Classical Music | Soprano

Recorded on 04/17/2013, uploaded on 09/18/2013

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

When Richard Strauss married the operatic soprano Pauline de Ahna on March 10, 1894, it seemed a rather unlikely match. De Ahna had garnered a reputation for being a hot-tempered and bossy singer, and by all measures unsuited for Strauss’s rather calm and self-composed personality. However, the marriage was a happy one, and de Ahna was the inspiration for many of Strauss’s compositions. One such composition was the 4 Lieder, op. 27, which Strauss dedicated to de Ahna, and presented to her on their wedding day. She often performed them when her husband toured as a guest conductor.

Closing the set is Morgen, a setting of a poem by John Henry Mackay, a German poet of Scottish descent. A noted and particularly outspoken socialist, Mackay’s poetry seems an unusual choice for the rather “bourgeois” composer. Nonetheless, Strauss turned it to his own purpose, and Morgen has since become on his most cherished songs. Never reaching above a piano dynamic, Strauss’s setting opens with an entrancing melody in G major, accompanied by simple arpeggios beneath. As the affectionate, soaring melody slowly descends towards its final cadence, the voice enters with a melody of its own, prompting the piano to take flight once again with a repetition of its amorous tune. At the start of the final two lines of text, Strauss deceptively brings the melody to a close on a major ninth chord, while the stillness of Mackay’s final lyrics is expressed in the slowly ascending vocal melody and the sustained chords of the piano. Lastly, a brief reprise of the opening notes of the piano’s melody brings the song to a serene close. Strauss later orchestrated Morgen, along with Cäcilie, in 1897. For muted strings, solo violin, harp, and three horns, the orchestral version is a marvelous gem, at once demonstrating Strauss’s abilities as a master of the orchestra and the German Lied.        Joseph DuBose

Morgen! (‘Morning!’)
And tomorrow the sun will again shine,
and on the path where I am going to go, is us-
the lucky ones, reunited upon this sun-breathing Earth.
And to the wide, blue-waved beach, we will quietly and slowly descend.
Silent, we will look into each other’s eyes
and on us falls the muted silence of happiness.

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.