Jump to content

User:FlushedTable/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
< User:FlushedTable
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by FlushedTable (talk | contribs) at 18:29, 28 August 2023 (more additions, changed 'background' to 'history' and added information about the premiere). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Rückert-Lieder (Songs after Rückert) is a collection of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. Four of the songs ('Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!', 'Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft', 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen', and 'Um Mitternacht') were written in the summer of 1901 at Maiernigg, with one ('Liebst du um Schönheit') completed in the summer of 1902, also in Maiernigg. Both smaller in orchestration and briefer than Mahler's previous Der Knaben Wunderhorn settings, the collection marked a change of style from the childlike, often satirical Wunderhorn settings, to a more lyrical, contrapuntal style, and is often linked with the Kindertotenlieder, Mahler's other settings of Rückert's poetry, and with the 5th Symphony, both of which were composed concurrently with the collection and contains subtle references to the songs.


The Rückert-Lieder (minus 'Liebst du um Schönheit') were premiered, alongside the Kindertotenlieder and several Wunderhorn settings, in Vienna on January 29th, 1905 by Mahler and members of the Vienna Philharmonic, sung by Fritz Schrödter, Anton Moser, and Friedrich Weidemann. The songs met with a positive reception, though they were overshadowed by the Kindertotenlieder and the Wunderhorn settings which were performed, along wth the Rückert-Lieder, in a repeat performance on February 3rd, 1905. The songs were first published, along with the Der Knaben Wunderhorn settings of 'Revelge' and 'Der Tamboursg’sell', in Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit (Seven Songs of Latter Days) in 1910.


History

Composition

In 1897, Mahler became the director of the Vienna Hofoper. Over the following years his compositional output dwindled due to over-work and ill health; between 1897 and 1900, he only completed the Fourth Symphony and the Der Knaben Wunderhorn setting ‘Revelge’.[1] Eventually Mahler suffered a near-fatal haemorrhage on the night of February 24, 1901, requiring emergency treatment, an operation, and a seven week long recuperation.[2]

From June to August 1901, Mahler spent his vacation at his newly completed lakeside villa near Maiernigg. Its isolation meant the summer was peaceful,[3] and he experienced the most productive summer of his life,[4] completing eight Lieder and two movements of the Fifth Symphony, including four of the Rückert-Lieder.[1] In particular, he completed 'Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder' on June 10th[5] (some sources state June 14th)[6], and 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen' on the August 16th.[4] [7] The serenity of his surroundings, as well as the emotional aftereffects of the near-death experienced he had suffered earlier in 1901 (seen most in 'Um Mitternacht')[8] exerted a considerable influence on the Rückert-Lieder, and they contributed to Mahler creating a new musical style which “[reveals] an artist who is already exploring another world”.[1][9]

The next year, after his courtship and marriage to Alma Schindler, Mahler composed another Rückert setting that was eventually added to the collection: ‘Liebst du um Schönheit’. Unlike the other four, this was solely intended as a private gift to Alma as a proof of his love for her, due to simmering tensions between her and Mahler at the time. On August 10, Mahler presented the song to Alma, who was deeply moved by the setting of the last line: 'Liebe mich immer, dich lieb' ich immer, immerdar.'[10] Due to its intimate nature, Mahler never orchestrated the song.[11] Instead it was orchestrated by Max Pullman, an editor at the publishing company C. F. Kahnt, who first published these Lieder.[12]

Premiere

Four of the Rückert-Lieder ('Liebst du um Schonheit' was not included in the programme) were premiered, alongside the five Kindertotenlieder, and six of the Wunderhorn settings, on January 29th 1905, at the smallMusikvereinsaal in Vienna.[13] The concerts were part of a series of concerts organised by the 'Vereinigung Schaffender Tonkunstler in Wien', founded on April 23rd, 1904 by Arnold Schoenberg and Alexander Zemlinsky (among others),[14] which Mahler had accepted the honourary presidency of, [15] as well as organising and conducting several concerts. The singers were the tenor Fritz Schrödter and the baritones Anton Moser and Friedrich Weidemann, accompanied by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, which was conducted by the composer himself.[16] Due to demand, the final rehearsal (at 2:30pm on January 28th, the day before the premiere) was open to the public, and the concert itself was completely sold out, with many being turned away at the door.[16]

The concert was greeted with a positive reception, with Paul Stefan writing that "Mahler's Lieder touched everyone".[17] Anton Webern, who attended the premiere, was more cool, writing in his diary that the Rückert-Lieder were "less satisfactory" and even "sentimental", but still containing a "beauty of vocal expression, which is sometimes of overwhelming inwardness", singling out 'Ich atmet einen linden Duft' for praise.[18] David Joseph Bach noted that "With [Mahler], words do not create the atmosphere. It is more as if, in order to create it, he needs the text as much as the music".[19] Finally Julius Korngold thought that Mahler's setting of Rückert's poetry was "noble, sensitive and poetic", though he felt that the intimacy of Rückert's poetry was not well suited to orchestral accompaniment.[19]

Subsequent performances and reception

The programme was repeated in a conccert on February 3rd, this time with Marie Gutheil-Schoder singing three additional Wunderhorn-Lieder. Following this performance, Mahler had dinner with the musicians of the Vereinung (Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils), which created a bond between them.

Overview

The Rückert-Lieder consist of the following songs:

  1. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! – 14 June 1901
  2. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft (I breathed the breath of blossoms red) – July 1901
  3. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (O garish world, long since thou hast lost me) – 16 August 1901
  4. Um Mitternacht (At midnight hour) – S
  5. Liebst du um Schönheit (Lovest thou but beauty) – August 1902

The Rückert-Lieder are all settings of poems by the early 19th-century poet Friedrich Rückert. Rückert's poems are heavily influenced by his activity as a scholar of Oriental languages,[20] [21] and his poems were widely read in his lifetime, being set by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert.[22] Between 1895 and 1900 his poetry revived in popularity, but today he is generally recognised as a minor poet, though Mahler was not troubled by this, holding the view that masterpieces of poetry should not be set to music.[22]

The turn to Rückert's poetry has been considered conservative on Mahler's part, given his connections with modernists such as Richard Strauss,[23] the musicians of the Vereinigung,[24] and the artists of the Vienna Secession,[25] [26] as well as the novelty of his own music.[27] But Mahler felt no need to borrow from these early modernist trends of which he was aware.[27] Furthermore, Henry Louis de la Grange posits that Mahler was attracted to the lyricism of Rückert's poetry, and points out both of them "admired folk-art" and considered it the "living source of all poetry".[28] In addition, Ruckert has also been considered a "close spritual relative" to Gustav Fechner, a Orientalist and psychophysicist who was greatly admired by Mahler.[21][29]

The Rückert-Lieder were never intended to be a cohesive song-cycle. The songs exist in versions for piano and orchestral accompaniment; Mahler composed both versions simultaneously and performed the lieder in both versions. Thus, the piano version is regarded as authorative as the orchestral version. in its own right.[30] The piano score and the orchestral score differ in their ordering of the songs, and when conducting the songs, Mahler frequently changed the order of the songs according to the circumstances of each performance.[30]

In addition, each of the songs requires a specific ensemble of instruments, different from one song to the next,[30] though the instrumentation of all five combined is equivalent to a standard-sized orchestra.[28] Though it has become standard to perform them in large halls with full-size orchestras, Mahler himself premiered and preferred to perform the Rückert-Lieder in a small hall with a small orchestra.[30] The scoring of the Lieder often focus on small groups of instruments akin to chamber music, with even the voice being treated like an instrument.[31] [32]

It is generally considered that Mahler forged a new style with this collection. Donald Mitchell writes of the songs:

'Gone are the fanfares, the military signals, the dance and march rhtyhms and the quasi-folk style of the 'Wunderhorn' songs. Gone too are those songs' satirical excursions, with their accompanying instrumental pungencies and sarcasms.'[33]

Instead, the collection, with its "brevity and intimate character ... represent[s] a short interlude of pure lyricism in [Mahler's] work,"[34] characterised by linear counterpoint[35] and heterophony.[36] This focus on melody, as well as the transparent, chamber-like orchestration and briefness of the songs, contribute to their lyrical nature,[37] in spite of the darker tones of some of the songs (for example, 'Um Mitternacht' and 'Ich bin der Welt' deal with man's loneliness in the world,[37] the latter in its spiritual withdrawal from the world influenced by Buddhist thought and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.)[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Franklin, Peter (2001). "Mahler, Gustav". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. §7 Vienna 1897-1907. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ^ de la Grange, Henry-Louis (1995). Gustav Mahler: Vienna: The Years of Challenge (1897-1904). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 334, 342. ISBN 978-0-19-315159-8.
  3. ^ de la Grange (1995), p. 365.
  4. ^ a b de la Grange (1995), p. 369.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Donald (2002). Gustav Mahler: Songs and Symphonies of Life and Death; Interpretations and Annotations (Paperback ed.). Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-85115-908-9.
  6. ^ Hefling, Stephen E. (2007). "Song and symphony (II). From Wunderhorn to Rückert and the middle-period symphonies: vocal and instrumental works for a new century". In Barham, Jeremy (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Mahler. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-113-900-1694.
  7. ^ Mitchell (2002), p. 122.
  8. ^ Hefling (2007), p. 110.
  9. ^ de la Grange (1995), pp. 367–8.
  10. ^ de la Grange (1995), p. 538.
  11. ^ a b Hefling (2007), p. 111.
  12. ^ Kennedy, Michael (1990). The Master Musicians: Mahler (2nd ed.). London: J. M. Dent & Sons. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-460-12598-7.
  13. ^ de la Grange, Henry-Louis (1999). Gustav Mahler: Vienna: Triumph and Disillusion (1904-1907). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-19-315160-4.
  14. ^ de la Grange (1995), p. 687.
  15. ^ de la Grange (1995), p. 689.
  16. ^ a b de la Grange (1999), p. 107.
  17. ^ de la Grange (1999), pp. 107–8.
  18. ^ de la Grange (1999), p. 108.
  19. ^ a b de la Grange (1999), p. 118.
  20. ^ de la Grange (1995), pp. 782–3.
  21. ^ a b Mitchell (2002), p. 128.
  22. ^ a b de la Grange (1995), p. 782.
  23. ^ McCoy, Marilyn L. (2021). "Mahler and Modernism". In Youmans, Charles (ed.). Mahler in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-108-43835-3.
  24. ^ de la Grange (1995), pp. 689–694.
  25. ^ Pippal, Martina (2021). "Mahler and the Visual Arts of His Time". In Youmans, Charles (ed.). Mahler in Context. Translated by Schicker, Juliane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 143–5. ISBN 978-1-108-43835-3.
  26. ^ Franklin, Peter (2001). "Mahler, Gustav". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. §12 Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, Rückert settings. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  27. ^ a b McCoy (2021), p. 148.
  28. ^ a b de la Grange (1995), p. 783.
  29. ^ Barham, Jeremy (2021). "Literary Enthusiasms". In Youmans, Charles (ed.). Mahler in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-108-43835-3.
  30. ^ a b c d de la Grange (1995), p. 786.
  31. ^ de la Grange (1995), pp. 783–4.
  32. ^ Mitchell (2002), p. 60.
  33. ^ Mitchell (2002), p. 68.
  34. ^ de la Grange (1995), p. 781.
  35. ^ Mitchell (2002), pp. 59–60.
  36. ^ Mitchell (2002), pp. 62–4.
  37. ^ a b de la Grange (1995), p. 784.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:FlushedTable/sandbox&oldid=1172695629"