
the rigors of winter. Ah!
Now melts
and disappears
ice, snow, and the rest,
winter flees,
and now
spring sucks at summer’s breast:
A wretched soul is he
who does not live
or lust
under summer’s rule. Ah!
They glory
and rejoice
in honeyed sweetness
who strive
to make use of
Cupid’s prize;
At Venus’ command
let us glory
and rejoice
in being Paris’ equals. Ah!

C.) Uf Dem Anger - On The Green 
6. Dance -  An instrumental of rhythmic vitality. While much of Carmina Burana seems simple to the point of primitive, the rhythmic scheme of this movement (as well as others) demonstrates the rhythmic complexity of the score.

7. Floret Silva -  Women lament lovers riding off on horses which Orff depicts in sound by the male voice's decrescendo.
[Choir]
The noble woods are burgeoning
with flowers and leaves,
Where is the lover
I knew? Ah!
He has ridden off!
Oh! Who will love me? Ah!
The woods are burgeoning all over,
I am pining for my lover,
The woods are turning green all over,
why is my lover away so long? Ah!
He has ridden off,
Oh woe, who will love me? Ah!

8. Chramer, gip die varwe mir
[Small and large choir]
Shopkeeper, give me color
to make my cheeks red,
so that I can make the young men
love me, against their will
Look at me,
young men!
Let me please you!
Good men, love
women worthy of love!
Love ennobles your spirit
and gives you honor.
Look at me, etc.
Hail, world,
so rich in joys!
I will be obedient to you
because of the pleasures you afford.
Look at me, etc.

9.  This movement is in 4 parts and begins with an instrumental round dance that is punctuated in the bass by the contra bassoon. The language of the songs in this movement are Latin and Middle German: 
i) Round Dance
ii) Swaz hie gat umbe 
Violins are strummed like lutes in this rapid song:
[Choir]
Those who go round and round
are all maidens,
they want to do without a man
all summer long. Ah! Sla!
iii) Chume, chum, geselle min 
[Small choir]
Come, come, my love,
I long for you.
Sweet rose-red lips,
come and make me better.
iv) Swaz hie gat umbe (repeat)
[Choir]
Those who go round and round
are all maidens,
they want to do without a man
all summer long. Ah! Sla!

10. Were diu werlt alle min 
[Choir]
If all the world were mine
from the sea to the Rhine,
I would do without it
if the Queen of England
would lie in my arms. Hey!

D) In Taberna - In The Tavern
11. Estuans interius 
[Baritone]
Burning inside
with violent anger,
bitterly I speak my heart:
Created from matter,
of the ashes of the elements,
I am like a leaf
played with by the winds.
If it is the way
of the wise man
to build
foundations on stone,
then I am a fool, like
a flowing stream,
which in its course
never changes.

I am carried along
like a ship without a steersman,
and in the paths of the air
like a light, hovering bird;
chains cannot hold me,
keys cannot imprison me,
I look for people like me
and join the wretches.
The heaviness of my heart
seems a burden to me;
it is pleasant to joke
and sweeter than honeycomb;
whatever Venus commands
is a sweet duty,
she never dwells
in a lazy heart.
I travel the broad path
as is the way of youth,
I give myself to vice,
unmindful of virtue,
I am eager for the pleasures of the flesh
more than for salvation,
my soul is dead,
so I shall look after the flesh.

12. Olim lacus colueram
The tenor has to reach beyond the normal range of  his voice to sing (or rather screech) the story of a swan roasting on a spit over an open fire - from the vantage point of the swan!  

[Tenor and male choir]
The roasted swan sings:
Once I lived on lakes,
once I looked beautiful
when I was a swan.

Misery me!
Now black
and roasting fiercely!

The servant is turning me on the spit;
I am burning fiercely on the pyre;
the steward now serves me up.

Misery me! etc.

Now I lie on a plate,
and cannot fly anymore,
I see bared teeth:

Misery me! etc.

Illustration from Carmina Burana manuscript

13. Ego sum abbas -  
A song about boozing, gambling and literally losing your shirt at the tavern.
[Baritone and male choir]
I am the abbot of Cockaigne
and my assembly is one of drinkers,
and I wish to be in the order of Decius,
and whoever searches me out at the
tavern in the morning,
after Vespers he will leave naked,
and thus stripped of his clothes he will call
out:
Woe! Woe!
what have you done, vilest Fate?
The joys of my life
you have taken all away!
Haha!

14. In taberna quando sumus 
The ultimate drinking song as male voices extoll the pleasures of boozing it up in Medieval times, where it appears everyone drank a lot (according to this song)
[Male choir]
When we are in the tavern,
we do not think how we will go to dust,
but we hurry to gamble,
which always makes us sweat,
What happens in the tavern,
where money is host,
you may well ask,
and hear what I say.
Some gamble, some drink,
some behave loosely.
But of those who gamble,
some are stripped bare,
some win their clothes here,
some are dressed in sacks.
Here no-one fears death,
but they throw the dice in the name of Bacchus.
First of all it is to the wine-merchant
that the libertines drink,
one for the prisoners,
three for the living,
four for all Christians,
five for the faithful dead.
six for the loose sisters,

Illustration from Carmina Burana manuscript

seven for the footpads in the wood.
Eight for the errant brethren,
nine for the dispersed monks,
ten for the seamen,
eleven for the squabblers,
twelve for the penitent,
thirteen for the wayfarers.
To the Pope as to the king
they all drink without restraint.
The mistress drinks, the master drinks,
the soldier drinks, the priest drinks,
the man drinks, the woman drinks,
the servant drinks with the maid,
the swift man drinks, the lazy man drinks,
the white man drinks, the black man drinks,
the settled man drinks, the wanderer drinks,
the stupid man drinks, the wise man drinks,
The poor man drinks, the sick man drinks,
the exile drinks, and the stranger,
the boy drinks, the old man drinks,
the bishop drinks, and the deacon,
the sister drinks, the brother drinks,
the old lady drinks, the mother drinks,
this man drinks, that man drinks,
a hundred drink, a thousand drink.
Six hundred pennies would hardly suffice, if everyone
drinks immoderately and immeasurably.
However much the cheerfully drink
we are the ones whom everyone scolds,
and thus we are destitute.
May those who slander us be cursed
and may their names not be written in the
book of the righteous.
Io, io, io!

E) Cour d'amours  - Court Of Love
15. Amor volat undique
[Soprano and boy's choir]
Cupid flies everywhere
seized by desire.
Young men and women
are rightly coupled.
The girl without a lover
misses out on all pleasures,
she keeps the dark night
hidden in the depth of her heart;
it is a most bitter fate.

16. Dies, nox et omnia
[Baritone]
Day, night, and everything
is against me,
the chattering of maidens
makes me weep,
and often sigh,
and, most of all, scares me.
O friends, you are making fun of me,
you do not know what you are saying,
spare me, sorrowful as I am,
great is my grief,
advise me at least,
by your honor.
Your beautiful face,
makes me weep a thousand times,
your heart is of ice.
As a cure,
I would be revived
by a kiss.

17. Stetit puella
[Soprano]
A girl stood
in a red tunic;
if anyone touched it,
the tunic restled.
Eia!
A girl stood
like a little rose:
her face was radiant
and her mouth in bloom.
Eia!

18. Circa mea pectora
The chorus of this song repeats the word mandeliet, and there is a bone of contention among scholars as to its exact meaning.  Without pinning a definition to the word, it is perhaps the medieval equivelent of  neener, neener, you can't have me!
[Baritone and choir]
In my heart
there are many sighs
for your beauty,
which wound me sorely. Ah!

Mandaliet,
mandaliet,
my lover
does not come.

Your eyes shine
like the rays of the sun,
like the flashing of lightening
which brightens the darkness. Ah!

Mandaliet, etc.

May God grant, may the gods grant

what I have in my mind
that I may loose
the chains of her virginity, Ah!

Mandaliet, etc.

19.  Si puer cum puellula
[Baritone, 3 tenors, 2 basses]
If a boy with a girl
tarries in a little room,
happy is their coupling.
Love rises up,
and between them
prudery is driven away,
an ineffable game begins
in their limbs, arms and lips.

20.Veni, veni, venias
[Double choir]
Come, come, O come,
do not let me die,
hyrca, hyrce, nazaza,
trillirivos!
Beautiful is your face,
the gleam of your eye,
your braided hair,
what a glorious creature!
Redder than the rose,
whiter than the lily,
lovelier than all others,
I shall always glory in you!

21. In trutina 
[Soprano]
In the wavering balance of my feelings
set against each other
lascivious love and modesty.
But I choose what I see,
and submit my neck to the yoke;
I yield to the sweet yoke.

22.Tempus est iocundum
[Soprano, baritone, boy's choir]
This is the joyful time,
O maidens,
rejoice with them,
young men!
Oh, oh, oh!
I am bursting out all over!
I am burning all over with first love!
New, new love is what I am dying of!
I am heartened
by my promise,
I am downcast
by my refusal.
Oh! oh! oh! etc.
In the winter
man is patient,
the breath of spring
makes him lust.
Oh! oh! oh! etc.
My virginity
makes me frisky,
my simplicity
holds me back.
Oh! oh! oh! etc.
Come, my mistress,
with joy,
come, come, my pretty,
I am dying!
Oh! oh! oh! etc.

23. Dulcissime
A musical depiction of a female orgasm as the soprano reaches the stratosphere of her range.[Soprano]
Sweetest one! Ah!
I give myself to you totally!

Blanziflor et Helena -
24. Ave formosissima
Tribute is paid to two women; Blanchefleur -  female heroine first heard of in a romantic tale heard across Europe in the 12th century, and Helen - the same Helen of Troy from Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world. 
[Choir]
Hail, most beautiful one,
precious jewel,
Hail, Pride among virgins,
glorious virgin,
Hail, light of the world,
Hail, rose of the world,
Blanchefleur and Helen,
noble Venus!

25.  Oh Fortuna  - 
A repeat of the beginning of the work. The wheel of Fortune has come full circle.
[Choir]
O Fortune,
Like the moon
You are changeable,
ever waxing and waning.
Hateful life, first oppresses,
and then soothes as fancy takes it;
poverty, and power it melts them like ice.

Fate - monstrous and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is in vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
To your villainy.
Fate is against me
in health and virtue,
driven on and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate strikes down the strong man,
everyone weep with me!

Schumann - Romanzen & Balladen Vol. IV, Opus 64 No. 3 'Tragödie'

Many poems of Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)  have been set to music by many German composers, most notably Schubert and Schumann, as well as composers of other nationalities. Heine's early lyrical style made his poems very attractive to composers in the 20th century also.

Robert Schumann, who was not only a gifted composer but a competent man of letters, first
set music to Heine's poetry in 1840 when Schumann composed at least 138 songs.  By that time Heine had moved away from his earlier lyric Romanticism and wrote works that reflected his radical liberal politics. After struggling to make a living writing and struggling against heavy censorship in the German states, Heine traveled to Paris in 1831 and remained there the rest of his life.

Schumann composed two well-known song cycles on Heine's poems. The first was Liederkreis that consists of 9 song settings and Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love) based on 16 poems from Heine's Lyrisches Intermezzo. Schumann set other poems of Heine's as well, notably in his 4 volumes of Romanzen & Balladen. The 4th volume, Opus 64, consists of three songs, two by Eduard Mörike and one, Tragödie by Heine. These songs were composed between 1841-1847. Schumann was well acquainted with Heine's work before 1840 and the two met in Munich in 1828 and Schumann described their meeting in a letter:

Heinrich Heine

I imagined him to be, after the sketch of Herr Krahe, a crochety, misanthropic man, who would be more likely to stand, as if too sublime, above mankind, than to huddle against it. But how different I found him and how different he was, than I had conceived him to be. He engaged me in a friendly fashion, like a humane Greek Anacreon, shook my hand cordially, and took me around Munich for several hours -- none of which I would have expected from a man that had described the Reisebilder(Travel Pictures); there lay only upon his mouth a bitter, ironic smile, but a lofty smile over the trivialities of life and a scorn for the petty person; yet that bitter satire, that one so often perceives in his Reisebilder, that deep, innermost resentment at life that penetrates to one's very marrow, made his conversation very pleasing to me.

Heine's later radical political writings may have turned Schumann against him, for the setting in Opus 64 is the last time Schumann set a Heine poem to music. Tragödie is in three sections:

I.  Rasch und mit Feuer (Quickly and with fire) -  In the key of E major, the piano reflects the passionate, confident song of the soloist as he tries to convince his love to run away with him, as his love will give her everything she needs.  In typical Romantic excess, the singer tells her if she doesn't  go with him she will regret it and have nothing.

Oh fly with me and be my love,
Rest on my heart, and never rouse;
And in strange lands my heart shall be
Thy fatherland and father's house.

 But if you stay, then I die here,
And you shall weep and wring your hands ;
And even in your father's house 
You shall be living in strange lands.

II.  Langsam (Slowly)  -  The original poem by Heine had the following heading printed with it:
A genuine folk-song; heard by Heine on the Rhine.  In direct contrast to the first section,  the story of the two lovers is told by the soloist as narrator. The over-confidence of the singer in the first section is replaced by the reality that after the two ran away together without telling even their mothers or fathers, there lives together was one of sadness and wandering and they withered and died as blossoms nipped by frost. In E minor, the piano begins the song with a sigh. The accompaniment has set the stage and continues with sparse, disconnected staccato chords that increase the starkness of the singer as they matter-of-factly relate the short, sad tale. The piano has a final, very soft sigh to end the section.

The hoar-frost fell on a night in Spring,
It fell on the young and tender blossoms . . .
And they have withered and died.

A boy and a girl were once in love ;
They fled from the house into the world
They told neither father nor mother.

They wandered here and they wandered there.
They had neither luck nor a star for guide . . .
And they have withered and died. 
 
III. Langsam - The final section is in C major and is a duet for tenor and soprano. The soloists and piano begin together as the story continues in music that reflects the words; a tree full of birds and soft breezes grows over the grave of the couple. Another couple sit under the tree, grow silent and begin to weep without knowing why. As in the second section, the matter-of-fact style of the words that tell the story creates a mood of starkness, but in this section the starkness is played off music that is gentle and like a folksong. The duet is short, the piano has a solo as it gently works its way to the end.  As the music progresses to the end a rather jarring A-flat resolves to a G and the work ends with a C major chord.

Upon their grave a tree stands now
With winds and birds in every bough ;
And in the green place under it
The miller's boy and his sweetheart sit.

The winds grow tender, soft and clinging,
And softly birds begin their singing.
The prattling sweethearts grow silent and sigh,
And fall to weeping neither knows why.

M. Haydn - Symphony No. 23 In D Major P.43 S.22 & 23, MH. 287

The name of Haydn is most often represented by Joseph Haydn, the oldest of three Haydn brothers that went on to careers in music. Of course Joseph is the most famous and prolific of the brothers, who was a friend to Mozart, teacher of Beethoven and the most famous composer in late 18th century Europe.  The youngest brother was Johann Evangelist Haydn who had a rather lackluster career as a tenor vocalist. The middle brother was Michael Haydn, a fine composer in his own right though not as prolific as his older brother.

Both brothers were members of St.Stephen's Cathedral Choir in Vienna, and with Joseph being 5 years older, Michael became a favorite boy soprano after his brother's voice broke. Michael was a more diligent student than his brother and shortly after he left the choir he became Kappelmeister at Nagyvárad and finally in 1762 at Salzburg where he remained for 43 years.  He knew the Mozarts in Salzburg and Wolfgang was an admirer of his music, while Mozart's father Leopold thought Michael Haydn drank too much, the accusation perhaps an attempt to discredit Michael's reputation for a position his son was also working towards.  Michael and Joseph remained close and the older brother also thought highly of Michael's music. Michael was also a teacher who counted among his pupils Carl von Weber and Anton Diabelli.

The younger Haydn's religious music is thought to be his best work, but he wrote in all the genre of the time, including over 43 symphonies.  Most of Haydn's symphonies are in the fast-slow-fast movement scheme, but he also wrote some with 4 movements.

Michael Haydn never compiled a catalog of his works, nor were many of them published in his lifetime. There have been three major attempts to catalog his works which has led to confusing numbering systems.  As well as being known as Symphony No. 23 In D Major, this symphony is also known as P. 43 (after musicologist Lother Perger's catalog),  S. 22 & 23 (after Charles Sherman's 1982 catalog which to add to the confusion originally numbered the work 22, and then was adjusted to number 23) and MH. 287 (another effort by Charles Sherman along with T. Donley Thomas done in 1992). Bewildering as all of that is, it must be said that the parts of this same symphony were thought to be by Mozart for many years. Ludwig von Köchel who catalogued Mozart's works in the middle of the 19th century had a manuscript of the symphony that had the first 45 measures of the 3rd movement copied out in Mozart's handwriting, so  Köchel made the assumption it was a work by Mozart and numbered it  Symphony No. 25, K.291.

Symphony No. 23 In D Major has three movements and is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons 2 horns, strings and continuo:

I. Allegro assai -  This symphony was written in 1779 in Salzburg and Haydn follows sonata in the first movement. A bright fanfare-like theme begins the movement. This theme leads directly to different sections and motives until a short secondary theme appears. A chattering motive in the violins that has already appeared rounds off the exposition. The fragment of the first theme leads off the development section and is thrown about in different keys until transitional material leads to the recapitulation. Themes go through the usual modulations and leads to a short coda that begins with the chattering violins motive and ends with a last comment on the a fragment of the first motive.

II. Andantino -  Michael Haydn's slow movements seldom were in minor keys, with this being one of them. The key is D minor but it changes to D major in the middle of the movement. The music moves at a steady pace, is seasoned with syncopation and a good blend of strings and winds in the middle section. A short dialog for winds and strings brings the movement to a close.

III. Finale: Presto ma non troppo -  It was the first 45 measures of this movement in Mozart's hand that led to the false attribution of the symphony to Mozart. The movement is fugal, and begins with a subject in 4 whole notes.  Perhaps the reason Mozart copied out the older composer's music was to study the fugal form the older composer used, for Mozart's 14th String Quartet in G Major K.387  is fugal and also begins with a subject of 4 whole notes. The fugue ripples through the orchestra with episodes between the reappearance of the subject in a kind of fugal rondo. A final appearance of the subject brings this well-crafted and tuneful symphony to a close.

Schubert - Schwanengesang D.957

The art of German song began in the Medieval era with the songs of the traveling troubadours of the 12th century and included folk songs and religious hymns. The art song, what is known in German as Lied,  began in earnest when German writers of the 18th and 19th centuries began writing poetry that embraced Classicism and Romanticism. Composers such as Mozart and Beethoven in Germany and Austria set these new styled poems to music, with the acknowledged master of the art form being Schubert.

Franz Schubert composed over 600 Lieder in his short life from 1797-1828.  Schubert not only was one of the great melodists of all time; he created a symbiosis with the solo voice and the piano, the instrument most associated with German Lieder. The piano reflects, imitates, enhances and sometimes contrasts the voice instead of merely accompanying it. Schubert's creativity and imagination influenced most of the German song composers that came after him, as well as composers in other countries.  

In 1828, Schubert was afflicted with what turned out to be a fatal illness.  The illness that took his life isn't known for certain with theories ranging from tertiary stage syphilis to typhoid fever.  He continued to compose and between fever, nausea, crippling headaches and joint pain wrote some of his most well-known works in the last months of his life.  One of these final works was a set of Lieder that was published a few months after Schubert's death in a collection titled Schwanengesang by the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger.  The title was taken from the Greek legend that states that swans sing a beautiful song just before they die.  The collection has been called a song cycle,  but Schubert used 14 poems by 3 different poets whereas most song cycles are written to poems by one poet that have a common theme between them.

Many thanks to Celia Sgroi for allowing free use of her excellent translations of all 14 of the German poems. The first 7 songs are to poems by Ludwig Rellstab, German poet and critic. The poems were originally offered in 1825 to Beethoven, but were passed on to Schubert after Beethoven's death in 1827:

1. Liebesbotschaft (Message Of Love) - The singer invites a stream to carry a note to his lover. Schubert begins the song with the solo piano in music that imitates a rippling stream, an ear-visual that Schubert used many times in his songs:

The piano continues the stream illusion throughout.

Rushing brook,
So pretty and clear,
Will you hurry to my sweetheart
So cheerful and quick?
Ah, dear little brook,
Be my messenger;
Bring greetings
To her from afar.

All of her flowers,
Tended in the garden,
That she wears so sweetly
On her breast,
And her roses,
In crimson radiance,
Brook, refresh them
With your cooling stream.

When on the stream bank,
lost in dreams
 thinking of me,
she bows her head,
comfort my dearest
with your friendly glance,
for her beloved is
coming back soon.

When the sun is setting
With its red glow,
lull my beloved off to sleep.
Murmuring, rock her
To her sweet rest,
And whisper dreams
Of love to her.

2. Kriegers Ahnung (Soldier's Foreboding) - A soldier sings about how much he misses his beloved while he is afield with his fellow soldiers:

Around me in deep silence
Lie my soldier comrades;
My heart is so anxious and heavy,
So aflame with longing.

How often have I dreamed sweetly
On her warm breast!
How friendly was the stove’s warmth
When she lay in my arms!

Here, where the brooding glow of flames,
Alas, only shines on weapons,
Here my heart feels totally alone,
And tears of sadness flow.

Heart! Don’t let solace abandon you!
Many a battle is ahead.
Soon I’ll rest and sleep soundly,
My beloved—good night!

3. Frühlingssehnsucht (Longing In Spring) -  Springtime with all its beauty surrounds the singer but loneliness and longing for his beloved cause sadness among the flowers:

Murmuring breezes flutter so gently
Fill me sighing with the scent of flowers!
How you greet me with a blissful sigh!
What have you done to my pounding heart?
It wants to follow your airy trail!
Where to?

Brooks, so cheerfully bubbling as well,
Flow sparkling silver down to the glen.
The billowing wave hastens downhill!
The meadows and sky are reflected deep within.
Why do you draw me, urgent, yearning feeling,
Down there?

Sparkling gold of the greeting sun,
You bring me hopeful bliss so sweet!
How your joyfully greeting image refreshes me.
It smiles so gently in the dark blue sky
And has filled my eye with tears!
Why?

The forests and hills are wreathed in green,
A snowfall of blossoms sparkles and gleams.
Everything surges to the nuptial light;
The seeds are burgeoning, the buds are opening,
They’ve found what they need to blossom:
And you?

Restless longing, yearning heart,
Nothing but tears, complaints, and pain?
I too am aware of a growing urge!
Who’ll finally quiet my urgent desire?
Only you can release the spring in my soul,
Only you!

4. Ständchen (Serenade) -  The singer urges a lover for a tryst at the grove of trees in the valley. One of Schubert's most recognizable melodies, this song shifts between minor and major keys to convey the singer's longing:

Ludwig Rellstab

Softly my songs implore
You through the night;
Down into the quiet grove,
Beloved, come to me!

Slender treetops rustle, murmur
In the moon’s radiance;
Don’t fear the hidden listener’s
malice, my dearest.

Do you hear the nightingales singing?
Ah, they appeal to you,
With their sweet plaintive tones
They’re pleading for me.

They understand the heart’s yearning,
They know the pain of love,
Touch with their silvery tones
Every feeling heart.

Let them move you, too,
My darling, listen to me!
Trembling, I await you!
Come, dearest, enrapture me.

5. Aufenthalt (Resting Place) -  A song that conveys emotional pain and anguish that is as powerful and never ending as waves of the sea, wind in the treetops and the core of a mountain. The piano sets the tension in the beginning of the song as it plays constant triplet chords in the right hand against a melody in the left hand that contains eighth notes that create a compound rhythm of 2 versus 3:

Thundering torrent,
Roaring forest,
Stony crag,
My resting place.

Just as the waves roll
One after one,
My tears are flowing
Eternally new.

As high in the treetops
It billows and seethes,
Just as unceasingly
Beats my heart.

And like the mountain’s
Ancient core,
Ever the same
Remains my pain.

6. In der Ferne (In The Distance) -  A broken-hearted lover flees their friends, mother's house, and home town to wander the world to escape the one that broke their heart.  Heavy, mournful chords accompany the sorrow of the singer.

Woe to the fugitive,
Fleeing the world!
Roaming foreign places,
Forgetting his homeland,
Hating his mother’s house,
Leaving his friends
Alas, no blessing follows
Along their ways.

Heart that is yearning,
Eye that is weeping
Longing that never ends,
Turning toward home.
Breast that is stirring,
Lament that is fading,
Evening star twinkling,
Hopelessly sinking!

Breezes, you rippling,
Waves gently ruffling,
Sunbeam hastening
Nowhere remaining:
She who with agony
Broke my loyal heart—
Greetings from the fugitive,
Fleeing the world!

7. Abschied (Farewell) -  This song is also about leaving, but this one is in contrast to the previous one. The departing singer bids a fond farewell to a town that they have enjoyed. The reason why they must depart isn't known, only that it is time to go. The singer welcomes his companions, the sun during the day and the stars at night. The piano imitates the singer's trotting horse as he leaves without looking back:

Goodbye! You jolly, you cheerful town, goodbye!
My horse paws the ground now with light-hearted hoof,
Now receive my final, my parting salute
You’ve never seen me downcast before,
And it can’t happen now at my farewell.

Goodbye, you trees, you gardens so green, goodbye!
Now I’m riding along the silvery stream,
My farewell song echoes far and wide,
You never heard a sorrowful song from me,
And you won’t hear one now at my departure.

Goodbye, you friendly lasses there, goodbye!
Why do you look out of your flower-perfumed house
With such a flirtatious and alluring glance?
As always I greet you and look around
But I never turn my horse back.

Goodbye, dear sun, now go to your rest, goodbye!
Now the gold of the twinkling stars shimmers.
How much do I love you stars in the sky;
We travel the world both far and wide,
And everywhere you are my loyal guide.

Goodbye, you shimmering bright window, goodbye!
You sparkle so homelike in the twilight glow
And invite us so trustfully into your cottage.
Alas, I’ve ridden by here so many times,
And is today to be the final time?

Goodbye, you stars, hide yourself in grayness, goodbye!
The dark, fading light of the window
Can’t be replaced by you countless stars,
I can’t linger here, I have to go on,
What matter if you follow me so faithfully!

The next 6 songs are by Heinrich Heine, one of the giants of German literature. Heine got into trouble with the authorities in Germany for his radical politics and spent the last  25 years of his life in Paris. The six poems of Heine are shorter and more intense than the previous seven.

8. Der Atlas (Atlas) -  In heavy, agitated music, the singer agonizes about the crushing emotional pain he carries that is as heavy as the burden of the entire world that the Titan Atlas carries on his back.

I, wretched Atlas, a world
The whole world of pain I must carry,
I bear the unbearable, and my heart
Is breaking in my body.

You proud heart, you wanted it so!
You wanted to be happy, eternally happy,
Or eternally miserable, proud heart,
And now you are in misery.

9. Ihr Bild (Her Portrait) -  Another song about lost love, this time the singer looks at a mental image of his lost beloved. The piano plays the singer's melody in the beginning that reflects the imagined image of the beloved:

After the singer imagines his beloved, the reality that he has lost her is enforced by the starkness of the piano's ending cadence.


I stood in dark dreams
And stared at her image,
And the beloved visage
Quietly came to life.

Upon her lips appeared
A smile so wonderful,
And as if from tears of sadness
Her eyes sparkled.

And my tears flowed as well
Down from my cheeks—
And oh, I just can’t believe,
That I have lost you!

Heinrich Heine

10. Das Fischermädchen (The Fisher Girl) -  The singer tries to coax a girl to romance and in an attempt to get her to trust him compares his heart to the ocean that has many treasures inside. The piano has a gentle rocking rhythm throughout that imitates the sea lapping at the shore.

You lovely fisher girl,
Row your boat to shore;
Come to me and sit down,
We’ll cuddle hand in hand.

Lay your head on my breast
And don’t be so afraid;
You trust yourself without care
Daily to the untamed sea.

My heart is like the ocean,
Has storm and ebb and flood,
And many a lovely pearl
Rests in its depths.

11. Die Stadt (The Town) - A man rows a boat towards a town. When he sees the spires of the town emerge in the distant fog he laments the place where he lost his lover. Schubert instructs the pianist to use the damper pedal to blur the tremolos in the left hand in imitation of the fog. When the right hand enters it plays a nine-note figure that represents the spires of the town seen through the fog:

On the distant horizon
Appears like a cloud-image
The town with its spires
Shrouded in the gloom of evening.

A damp breeze ruffles
The green surface of the water;
In a mournful rhythm rows
The boatman in my craft.

The sun rises once again
Glowing above the earth
And shows me that spot
Where I lost my beloved.

12. Am Meer (At The Seashore) -  A song about a meeting in a hut at the seashore, and in typical Romantic era excess, tears were shed (and drank by the lover). But all is not well as the singer laments that the woman has poisoned him with her tears. There are two emotional sections in the song when the piano begins tremolos in both hands that reach a crescendo. Where in a previous song about the ocean the water laps the shore almost playfully, here the waves lugubriously thud against the shore, underlining the dilemma of the singer.

The sea sparkled far and wide
In the last glow of evening;
We sat at the lonely fisherman’s hut,
We sat silent and alone.

The fog rose, the water surged.
The gull flew back and forth;
From your lovely eyes
The tears dropped.

I saw them fall upon your hand
And fell on my knees;
And from your white hand
I drank away the tears.

Since that time my body pines
My soul is dying with yearning;
The wretched woman
Poisoned me with her tears.

13. Der Doppelgänger (The Ghostly Double) - The singer looks at a house where his lover used to live. He sees another man standing by the house in anguish, and then he realizes that the other man is actually his ghostly double that is going through the same sorrow he did long ago. One of Schubert's most eerie songs, the piano begins with a four bar section that is repeated, giving the impression of a passacaglia. But the bass changes with the ostinato returning but in a different key. The dynamic range for the piano goes from pianissimo to triple forte, which gives the soloist tremendous crescendos that tax the singer's capacity as the  Doppelgänger is recognized.  The major chord that ends the song does not ease the tension much.

The night is quiet, the streets are silent,
My beloved lived in this house;
She left the town a long time ago,
But the house still stands in the same place.

A man stands there, too, and stares upward
And wrings his hands with the force of his pain;
I’m horrified when I see his face—
The moon shows me my own likeness.

You ghostly double, you pallid fellow!
Why do you ape my lovesickness,
That tormented me here
So many nights long ago?

The final poem was written by Johann Gabriel Seidl, an Austrian scientist and poet. The poem was included by the first publisher because it was thought to be the last song Schubert wrote.

14. Die Taubenpost (The Courier Pigeon) -  Schubert didn't always write music to poems of the masters. Schubert's gift for melody and song construction was so great that he could set most anything to music if he set his mind to it. This song is about someone who compares his longing to a courier pigeon.

I have a courier pigeon in my employ,
It’s very devoted and true.

Johann Gabriel Seidl

It never stops short of my goal
And never flies too far.

I send it out many thousand times
With messages every day,
Away past many a pretty place,
Right to my dearest’s house.

It peeks through the window secretly there
And watches for her step and glance,
Gives her my greetings playfully
And brings hers back to me.

I don’t need to write notes anymore
I send my tears with it instead,
I’m sure they will never go astray,
It serves me so eagerly.

By night, by day, awake, in dreams,
It’s all the same to it,
If it can only rove and roam,
That is repayment enough.

It never tires, it never flags,
The way is ever new,
It needs no lure, it needs no pay,
The dove is so loyal to me!

And so I keep it close to my heart
Assured of the sweetest reward;
Its name is—longing! Do you know it?
Enduring love’s messenger.

Bach - Cantata For Bass 'Ich Habe Genug' BWV 82

Johann Sebastian Bach spent the last 27 years of his life in the employ of the church as Cantor and Music Director of the Thomasschule and the churches of Leipzig, a position he was appointed to in 1723.   He was responsible for teaching music to students and for music used in church services.  Music was a very important part of Lutheran Church services and Bach usually used  his own compositions for  Sunday services as well as special church holidays. Most of the cantatas he used for church services were composed in the first three years he was in Leipzig, and he arranged them in yearly cycles. Each cantata was integrated into the service by the use of scripture that was relevant to the church calender as well as the content of the sermon. Musicologists have determined that Bach wrote over 300 cantatas during his life, and that about 100 of them are lost.

Ich Habe Genug (I Have Enough) was first performed on February 2, 1727 for the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (also known as Candlemas).  The text of the cantata is not from the Bible, nor do musicologists know who wrote it, but it is based on the Song of Simeon also known in Latin as Nunc Dimittis. 

Bach used the cantata three more times over the years, changing the vocalist and/or instrumentation each time. The original version is scored for Bass soloist, oboe, strings and continuo. The cantata consists of five parts:

Part One  -  The Bible story in Chapter 2 Of Luke relates that Simeon was a devout Jew who was at the Temple when Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to be consecrated as the firstborn son. Simeon had been promised by God that he would not die until he saw the Saviour. Simeon took the infant in his arms and the text of the aria reflects the story.  The music is in C minor, with the oboe beginning a melody that is soon taken up by the Bass. The oboe gently weaves in and out of the music as it takes the lead one moment, then takes up a contrapuntal accompaniment to the Bass. The key signature of C minor in this case  gives the music more the mood of resignation than sorrow.
Aria: Ich habe genug
I have enough, I have taken the Savior,
the hope of the righteous, into my eager arms;
I have enough! I have beheld Him,
my faith has pressed Jesus to my heart;
now I wish, even today with
joy to depart from here. 

Part Two - The music shifts to major mode in the opening of the recitative. The theme of resignation and desire for death continue in this section in preparation for the next aria.
Recitative: Ich habe genug
I have enough.
My comfort is this alone,
that Jesus might be mine
and I His own. In faith I hold Him,
there I see, along with Simeon,
already the joy of the other life.
Let us go with this man!
Ah! if only the Lord might rescue me
from the chains of my body;
Ah! were only my departure here,
with joy I would say, world, to you:
I have enough. 

Part Three - Cast in the key of E-flat major, the aria is a lullaby that changes the tone of resignation for death to one of joy in longing for the peace of death.
Aria: Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
Fall asleep, you weary eyes,
close softly and pleasantly!
World, I will not remain here any longer,
I own no part of you that
could matter to my soul.
Here I must build up misery, but there,
there I will see sweet peace, quiet rest.

Part Four -   An impatient voice wonders when the 'now' of death is to come. The music ends in the minor mode in preparation for the final aria.
Recitative: Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das schöne: Nun! 
My God! When is the lovely now of death to come,
when I will journey into peace
and into the cool soil of earth,
and there, near You, rest in Your lap?
My farewells are made, world, good night!

Part Five -  The final aria returns the key to C minor. The oboe returns but more as an addition to the violins instead of a separate voice. Bach uses melisma, the singing of the same syllable over a range of notes to perhaps lend some 'life' to a cantata that deals with death, although the text continues to express the longing for the pleasant sleep of death.
Aria: Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod
I delight in my death,
ah, if it were only present already!
Then I will emerge from all the
suffering that still binds me to the world.

It may seem odd that a work that deals with the joys of death can be one of Bach's most familiar and popular cantatas. The text of course is an important part of any cantata, including this one. But in this case the quality and depth of feeling of the music has more to do with the works popularity than its text.