Richard Strauss: 6 Lieder op.17 (1887) - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Richard Strauss: 6 Lieder Op.17 (1887) Poem by: Adolf Friedrich von Schack (1815-1894) 1. Seitdem dein Aug' in meines schaute 00:00 2. Ständchen* 01:37 (orch: Felix Mottl 1895) 3. Das Geheimnis 03:57 4. Aus den Liedern der Trauer No2 06:12 5. Nur Mut! 08:18 6. Barcarole 11:36 Baryton: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Piano: Gerald Moore EMI 1967 2. Ständchen 01:37 Mach auf, mach auf, doch leise mein Kind, Um keinen vom Schlummer zu wecken. Kaum murmelt der Bach, kaum zittert im Wind Ein Blatt an den Büschen und Hecken. Drum leise, mein Mädchen, daß nichts sich regt, Nur leise die Hand auf die Klinke gelegt. Mit Tritten, wie Tritte der Elfen so sacht, Um über die Blumen zu hüpfen, Flieg leicht hinaus in die Mondscheinnacht, Zu mir in den Garten zu schlüpfen. Rings schlummern die Blüten am rieselnden Bach Und duften im Schlaf, nur die Liebe ist wach. Sitz nieder, hier dämmert's geheimnisvoll Unter den Lindenbäumen, Die Nachtigall uns zu Häupten soll Von unseren Küssen träumen, Und die Rose, wenn sie am Morgen erwacht, Hoch glühn von den Wonnenschauern der Nacht. 2. Serenade 01:37 Come out, come out, step lightly my love, Lest envious sleepers awaken, So still is the air, no leaf on the boughs above From its slumber is shaken. Then lightly, dear maiden, that none may catch, The tap of thy shoe, or the clink of the latch. On top toe, on tip toe as moon spirits might Wondering over the flowers Come softly down, through the radiant night To me in the rose hidden bowers The lilies are dreaming around the dim lake In odorous sleep, only love is awake. Come nearer, Ah, see how the moonbeams fall, Through the willow's drooping tresses The nightingales in the branches all shall dream of our caresses And the roses waking with morning light, Flush red, flush red, with the rapture born of the night. -------------------------------- 2. "Ständchen" ("Serenade") is an art song composed by Richard Strauss in 1886, setting a poem of the same title by the German poet Adolf Friedrich von Schack. It is the second song in his collection Six songs for high voice and piano, Op. 17, TrV 149, which were all settings of Schack poems. The song is written for voice and piano. Composition history: Schack was a wealthy aristocrat who was a poet, linguist, diplomat and art collector. He was born in Mecklenburg but lived in Munich from 1855 onwards. His translations of Persian poems were among his outstanding contributions. Strauss set ten poems by Schack, the six in the Opus 17 collection, following on from four in his earlier Opus 15 songs (which included Winternacht). In 1972 Norman Del Mar wrote: With "Ständchen" we come face to face with the most popular of all Strauss' songs. So often as it been heard in its orchestral form that it is easy to forget that the instrumentation is not by Strauss at all, but Felix Mottl. Other arrangements for piano solo and duett, salon orchestra etc quickly followed, and the song could well claim to have made Strauss's name into a household word single handed. That it is a masterpiece there can be little doubt. The song's featherweight accompaniment combined with a light and beautifully shaped melody sets the song apart, and "the surges of lyricism both in the refrain and the climax...are the essence of that glowing ecstasy which is the peculiar quality of Strauss' art at its best". Whilst in more recent years the song's popularity has been overtaken by others, notably "Morgen!" and the Four Last Songs, the song remains a standard part of recorded collections of Strauss songs. The first public concert performance was with Strauss accompanying the tenor Heinrich Zeller at Weimar on 28 October 1889. He wrote to his parents that the song was repeated by popular demand. Strauss recorded the piece twice: in 1941 conducting the orchestral version with the tenor Julius Patzak and the Bavarian State Orchestra and in 1942 for a radio broadcast from Vienna on the piano with Finnish soprano Lea Piltti The poem "Ständchen" has also been set by several other composers, including a version by Pfitzner.