Classical Music | Tenor

Recorded on 12/31/1969, uploaded on 06/07/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

While harmonic resolution follows with the first chord of the succeeding song, “Aus meinen Thränen spriessen” (“From my tears sprout forth”), the listener is still left to wonder if the poet’s love will be returned. Blooming flowers sprout from his tears and the song of the nightingale from the sighs of his heart, which he offers humbly to his beloved. In a scant seventeen measures, Schumann eloquently captures Heine’s text, and the A major music of the song radiates the innocent devotion of the poet. Beneath the restrained vocal melody, the piano presents a simple motif that descends through the tones of the scale, followed by a heartfelt sigh and a brief, sprightly descending third that calls to mind the sounds of birds. This latter motif also closes each of the song’s four phrases, concluding the vocal melody’s unresolved cadence.   Joseph DuBose

Recorded live on August 19th of 1965 at the Salzburg Festival.

courtesy of YouTube