Friday, May 15, 2021

The final song in "An die ferne Geliebte“ asks the beloved to sing these songs which have been so dedicated; this will reunite the lovers regardless of space and time. 

 Thursday, May 13, 2021

In the fourth segment of "An die ferne Geliebte", the lover wishes to gaze on his beloved like the clouds and the birds, and asks the brook to rush back to him with her reflection!

 Monday, May 10, 2021

This week I will commit the forgivable sin of separating the six songs which make up Beethoven’s Liederkreis, “An die ferne Geliebte”. This is a sin because Beethoven composed it to be continuous – the songs flow one to the next without pause; it’s forgivable because listening to these songs while studying the text and translation will infinitely enrich the future enjoyment of this music.

 Sunday, May 9, 2021

“Ich liebe dich” is one of the best-loved of Beethoven’s songs. He composed it in the mid-1790’s to a poem called “Zartliche Liebe” (Tender love).

 Saturday, May 8, 2021

The little nonsense song “Marmotte” is a simple song well within the reach of any fledgling singer or accompanist. What most don’t know is that the poem was part of a play written by Goethe, in which it is sung by beggar children playing with their marmots (a kind of large squirrel often trained to perform tricks by traveling hurdy-gurdy musicians).This plaintive song, in a mixture of French and Austrian dialect, captures the loneliness of a child wandering and begging through the land.

 Friday, May 7, 2021

The "Six Songs from Gellert" ends with the masterpiece, "Bußlied" (Song of Atonement):