Wolf Schlafendes Jesuskind

On 8th October 1888, from Unterach, outside Vienna, Hugo Wolf wrote to his friend and patron, Friedrich Eckhardt, about an exciting new project. A volume of songs to texts by Eduard Mörike! As usual with Wolf, once the floodgates of inspiration exploded there was no holding back. Wolf "scrawled at breakneck speed" (described by Frank Walker who saw the original letter). He'd written ten songs in 9 days.

"All these songs are truly shatteringly composed. Often enough the tears rolled down my cheeks as I wrote. They surpass in depth of conception all the other settings of  Mörike. I am working day and night. I  no longer know what rest is.....Ask the publisher of Mörike's poems for a portrait of the poet in his youth. . But be quick, be quick, be quick ! Mörike must appear before Christmas or I'll kill both you and myself".

Yet how radiant the song Schlafendes Jesuskind is, so gentle that it's difficult to sing, since the line should float, barely held up by breath.  Perhaps it isn't even a song for concert performance, but for private contemplation. I won't upload any recording as none of those on YouTube are good, even alas, Fischer-Dieskau. This song is best heard sotto voce, as if it flows from a state of unconscious rapture. Divine serenity, understated and pure. The poem was inspired by a painting by Francesco Albani (1578-1660) in which the painter shows the heavenly infant lying on a plank of wood which one day will be the Holy Cross, "dem Holz der Schmerzen".  Don't wake himu! Let him sleep, presumably oblivious.

Sohn der Jungfrau, Himmelskind! am Boden,
Auf dem Holz der Schmerzen eingeschlafen,
Das der fromme Meister, sinnvoll spielend,
Deinen leichten Träumen unterlegte;
Blume du, noch in der Knospe dämmernd
Eingehüllt die Herrlichkeit des Vaters!

O wer sehen könnte, welche Bilder
Hinter dieser Stirne, diesen schwarzen
Wimpern sich in sanftem Wechsel malen!
[Sohn der Jungfrau, Himmelskind!]

(Translation by Eric Sams on Lieder.net)

Another pansy comes out too soon

Some of the live Lieder performances last week on the BBC Spirit of Schubert series were unremarkable but Ian Bostridge's Viola D783 was very good indeed, fresher than on his recording with Leif Ove Adnes (which is recommended). Viola isn't an easy song to pull off well, as there are 19 minimally varied rhyming strophes that take nearly 15 minutes to sing. But Bostridge does it sincerely, revealing its delicate sensitivity.

The text is by Franz von Schober, whose songs (like Die Forellen) often have raffish undertones. A snowdrop rings its bell to announce that Spring is on its way. The viola leaps awake, adorned as a bride in "den Mantel sammetblau, Nimmt das güldene Geschmeid, Und den Brilliantentau" (in a blue velvet cloak, adorned with gold and dew like diamonds). But it's not Spring yet. No bridegroom, no sister flowers. The viola hides, ashamed. Soon, roses, tulips, hyacinths and lilies come out in their finery but it's the humble viola whom Spring calls his "favourite child". The flowers are sent to search her out. (How Disney would have illustrated this!) The viola is found,  her head buried beneath her leaves. It's charming, but any gardener knows roses and lilies don't come out til much later. Or walk. Or think about bridegrooms. This is not a nature song!

Be charmed, too by Hugo Wolf's setting of Eduard Mörike's poem Zitronenfalter im April (HERE) and Karwoche, where violets are portents of death (HERE)

Karwoche violets

Easter brings out the pious. Some genuinely so, some by rote!  So here is Eduard Mörike, set by Hugo Wolf. The poem is Karwoche. "O Woche, Zeugin heiliger Beschwerde! du stimmst so ernst zu dieser Frühlingswonne....der Frühling darf indessen immer keimen" Read the full text and excellent translation by Malcolm Wren on Emily Ezust's Lieder Texts site HERE.

Holy Week is the darkest time of the year for the truly devout, who meditate on the meaning of Jesus's death. Yet it coincides with the arrival of Spring. No accident, for Easter and the Resurrection symbolize Spring in a wider spiritual sense. Christian ideas have deep pre-Christian roots. Think Persephone, or the ancient European goddess  Ostara (variants in spelling). Or even Du Liniang, the Peony Pavilion heroine raised back to life by love. (More here - there was a fault on the broadcast site, might be OK now)

Eduard Mörike was a clergyman, but sensitive to pagan nature spirits, and to irony. So he imagines a girl plucking violets for a wreath which will wither on the altar. "Ach dort, von Trauermelodieen trunken, und süß betäubt von schweren Weihrauchdüften, sucht sie den Bräutigam in Todesgrüften, und Lieb' und Frühling, Alles ist versunken!"

The church is filled with music and incense, but around and beneath are graves. The girl is seeking her bridegroom in the vaults of the dead, "and Love, and Spring, all submerged". Hugo Wolf set this poem twice, once as piano song, once fully orchestrated. In both, the final word "versunken" drops sharply downwards, suggesting sudden chill. Perhaps it's the usual Romantic fascination with death, perhaps it's just an acknowledgement that frosts can blitz a promising Spring (as we've learned this week). Mörike and Wolf are saying, "don't count your blessings too soon".

photo : Chris Gunns

Hugo Wolf : Mörike Goethe Prégardien Richter Wigmore Hall

Hugo Wolf is a hard sell. Technical expertise isn't enough. The secret to singing Wolf is expressing the unique personality in each song. Wolf, perhaps more than any other composer, creates miniatures that open out into mini-operas when performed well. Singing Wolf can never be generic, so true Wolf specialists are hard to find.

Christoph Prégardien started off the Wigmore Hall's new series of Hugo Wolf Songbooks with Lieder to texts by Mörike and Goethe. Prégardien is one of the best Wolf singers around, with the right combination of  timbre and individuality. At his best, he's brilliant. For whatever reason, on this occasion, he wasn't his usual self, the voice sounding tired and occluded. Nonetheless, he has years of experience to fall back on. Intelligent phrasing, the right emphases in the right places, accurate intonation. Yet not the luminous, transcendent tones he's capable of, which lift his performance way above most everyone else. Still, proof that mastery of technique pulls one through. His Feuerreiter was suitably dramatic, though not quite at the demonic level he and some others (especially baritones) can reach. But he brought real drama to Ritter Kurts Brautfahrt, a strophic ballad that can fall flat in the wrong hands (voice) (read more about Feuerreiter here). In Sankt Nepomuks Vorabend, one could hear glimmers of Prégardien's natural translucence, reflecting his youth as a choirboy. "Lichtlein, schwimmen auf dem Strom"

Listen to Prégardien's most recent recording of Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch which came out in Spring 2011 on the small label Channel Classics (reviewed here). The soprano on that disc was Julia Kleiter, a fellow Limburger, good for the ensemble work so crucial to the Italian Songbook. But the Mörike and Goethe are much more sharply defined and need great personality. When we heard that Kelier was being replaced ar minimal notice by a singer born in 1990, our hearts dropped. What could any singer that young bring to Hugo Wolf?

Yet Anna Lucia Richter turned out to be the surprise of the evening. Obviously someone aged 21 isn't going to sound polished but Richter turned her youth to advantage. In Nixe Binsefuß, bright, almost staccato notes sparkle like sharp icicles. But this Nixe is a water sprite with attitude who would like to slash the fisherman's nets and liberate the fish. Richter's voice is pure, but has a wild edge totally in keeping with the Nixe's free spirited anarchy. Then, when she sings about the fisherman's daughter, her voice warms. Icicles no more! And so the Nixe flies away as the day breaks. (read more about this song here)

It's difficult to combine the technical demands of Elfenlied with a true sense of innocence, but Richter manages well. Her elf is genuinely naive and she describes his accident with droll humour. Similarly, Richter's Begegnung is turbulent, like the wind and the emotions the young girl experiences.  I don't know how long Richter had to prepare, as the programme was printed before she was hired,  but she threw herself into the songs with unselfconscious enthusiasm, so they come over extremely well.

No-one at Richter's age, or even ten years older,  is going to have finesse, but that will come with experience. It's much better that a singer starts out with enthusiasm, and engages with what she sings, as Richter does. Her voice has colour and range, so she has plenty of potential. Definitely someone to follow. She has dramatic instincts, leaping into some songs in the second part of the programme as an opera singer might, so she will have many options. She's still studying at the Cologne Conservatory but is scheduled to  join the company of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf from 2012-13. She's also worked with Prégardien before  and recorded Schumann with him."We'd better give the poor girl some help" said Julius Drake before the encore (a Mendelssohn duet). He played gloriously, but part of a song pianist's brief is to work with singers, especially the young.

Zum neuen Jahr new translation

Wie heimlicher Weise
Ein Engelein leise
Mit rosigen Füßen
Die Erde betritt,
So nahte der Morgen.
Jauchzt ihm, ihr Frommen,
Ein heilig Willkommen,
Ein heilig Willkommen!
Herz, jauchze du mit!
In Ihm sei's begonnen,
Der Monde und Sonnen
An blauen Gezelten
Des Himmels bewegt.
Du, Vater, du rate!
Lenke du und wende!
Herr, dir in die Hände
Sei Anfang und Ende,
Sei alles gelegt!
 
From Heaven's meadows, a gentle angel, with rosy pink feet, descends to earth. Thus came the Morning. Praise him, godly people, a holy welcome ! Hearts, praise Him together.
In Him are all beginnings, the earth and the planets, the blue Universe where Heaven moves. You, Father, you source of wisdom. Guide us, protect us. Lord, in your hands are Beginning and End, and everything between.

Hysterically funny 70's Hugo Wolf

Hysterically funny clip from a 70's movie made for Hermann Prey.  Omigod, look at the tie, the suit and the glitter tree in the back. This is a document of culture history. But then listen. This is far and away the best recording I've ever heard of Hugo Wolf's Der Abschied, and I've heard most of them. Prey is so animated, and so funny yet he's singing so accurately that he's absolutely true to score. This takes guts. Often, singers worry about being note perfect and in the process lose the real nature of the song. Prey is note perfect AND gets the point! This song is unique, nothing else like it in the repertoire.

A pompous stranger enters unnannounced and tells the protagonist his nose is too big. Ich habe die Ehr', Ihr Rezensent zu sein! (I have the honour sir, to be Your Critic") Usually this song is taken at face value, assuming that the vistor is a reviewer because Wolf was a composer and music critic. But read the full text carefully, and remember that the poet Eduard Mörike was often wildly kooky. Maybe the visitor is the protagonist himself, stalking his own shadow!  There can be a darker reading, when you remember that both poet and composer were manic depressive, and needed to chase away "the black dog". In any case, it's a gloriously witty piece that lets Mörike and Wolf indulge in satirical hijinks. Listen to how the visitor is depicted and how maniacal the protagonist gets when he boots the critic down the stairs. Full text and translation on Emily Ezust's wonderful site.

This is a brilliant performance because Prey captures the sense of wicked glee so well.  His diction's so crisp, yet he lets his tongue roll "r"'s viciously, and flattens his vowels when he's singing the visitor, who's some provincial boor despite his airs and graces. He cuts words just enough so the pace speeds up, and stretches them to slow down. And the mock waltz!  Prey's not singing "badly" and the pianist's heavy-handedness is deliberate, carefully judged.  Also watch Prey's body language, it's so expressive. Admittedly this is a song that benefits from "acting".  But it proves yet again that movement isn't fatal for good singers who make it a natural part of what they do. Po-faced Fischer Dieskau could never do what Hermann Prey does here. And Prey could sing opera, while DFD was stiff. It's an object lesson for aspiring singers, to trust their instincts as long as the voice is right. 

First complete Hugo Wolf songs set - part 1 Mörike

Hugo Wolf's songs to poems by Eduard Mörike are perhaps the most exquisite Lieder ever written. The songs flowed from Wolf's pen as if divinely inspired. Maybe they were, for they express the spirit of the poems so perfectly, it's almost as if they wrote themselves. Sometimes Wolf would write several in a day, intoxicated by their beauty.

This latest CD from small, independent label Stone Records  is the first in what will eventually be the first complete collection of Wolf's songs by a single group of performers. It will be a monumental undertaking, spread over 11 or 12 discs. There are more than 50 Mörike settings alone, and the range is so wide that one singer can't do them equal justice. Besides, hearing them performed together is a unique experience. This recording was made live at the Holywell Music Room in October 2010 as part of the Oxford Lieder Festival. The disc captures the spontaneous immediacy of live performance. One singer per song, of course, but such a sense of ensemble. These performers are listening to each other avidly, projecting and expecting a response from one another. It's hard to quantify precisely why this feels so vivid, but it feels right, as if we're listening to a group of friends at an early Wolfverein recital.

Perhaps it's because all these performers have worked together for years and have an established rapport. Sophie Daneman, Anna Grevelius, James Gilchrist and Stephan Loges, with pianist Sholto Kynoch, interact intuitively, so the recital flows seamlessly. They're clearly getting pleasure from being together, and the sense of ensemble comes over nicely.  The balance of four different voice types adds extra variety and adds to the charm. Chamber quartet in voice!

The sum of this performance is greater than its parts alone. Obviously, this set won't replace Schwarzkopf or Fischer-Dieskau or most of the really huge names that have done these songs before, but it's rewarding because it feels so personal.  This makes it special, and recommended for anyone who wants to know how live performance differs, even on recording, to studio work. This matters especially as Mörike was a poet for whom privacy was a statement of faith. He became a country prelate so he didn't have to work hard but could spend his time contemplating wild flowers and feeling the sunshine on his back. He believed in earth spirits and the supernatural. Not a man for whom the public sphere held  much attraction. Perhaps Wolf identified so closely with him because he, too, valued friendship and stillness. Both Mörike and Wolf were depressive. Perhaps they were aware that the "real" world isn't a nice place.

Each of these singers is highly experienced and distinctive, so it's also artistically rewarding. Sophie Daneman's Das verlassene Mägdlein is delicate and Stephan Loges' Fussreise vigorous. Anna Grevelius's An eine Äolsharfe lilts so gently that you imagine the sounds of a wind harp, animated by soft but invisible breezes. James Gilchrist shapes his words well in Auf eine Wanderung. Listen to the delicious "r"'s : "rückwärts die Stadt in goldnem Rauch: wie rauscht der Erlenbach wie rauscht der Erlenbach". Kynoch's piano dances lithely along, reinforcing the happy mood.

I confess a vested interest. I've long been associated with Oxford Lieder and contributed towards making this recording possible. Can't hide if my name's in the booklet!  On the other hand, I wouldn't be in that position if I hadn't spent a lifetime listening to Lieder and to Wolf. So I can sincerely recommend this recording. The ensemble atmosphere is so good that it will be a long time before this disc is surpassed in that sense. It is excellent, too, as an introduction to Wolf and to Mörike, because it enters into the inner world that inspired them better than more formal, technically sophisticated and "knowing" performances.

Please see my review of Stone Records Hugo Wolf Songs vol 4 - the early songs, Keller, Fallersleben, Ibsen and others, It's a must for serious Wolf lovers as rarities are conveniently collected together. I've also explained the arc of the set.

Frühling läßt sein blaues Band

Frühling läßt sein blaues Band
Wieder flattern durch die Lüfte;
Süße, wohlbekannte Düfte
Streifen ahnungsvoll das Land.
Veilchen träumen schon,
Wollen balde kommen.
Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!
Frühling, ja du bist's!
Dich hab ich vernommen!

Hinterm Berg. brennt es in der Mühle

Hugo Wolf's Der Feuerreiter to a poem by Eduard Mörike. The poet glimpses a red cap, then suddenly there's alarm, everyone's running to the mill.  It's burning. Before fire engines, insurance and water mains, this meant disaster for the whole village. Then comes the mysterious Feuerreiter, his horse galloping (hear it in the piano), and jumps into the flames. Later when the mill is smouldering rubble, a miller finds a skeleton and a red cap...... Who is the Feuerreiter? Is he demon or Valkyrie ? Note the bit about a holy cross and the devil. And the fact that the poet's seen that red cap before. This is Mörike's mysterious world, where nature spirits defy laws of reason. Note how Wolf separates the turbulence from the eerie punchline with a short silence. Then the music rises slowly upwards, like smoke rising from the embers. Husch! da fällt's in Asche ab. The ending floats. No conclusion, suggests the piano, no easy explanation. Perhaps it will happen again.

Below is the orchestral transcription that Wolf made. It's not a particularly good recording (track down the Swiss recording with a Stuttgart choir) but you can hear what ambitions Wolf had and what he might have achieved had illness not intervened. The "Wagner of the Lied" he was called by Amanda Glauert in her Hugo Wolf and the Wagnerian Inheritance. Get this book, essential reading.

Complete Hugo Wolf Mörike songs

Has the complete Hugo Wolf Mörike collection been recorded in one take? There's one coming up now. The first half was recorded Friday 22/10 at the Holywell Music Room, part of the Oxford Lieder Festival.  Second part is 23/10 if you can get in.

The small hall was absolutely packed, wonderful atmosphere, everyone crammed together but intently listening. Some of that energy must have come across into the performances. An almost palpable sense of connection between performers and audience - personal, direct communication. This recording, hopefully, will feel "live".

This recording shows what can be done with enterprise, enthusiasm, dedication, and bold artistic vision. An inspiration for all! Last week, OLF needed 40 sponsors for the recording. Before tonight's concert, 22 had signed up. After the concert, there was a line of people eager to join in. The target will be reached and the money will be used well. CD sales will go towards Oxford Lieder's ongoing projects like the masterclasses, commissions and scholarship and also next year's 10th anniversary Festival. Plus, it's a good addition to the Hugo Wolf discography.

If tonight's performance is anything to go by, the CD will be worth getting. Singers were Oxford Lieder stalwarts, Stephan Loges, Sophie Daneman, Anna Grevelius and James Gilchrist with OLF 's creative leader Sholto Kynoch at the piano. All are well established and hardly need introductions. Anna is a regular at the ENO - she was Seibel and Vavara not long ago. Sholto's a charismatic player, very empathic, which makes him a good pianist for song. He also plays solo and chamber music but he's specially good at motivating singers to give their best.

With fifty-three songs, there are many good moments, everyone doing well. James Gilchrist was in very good form, animated, expressive, full of feeling. yet with the panache that works well in Wolf. Loved that final Auf eine altes Bild. (Read a commentary on the song here)

Check out the Oxford Lieder website for more - hard copy brochure can be downloaded online.

Another Rusalka - Nixe Binsenfuss

Rusalkas exist in Germany too. Nixe Binsenfuß is a poem by Eduard Mörike, set by Hugo Wolf. Mörike's Nixe is a feisty creature. In the middle of a frozen winter night, she's out in the moonlight tending her fish. Note, she's looking after them not hunting them down like fishermen do. They are safe in a casket of Bohemian crystal (ie under thick ice). Arpeggiatos lilt, evoking the sharp frost, the moonlight, the Nixe's light, deft steps.

This Nixe is untamed and untameable. "Komm mir mit deinen Netzen !" she cries to the fisherman, "die will ich schön zerfetzen!" (Come at me with your nets ! But I'll rip them to shreds !". He's just a humble fisherman but he does violence to Nature. His domesticity is an affront to the elemental Nixe, who exists beyond time and boundaries. Nonetheless, being an earth spirit, the Nixe is a nurturer.

Much as she dislikes the fisherman, she feels sorry for his daughter, who is fromm und gut (gentle, good natured, worthy) who wants to marry a nice young hunter (doesn't kill fish). So the Nixe hangs a Hochzeitsstrauß (a wedding wreath) on the house and einen Hecht, von Silber schwer, er stammt von König Artus her, (an icon of a pike in solid silver, that came from the time of King Arthur). "ein Zwergen Goldschmids Meisterstück,
wer's hat, dem bringt es eitel Glück:
er läßt sich schuppen Jahr für Jahr,
da sind's fünfhundert Gröschlein baar."

a masterpiece fashioned by a dwarf (fairy) goldsmith, which has miraculous powers. Year after year it will yield 500 little Groschen, like the scales of a fish. Supernatural magic, possibly not even visible to mortal eyes, but a powerful symbol of protection and good fortune. The maiden may not know but the magic still works. The Nixe is like a secret guardian, who must disappear at cockcrow with the morning dew, but she'll always be present in spirit. Ade, mein Kind! Ade für heut! (Adieu, my child - for today) Like the magic, the piano part wafts mysteriously into the ether.

See the full text HERE Emily Erzust's Lied and Art Song Text site is an essential source, quick link to it here on this blog on the list at right. Click on the photo to enlarge the detail. See the Nixe's alternative world under the waters.

First Butterfly

Today the first butterfly of the year alighted in my garden. A true Lieder moment. Eduard Mörike, keen observer of nature, wrote a poem Zitronenfalter im April. It was set by Hugo Wolf. A butterfly awakes in weak April sunshine. But it's doomed, no flowers around to feed on. The butterfly I saw found some pussy willow, so maybe it will survive. And indeed, this morning it was about again, among the daphne. This time it let me look at it more carefully : it was a Peacock, which makes sense as they are early. Though March is "very" early indeed. The photo is by Tom Saunders, see his photostream on flickr.

Grausame Frühlingssonne,
Du weckst mich vor der Zeit,
Dem nur in Maienwonne
Die zarte Kost gedeiht!

Ist nicht ein liebes Mädchen hier,
Das auf der Rosenlippe mir
Ein Tröpfchen Honig beut,
So muss ich jämmerlich vergehn
Und wird der Mai mich nimmer sehn
In meinem gelben Kleid.

Zum neuen Jahre !

Mit herzlichen Gluckwünschen ! Here is a poem by Eduard Mörike :

Wie heimlicher Weise
ein Engelein leise
mit rosigen Füßen
die Erde betritt,
so nahte der Morgen.
Jauchzt ihm, ihr Frommen,
ein heilig Willkommen!
ein heilig Willkommen!
Herz, jauchze du mit!

Mörike 's poem was set by Hugo Wolf. It starts with sounds like droplets of ice, melting, or perhaps the twinkling of snowflakes. The descending patterns of triplets evoke the cherub descending from heaven to earth. The cherub's little feet are bare - he doesn't feel the cold, he's an angel ! He's bringing greetings from Heaven to Earth. I couldn't find a picture of cherubic trotters but did find a triplet of trotters. To 19th century people, they signified hope. Hams, bacon and sausages to come, they won't starve in the coming year.

Auf ein altes Bild

In the blossoming summer landscape (here distinctly German !) the child without sin plays with his mother. Yet the tree that will become the Cross is already growing in the woods behind.

In grüner Landschaft Sommerflor,
Bei kühlem Wasser, Schilf, und Rohr,
Schau, wie das Knäblein Sündelos
Frei spielet auf der Jungfrau Schoss!
Und dort im Walde wonnesam,
Ach, grünet schon des Kreuzes Stamm!

The exact painting about which Eduard Mörike wrote this poem is unknown, but the scene is pretty typical of the early German school which linked biblical themes to naturalist reality. The poem was set by Hugo Wolf. As Eric Sams said of the song, "With a modal tonality and slow rhythms, the melodies of voice and piano move by step in contrary motion, all within a very limited compass. This gives the song an otherworldly quality of timelessness, .....a motionless summery haze within which the vision is concentrated from a whole landscape into one tree. The small quiet phrases of voice and piano lead up to one stab of pain at the last words, where a transient discord is introduced and resolved. Then, the postlude relives the timeless scene: and if the song has made the proper effect there is eternal grief in that eternal summer".