Mercoledi Musicale

In 1948 the 84 year old Richard Strauss read the poem Im Abendrot (At Sunset) by Joseph von Eichendorff and in May of that year set it to music.  Shortly after he was given the complete poems of Hermann Hesse and set three of the poet's works: Frühling (Spring), September, and Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep). With the exception of Frühling the poems deal with death perhaps something the composer was giving much thought to as his own life was drawing to a close.  But his settings were not those of the past: this was no heroic or romantic death but a philosophical sense of calm and acceptance - death as a natural end.

There is no indication that Strauss ever intended these songs to be cycle and he did not hear them performed in his lifetime - he was to die in September 1949.   Ernst Roth, his chief editor at Boosey & Hawkes who compiled them as a song cycle, gave them their title Vier Letzte Lider (The Four Last Songs) and arranged for their premiere in May 1950.  The great Kirsten Flagstad accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler sang them at the Royal Albert Hall.

There have been many performances and recordings of them since - probably as many as there are sopranos - and each has its champions.  My own favourite has always been a live 1951 recording from Stockholm of Sena Jurinac with Fritz Busch conducting the Stockholm Symphony - one of the first recordings ever made of the cycle.  It has its faults - the Stockholm musicians are not in the same league as many of the other orchestras that have recorded it.

Though the entire group has always touched me emotionally Im Abendrot has the ability - along with the remarkable violin passage in Frühling - to move me to tears.  I believe the late Margaret Price only made one commercial recording but fortunately her 1981 performance with the late Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony was recorded.  The combination of these two remarkable and much loved artists with an orchestra at the top of its form make the tears flow. 

Im Abendrot Wir sind durch Not und Freude gegangen Hand in Hand; vom Wandern ruhen wir nun überm stillen Land. Rings sich die Täler neigen, es dunkelt schon die Luft. Zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen nachträumend in den Duft. Tritt her und laß sie schwirren, bald ist es Schlafenszeit. Daß wir uns nicht verirren in dieser Einsamkeit. O weiter, stiller Friede! So tief im Abendrot. Wie sind wir wandermüde-- Ist dies etwa der Tod?

At Sunset We have through sorrow and joy gone hand in hand; From our wanderings, let's now rest in this quiet land. Around us, the valleys bow as the sun goes down. Two larks soar upwards dreamily into the light air. Come close, and let them fly. Soon it will be time for sleep. Let's not lose our way in this solitude. O vast, tranquil peace, so deep in the evening's glow! How weary we are of wandering--- Is this perhaps death?

Joseph von

Eichendorff (1788-1857)

January 29 -1886: Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

Happy Belated Birthday Quinquin

Or perhaps I should say belated greetings to, to give him his full name, Octavian Maria Ehrenreich Bonaventura Fernand Hyacinth Rofrano. January 26th was the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of the young Count at the front door of the Von Fanninal residence bearing a silver rose for young Sophie and autumnal heartbreak for Princess Marie Thérèse von Werdenberg.

Throughout the week in Salzburg and Vienna we had heard Mozart, Berg, Haydn, Shostakovitch, Handel, Schubert and J.C. Bach but not a note of Strauss. As compensation we saluted the composer and Der Rosenkavalier, perhaps his most famous work, by stopping last Sunday at a small but beautifully curated exhibition at the Austrian National Library.

It was mounted among the towering book shelves in the baroque splendour of the State Hall (click here for a virtual view of this splendid room) - the great central room built in the 1720s for Emperor Charles VI by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach to plans drawn up by his father Joseph Emanuel. As the opera takes place the 1740s, the early years of the reign of Charles' daughter Marie Thérèse, the venue was highly appropriate.

The room serves as the repository for over 200,000 books dating from 1501 to 1850 and includes display cases that change regularly of many of the great early treasure of incunabula, manuscripts and illuminations in the Library collection. The most fascinating, for me at least, was a Book of Hours written in silver ink on velum that had been stained black. It is one of only four known to exist and was more awesome in reality than these examples would indicated.

Arranged around the statue of founder Charles VI the Rosenkavalier exhibition showcased Strauss's original score, Von Hofmannsthal's manuscript with Strauss' musical notations, photos, letters and documents from its premiere and the composer's life in Vienna. And included a wonderful life-size display of Alfred Roller's costume designs for that first performance, rotating mirrors reflecting both the designs and the relationships in the opera.

For the video in HD *just left click here to go to YouTube.

For such a old fellow I must admit that QuinQuin is looking and sounding pretty youthful and is still able to break hearts. As the Marschallin so rightly muses: Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding - Time, it is a strange thing!

*And as I've just realized if you want to read the commentary!!!!

04 febbraio - San Giovanniccio

Autumnal Music

Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier is included in this year's programme at the Opera. I've been told that it really is a masterpiece but try as I might I just can't get it. I think it was Andrew Porter who said "Its like mounds of cloying sweet whipped cream with four or five perfect strawberries hidden within," or something to that effect. I guess I'm not willing to dig through three hours of whipped cream for those perfect ripe red berries. Though for reasons best known to my subconscious all day I've been humming the most perfect berry of the lot: the Final Trio.

A bit of the plot for those of you who aren't familiar: The Marschallin, a married woman in her 30s, is having a passionate affair with the 19 year old Count Octavian (sang by a woman.) She loves him deeply but knows that the situation, though romantic, is impossible. On a lark she sends him as the Cavalier of the Rose (Rosenkavalier) to Sophie, a young lady who is betrothed to her cousin, Baron Ochs. The inevitable happens, Octavian and Sophie fall in love at first sight, promises of undying love made earlier are forgotten. After much ado the three are in the same room - the young lover, his new love and his old love. The Marschallin gently remonstrates with Octavian, affectionately teasing him, but at the same time wisely letting go - treasuring in her heart what was between them and wanting for him, because she cares for him so deeply, only happiness. Sounds sort of like a Harlequin romance but Hofmannsthal's lyrics and Strauss music transcend all that.



And in this performance by Marilyn Horne (who should have sung this on stage but didn't,) Frederica Von Stade and Reri Grist all the heartbreak, tenderness and love come pouring out.

05 gennaio - San Edouardo