Classical Music | Contralto

Recorded on 12/31/1969, uploaded on 04/05/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

... Believing herself bewitched by some dream (“ein Traum mich berückt”), the woman, in the third song, is unable to believe that the man she has so distantly admired has chosen her among all others. She fears to wake from the dream at any moment, and hopes to die with such bliss, cradled upon his chest (“O laß im Traume mich sterben / gewieget an seiner Brust”). A simple, chordal accompaniment underpins the anxious vocal melody throughout the song. At first, in the key of C minor, the chords are staccato and the music is agitated. In the second stanza, where she believes that he has pledged himself eternally to her (“Ich bin auf ewig dein”), the key changes to the relative major, and Schumann achieves a remarkable dream-like state by the effortless change to legato chords and the introduction of augmented fifth and sixth harmonies. Schumann reprises the first stanza to give the song a ternary design. A further repetition of the first two lines, interwoven within the piano’s postlude brings about a final modulation into C major as the song ends.    Joseph DuBose

recorded in 1950

courtesy of YouTube