Favorite Lieder (3): Robert Schumann "Schoene Fremde"

Dreamer (Ruins of the Oybin) by Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1835 (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia)

My favorite song cycle is Robert Schumann's Liederkreis, op. 39 (1840). Liederkreis means "garland of songs," or a song collection. In this case, all the songs are settings of poems by the great Romantic poet Joseph von Eichendorff, and they form a kind of loose narrative of a wanderer's love and longing for his beloved and his homeland. The connections are of theme and mood, not strict storytelling. This collection of songs was written in 1840, during Schumann's "year of song," when he finally married his beloved Clara.

The op.39 Liederkreis is full of allusions to ancient times and ancient ruins, so it goes well with the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). Friedrich painted many scenes in which classical, Germanic, or Christian ruins are the subject or the evocative background. The Dreamer (left) is a good example. "Schoene Fremde" is half dream, half vision, and the word trunken (literally "drunkenly") expresses the poet's rapture, which is wonderfully reflected in Schumann's music.

See and hear a very young Bryn Terfel sing "Schoene Fremde" with Malcolm Martineau at the piano.

Schöne Fremde* (Robert Schumann, 1810-1856)

Es rauschen die Wipfel und schauern,
Als machten zu dieser Stund
Um die halbversunkenen Mauern
Die alten Götter die Rund.

Hier hinter den Myrtenbäumen
In heimlich dämmernder Pracht,
Was sprichst du wirr wie in Träumen
Zu mir, phantastische Nacht?

Es funkeln auf mich alle Sterne
Mit glühendem Liebesblick,
Es redet trunken die Ferne
Wie vom künftigem, großem Glück.

[Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)]

*German text with thanks to Emily Ezust from http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=5276.


In a Lovely Distant Land

The treetops sigh and tremble,
As if at this hour
The ancient gods circled
Around the half-buried walls.

Here amid the myrtle trees
In mysterious twilight splendor,
Why do you speak cryptically
as in a dream, wondrous night?

All the stars blaze at me
With the burning gaze of love,
Distant places speak ecstatically
Of great happiness to come.

Translation (c) 2008 by Celia Sgroi

Favorite Lieder (2): Franz Schubert's "Im Frühling"

This lovely song by Franz Schubert was written in 1826 and published in 1828 (D 882).

If I had to choose my favorite Schubert song, this would most likely be it. There are so many beautiful songs by Schubert, but the text and music of Im Frühling have made a deep impression on me since I was a teenager.

The mood of the song is somewhat ambiguous. It is not a happy song, nor is it a sad song. The song embodies the emotion of Sehnsucht, which is the German word for longing, a key emotion of romanticism. The singer recalls a beautiful springtime experience and would like to have it back. The final stanza is not hopeful, but there is a kind of wistfulness and a bittersweet pleasure in the memory.

The music starts out simple and innocent, as the singer describes his springtime love encounter, then, at the end of the second stanza, the piano flows into a rippling, ecstatic interlude that then becomes the background for the singer's next two stanzas. There is a major change in music in mood with the fifth stanza, which recalls the changes wrought by time and conflict, then the rippling melody returns for the final stanza, a little damped down but as gentle and sweet as the memory. Some singers try to give the song a "happy ending" by raising their volume on the repetition of "Den ganzen Sommer lang," the final line of the singer's text. This does not correspond to the mood of the song. Just watch Fischer-Dieskau's facial expression and notice the little breath pause between "Und säng ein süsses Lied von ihr" and "Den ganzen Sommer lang." He knows it isn't going to happen, but the memory is beautiful.

You can see and hear baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Gerald Moore perform Im Frühling here.

Im Frühling

Still sitz' ich an des Hügels Hang,
Der Himmel ist so klar,
Das Lüftchen spielt im grünen Tal.
Wo ich beim ersten Frühlingsstrahl
Einst, ach so glücklich war.

Wo ich an ihrer Seite ging

So traulich und so nah,

Und tief im dunklen Felsenquell

Den schönen Himmel blau und hell

Und sie im Himmel sah.

Sieh, wie der bunte Frühling schon

Aus Knosp' und Blüte blickt!

Nicht alle Blüten sind mir gleich,

Am liebsten pflückt ich von dem Zweig,

Von welchem sie gepflückt!

Denn alles ist wie damals noch,

Die Blumen, das Gefild;

Die Sonne scheint nicht minder hell,

Nicht minder freundlich schwimmt im Quell

Das blaue Himmelsbild.

Es wandeln nur sich Will und Wahn,

Es wechseln Lust und Streit,

Vorüber flieht der Liebe Glück,

Und nur die Liebe bleibt zurück,

Die Lieb und ach, das Leid.

O wär ich doch ein Vöglein nur

Dort an dem Wiesenhang

Dann blieb ich auf den Zweigen hier,

Und säng ein süßes Lied von ihr,

Den ganzen Sommer lang.

(Ernst Konrad Friedrich Schulze [1789-1817])

German text with thanks from Emily Ezust's Lied and Art Songs Texts Page.

In the Springtime

I sit quietly on the hillside,
The sky is so clear,
A little breeze stirs in the green valley,
Where, once by the first ray of spring,
I was, alas, so happy.

Where I walked at her side
So intimate and so close,
And deep in the dark rocky pool
I saw the lovely sky so blue and bright
And saw her in the sky.

Look how the many-colored spring already
Peeps out of every bud and blossom!
Not every blossom is the same to me,
I want to pick from the twig
From which she picked!

For everything is the way it was then,
The flowers, the meadows;
The sun doesn’t shine any less brightly,
No less pleasantly swims in the pool
The blue reflection of the sky.

Only will and illusion shift,
Desire and conflict change,
The happiness of love goes away
And only love remains,
Love and, alas, the pain.

Oh, if I were only a little bird
There on the meadow slope,
Then I’d stay here in the branches
And sing a sweet song of her
The whole summer long.

(English translation © 2008 by Celia A. Sgroi)

Favorite Lieder (1): Hugo Wolf's "In der Frühe"

It has been said that art is concentrated and intensified experience. That is certainly the case in Hugo Wolf's song "In der Frühe."

There is a well-known proverb that says it is always darkest before the dawn. That is the theme of Eduard Mörike's poem "In der Frühe" (In the Early Morning). This poem was set to music in 1888 by Austrian composer Hugo Wolf.

The song starts in a dark, oppressive mode, with slightly discordant chords. Then there is a transition with the second stanza. One can almost feel the sun rising as the piano lightens and the voice begins to soar. At the end, you can hear the peal of the morning bells in the background.

Below is the German text of the song, followed by my English translation.

In der Frühe

Kein Schlaf noch kühlt das Auge mir,
Dort gehet schon der Tag herfür
An meinem Kammerfenster.
Es wühlet mein verstörter Sinn
Noch zwischen Zweifeln her und hin
Und schaffet Nachtgespenster.

Ängste, quäle
dich nicht länger, meine Seele!
Freu' dich! Schon sind da und dorten
Morgenglocken wach geworden.

(Eduard Mörike, 1804-1875)


In the Early Morning

No sleep yet soothes my burning eyes.
Day is already breaking
outside my bedroom window.
My anxious thoughts still
probe among my doubts
and create night monsters.

Fear not. Torment
yourself no longer,
my soul!
Be happy.
Already, here and there,
morning bells are stirring.

(English translation 2008 by Celia A. Sgroi)


You can hear this song sung by the great soprano Lotte Lehmann. Scroll down the "Featured Recordings" page to "Selected Songs/Lieder" and click on number 31.