O hauche sie ihm ein!

Es fliegt dir weinend, bange schlagend zu -

O hülle du es ein!

Wie wenn ein Strahl durch schwere Wolken bricht,

So winkest du ihm zu:
O lächle fort mit deinem milden Licht!
Mein Pol, mein Stern bist du!

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--A passionate introduction presents the main descending four-note
figure
that permeates the song (a skip, then two steps). It is first heard in broken
sixths
in the right hand while the left moves in nearly the opposite direction. There
follows
a reiteration of the last two pairs of notes, then an inversion of them set an
octave
higher (moving upward to an expectant chord). There are strong accents
(sforzandi).

0:10 [m. 5]--Stanza 1. The first line begins with the descending four-note figure,
then widely arches back upward. The voice begins alone. The piano imitates the
vocal melody at twice the speed in the middle range. When the bass comes in, it
is also imitating the melody at different pitches (a sixth below). The line seems
to move to the related G major, but the more urgent second line, which moves upward
in longer notes, confirms the key of E minor. A descending piano arpeggio follows.

0:21 [m. 12]--The piano again has the four-note figure, this time in the middle
range
and both on and after the beats a third apart. The voice enters on the third line
with an inversion of the four-note figure (moving up one skip and two steps).
Against
this inversion, the piano plays both the upward and the downward versions, in that
order, at twice the speed. As the vocal line continues to strive upward, the bass
again has the four-note figure in its original direction and speed. The music
moves
more clearly to G major. The last line is set in that key, becoming joyous in both
voice and piano. The line is repeated in longer notes.
0:35 [m. 21]--An interlude arrives with the vocal cadence in G major. It sets up
chains of broken sixths using the descending four-note figure as the music moves
back to E minor. Two statements, the second a step higher, are heard. An
extension
reaching up an octave, also based on the four-note figure, is arrested by a long
chord and the questioning downward slide of its top note.
0:43 [m. 25]--Stanza 2. The first two lines are set as in stanza 1 at 0:10 [m. 5].
The pitches are slightly altered in the descending piano arpeggio leading to the
last two lines, assisting in the move to major.
0:53 [m. 32]--The four-note figure is heard after the beats, as at 0:21 [m. 12],
but the top voice is an octave higher and the bottom note is a sixth below rather
than a third. The music moves decisively to the home major key (E major). The
third
line overtly uses the four-note figure in its original form. It is imitated three
times by the piano, first in the top voice at twice the speed, then, each time an
octave lower, in the middle and the bass ranges at the original speed. The voice
continues with another descent against these imitations.
1:01 [m. 36]--As the line ends, another triple imitation is heard in the three
voices
of the piano (the top one again at faster speed), with the harmony altered in a
brief
motion to the “dominant” key. A repetition of “mit deinem milden Licht” set to a
new melodic line (still beginning with the four-note descent) moves emphatically
toward the song’s joyous climax.
1:07 [m. 40]--The setting of the final line, clearly in E major, is reminiscent of
the joyous last line of the first stanza. It includes a new descending leap on
“bist
du.” The repetition of “mein Pol, mein Stern” becomes full and warm, with
beautiful
stepwise “sighing” motion on “Pol” and “Stern.”
1:14 [m. 44]--The piano figures become quieter. The words “mein Stern” are
repeated
a third time before the line is completed again with “bist du.” This last setting
of “mein Stern bist du” is set once again to the ubiquitous four-note descending
figure, this time in notes twice as long, imitated by the low bass in octaves. The
piano continues after the vocal cadence, and its last chords make a final reference
to the pervasive descending figure. Brahms’s artful manipulations of this figure
throughout the song do nothing to inhibit the natural and spontaneous musical,
emotional,
forward thrust of the song.
1:39--END OF SONG [49 mm.]

8. Dein blaues Auge hält so still (Your Blue Eyes Keep so Still). Text by Klaus
Groth. Ziemlich langsam (Rather slowly). Two-part varied strophic form. E-FLAT
MAJOR, 4/4 time (Low key D major).

German Text:
Dein blaues Auge hält so still,
Ich blicke bis zum Grund.
Du fragst mich, was ich sehen will?
Ich sehe mich gesund.

Es brannte mich ein glühend Paar,

Noch schmerzt das Nachgefühl:
Das deine ist wie See so klar
Und wie ein See so kühl.

English Translation--NOTE: The line arrangement is slightly different here and

includes
Brahms’s repetition of “noch schmerzt.” The arrangement above normalizes the
meter
in the two stanzas. The words “and detached” in the translation are only implied
in the original text and could perhaps be omitted from the translation. This last
line is highly ambiguous in meaning. “Your” (“deine”) in the penultimate line
could
be italicized.

0:00 [m. 1]--Introduction. The descending line anticipates similar slow descents
to come in the vocal part. There are two of these, played against rising left hand
arpeggios and each followed by bars of more static, oscillating motion, the first
one over a dissonant (“diminished seventh”) chord.
0:17 [m. 5]--Stanza 1, lines 1-2. The two lines are set to a rather static melody
with repeated notes and slow dotted (long-short) rhythms on the downbeats. The
oscillating
motion continues in the inner voice of the piano, which otherwise has slow-moving
chords. The second line is set to a deliberate descending scale, doubled by the
top line of the piano, and ending on the home keynote.
0:34 [m. 9]--Stanza 1, lines 3-4. The third line has more repeated notes
interrupted
by strategically placed rests for a halting effect. The leap up and back down is
again deliberate and marked. The last line leaps down twice, first a fourth, then
a fifth, resulting in a complete descent of an octave, the dotted rhythm remaining
prominent. In both lines, the oscillating motion in the piano continues, and low
bass octaves are added. The cadence on the large descent has moved to the related
key of B-flat. A brief arpeggio at the cadence bridges to the second stanza with
a turn to the minor key.
0:56 [m. 14]--Stanza 2, lines 1-2. The first line is similar to that of stanza 1,
but it is now in the minor key and with more active, urgent harmonies. The second
line is altered, with a repetition added on “noch schmerzt.” The descent is now
in faster notes interrupted by halting rests between the sighing repetitions, all
against richly chromatic harmony. The rest of the line is set to a long turning
decoration that lands dreamily on G-flat major (the major key relative to the minor
key on E-flat) and extends the line by a bar.
1:17 [m. 19]--Stanza 2, line 3. Line 3 is very similar to the setting in the first
stanza, but on new pitches (a minor third higher than stanza 1), and still in G-
flat.
Unlike the first stanza, the last line does not follow immediately, but is
preceded
by an interruption echoing the end of the third line a step lower.
1:32 [m. 22]--Stanza 2, line 4. A sliding bass shifts the key abruptly back to E-
flat.
The line is again very similar to the setting in stanza 1 (but on the new “home
key” pitches a fourth higher), with the important difference that the second leap
is only a third, avoiding an arrival on the keynote. It is also louder. This
opens
the door for a repetition of the line set to an even greater descent spanning a
tenth
(an octave plus a third), adding a top descending third to the original two leaps
and reaching a strong cadence in the home major key. Both statements of the line
are variants of the version from stanza 1, the first narrower and the second wider.
The loud volume also emphasizes the strange ambiguity of meaning in the line’s
text.

1:47 [m. 25]--Piano postlude. It arrives with the strong vocal cadence and quickly
settles down. It is essentially identical to the introduction, adding a repetition
of the last gesture with a low bass octave and a final sustained rolled chord.
2:24--END OF SONG [29 mm.]
END OF SET

NINE SONGS (LIEDER UND GESÄNGE), OP. 63

Recording: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Daniel Barenboim, piano [DG 449 633-
2]

Published 1874.

If one discounts the “Magelone” song cycle, Op. 33, the highest number of solo
songs
Brahms grouped together was nine, which he did three times. The only set between
Op. 43 and Op. 121 that is not in a consecutive grouping of three or four opus
numbers
(not counting the special case of the Op. 91 viola songs), Op. 63 shares more
affinity
with Opp. 57-59 than it does with Opp. 69-72. As in those sets, Brahms used the
title “Lieder und Gesänge,” combining the two German words for “song,” which
suggests
a higher level of diversity. In truth, the songs of Op. 63 all show a rather
similar
character. They are all polished, satisfying pieces with some highly creative
forms.
Moreover, Op. 63 shows a very strong cyclic tendency with its consecutive
groupings
of three poets. The first four songs to texts by Schenkendorf are extremely
imaginative
and even experimental. The first, “Frühlingstrost,” takes up an unusual number of
score pages. It is not particularly long, but it does move fast, and features what
must be the most elaborate, busy, and virtuosic piano part in the entire song
output,
along with an exuberant vocal line that requires the singer to project over the
very
active piano. “Erinnerung” has a remarkably drawn-out tempo acceleration that
creates
a sense of fulfillment at its climax. “An ein Bild” also uses this extended
acceleration.
“An die Tauben” is another fast-moving song with a difficult piano part. The
song’s
colorful harmonies highlight key moments of the text. The next two songs are by
the unpublished poet Felix Schumann, none other than the youngest son of Robert and
Clara Schumann (and Brahms’s own godson). Brahms set two of Felix’s youthful poems
under the appropriate title “Junge Lieder” (“Young Songs”). The first of them fits
the exuberance and virtuosity of the Schenkendorf songs, while the second is more
quietly lyrical, forming a bridge to the last three songs, all by Klaus Groth.
Groth
was a good friend of Brahms, who held his poetry in very high regard. The
juxtaposition
of Groth with Felix Schumann (who died at a young age) was perhaps Brahms’s way of
setting the youthful against the mature. Indeed, the three Groth settings, which
Brahms entitled “Heimweh” (“Homesickness”), are rather somber, if not quite tragic
meditations, and they have quite the opposite emotional affect from the
Schenkendorf
songs. The second of the three, the eighth of the set, is by far the most
familiar,
and has become one of his most beloved songs. Three of the nine songs are,
remarkably,
in the relatively unusual 6/4 meter.

Note: Links to English translations of the texts are from Emily Ezust’s site at
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder.
For the most part, the translations are line-by-line, except where the difference
between German and English syntax requires slight alterations to the contents of
certain lines. The German texts (included here) are also visible in the
translation
links.

IMSLP WORK PAGE

ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck--original keys)

ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (From Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche Werke--original keys)

ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (Edition Peters, edited by Max Friedländer):

No. 1: Frühlingstrost (in original key, A major)
No. 1: Frühlingstrost (in low key, F major)
No. 2: Erinnerung (in original key, C major)
No. 2: Erinnerung (in low key, A major)
No. 3: An ein Bild (in original key, A-flat major)
No. 3: An ein Bild (in low key, F major)
No. 4: An die Tauben (in original key, C major)
No. 4: An die Tauben (in low key, A major)
No. 5: Junge Lieder I (in original key, F-sharp major)
No. 5: Junge Lieder I (in middle key, D major)
No. 5: Junge Lieder I (in low key, C major)
No. 6: Junge Lieder II (in original key, D major)
No. 6: Junge Lieder II (in low key, B major)
No. 7: Heimweh I (in original key, G major)
No. 7: Heimweh I (in low key, E major)
No. 8: Heimweh II (in original key, E major)
No. 8: Heimweh II (in middle key, C-sharp major)
No. 8: Heimweh II (in low key, C major)
No. 9: Heimweh III (in original key, A major)
No. 9: Heimweh III (in low key, F major)

BOOK I:
1. Frühlingstrost (Spring Comfort). Text by Max Gottfried von Schenkendorf.
Lebhaft
(Lively). Rondo form (ABACA). A MAJOR, 6/4 time (Low key F major).

German Text:
Es weht um mich Narzissenduft
Es spricht zu mir die Frühlingsluft:
Geliebter,
Erwach im roten Morgenglanz,
Dein harrt ein blütenreicher Kranz,
Betrübter!

Nur mußt du kämpfen drum und tun

Und länger nicht in Träumen ruhn;
Laß schwinden!
Komm, Lieber, komm aufs Feld hinaus,
Du wirst im grünen Blätterhaus
Ihn finden.

Wir sind dir alle wohlgesinnt,

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