Beethoven : An die Ferne Geliebte, op.98. Nicolai Gedda, tenor

Beethoven's only song cycle was the precursor of a series of followers, including those of Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, and Carl Loewe. The setting is for a man's voice (usually tenor) with piano. The whole sequence is through-composed so that none of the songs stands alone. The different moods of the six episodes are expressed in a different key and time signatures, working from E-flat major in the first song through G major (and briefly C major) in the second to A-flat major and minor in the third and fourth, and thence back through C to E-flat. With their underlying thematic linkage, each of the songs is carried without break into the next: a short bridge passage connects 2 and 3, and the last note of 3 is held through the first three bars of the accompaniment to 4 and proceeds into Diese Wolken almost without a breath. The final strophe of 4 has an accelerando leading directly into the vivace of 5. This video may contain content not authorized for use by its owner and falls under the guidelines of fair use for educational purposes (Section 107 of the Copyright Act)