Classical Music | Soprano

Recorded on 07/31/2011, uploaded on 09/24/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

When Franz Schubert became enraptured with the poems of the eighth book of West-östlicher Divan (“West-East Anthology”), he was quite possibly unaware of the poems’ true author or the romantic event that was their genesis. Though published under Goethe’s name, their true author was actually a woman by the name of Marianne von Willemer. In late September 1815, Goethe met von Willemer in Heidelberg for a three-day visit—it was to be the last time the lovers would ever see each other. Von Willemer wrote the series of poems during her journey, two of which would eventually become Schubert’s Suleika I & II. With her permission, Goethe revised the poems and published them as part of his anthology.

Though it has never achieved the beloved status of its companion, Suleika II (“Ach um deine feuchten Schwingen”) is nonetheless an enchanting song and its lyrics no less passionate. While in the first song, Suleika listens for tidings of her lover carried to her by the east wind, she now departs her lover and implores the west wind to carry the bittersweet sorrows of her departure back to him. As von Willemer was also optimistic of seeing Goethe again, so Suleika is also, and Schubert’s settings rings throughout in a cheerful and glowing B-flat major. The five stanzas of the poem are organized into two slightly contrasting sections. Stanzas one through three are set in a small ternary design in duple meter, accompanied by an energetic octave figure. The second stanza in this section diverges into the dominant key and adds a subtle touch of anxiety with the throbbing syncopated figure in the left hand. The latter portion of the song, which comprises the last two stanzas, shifts into a triple meter and a slightly faster tempo prompted by Suleika’s exclamation of “Hurry!”       Joseph DuBose

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.