Vier Lieder | |
---|---|
Song cycle by Arnold Schoenberg | |
![]() Arnold Schönberg by Richard Gerstl, 1905 | |
Opus | 2 |
Text | poems by Richard Dehmel |
Language | German |
Composed | 1899–1900 |
Movements | 4 songs |
Scoring | voice and piano |
Vier Lieder, Op. 2, is a song cycle composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899 and 1900, during his early development. In contrast to his earlier songs, influenced by Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms among others, these four songs use a fair amount of the dissonance and atonality that Schoenberg is known for.
The first three of the poems that Schoenberg set in Vier Lieder were written by Richard Dehmel, while the last one was written by Johannes Schlaf. [1] Dehmel, known for naturalistic and expressionist writing, published a collection titled Weib und Welt (Woman and World) in 1997. [1] He was convicted of obscenity and blasphemy based on this collection, [2] based on a single poem, "Venus Consolatrix", which compared Mary Magdalene to the Roman goddess Aphrodite, the symbol of beauty, life, and sexuality. [2] Schoenberg was inspired by Dehmel's poetry to explore new forms of tonality. [2]
The four songs are: [1]
The duration is given as 12 minutes. [1]
Vier Lieder are known to be composed at the beginning of Schoenberg's break from tonality. Many of his earlier songs were reminiscent of the Romantic Era, influenced from Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. [3] He wrote in his didactic publications that he was inspired by Brahms in his early works. [4] In the first song of Vier Lieder, "Erwartung" (Expectation), a direct evidence of Wagnerian influence is evident, especially in the middle section. The key center happens to modulate several times around the circle of fifths and ends on the home key. This same form of harmonic progression can be found in the second act of Wagner's Tannhäuser . [5]
In Vier Lieder overall, there is much less use of typical cadential movement. [6] Schoenberg made use of mediants and sub-mediants of the home keys, prolonging harmonies or providing surface harmonies. [6] The four songs mostly remain in a ternary form with slight modifications. For example in the second song of the cycle, Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm, the form can be considered ternary since it has a short recapitulation. [5]
Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.
Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but diverging greatly in technique.
Karl Goldmark was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer.
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, and a music director at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen.
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's poem of the same name and by Schoenberg's strong feelings upon meeting his future wife Mathilde Zemlinsky, who was the sister of his teacher, Alexander von Zemlinsky (1877–1942). Schoenberg and Zemlinsky married in 1901. The movement can be divided into five distinct sections which refer to the five stanzas of Dehmel's poem; however, there are no unified criteria regarding movement separation.
The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg published four string quartets, distributed over his lifetime: String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Opus 7 (1905), String Quartet No. 2 in F♯ minor, Op. 10 (1908), String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (1927), and the String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37 (1936).
Four Songs or 4 Songs may refer to:
Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf was a Finland-Swedish and German composer.
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Hermann Zilcher was a German composer, pianist, conductor, and music teacher. His compositional oeuvre includes orchestral and choral works, two operas, chamber music and songs, études, piano works, and numerous works for accordion.
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.
Anton Sistermans was a Dutch baritone during the late 19th to early 20th century. He is particularly notable for interpretations of lieder and oratorios. During his career, Sistermans premiered important compositions by Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler, and also had lieder dedicated to him by Hans Pfitzner, Eugen d'Albert and Alexander von Zemlinsky. In his later years, Sistermans served as a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and conductor of a church choir in Rotterdam.
"Befreit" is an art song for voice and piano composed by Richard Strauss in 1898, setting a poem by the German poet Richard Dehmel. The song is part of the collection Fünf Lieder für hohe Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung. Strauss orchestrated the song in 1933.
"Der Arbeitsmann" is an art song for voice and piano composed by Richard Strauss in 1889, setting a poem by the German poet Richard Dehmel. The song is part of the collection Fünf Lieder für hohe Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung. Strauss orchestrated the song in 1918.
Fünf Lieder, Op. 105, were composed by Johannes Brahms between 1886 and 1888. He set five poems by different authors, mostly contemporary poets, for a lower voice and piano. Simrock published the work in 1888.
Sechs Lieder, Op. 68, is a collection of six Lieder by Richard Strauss. He composed them, setting poems by Clemens Brentano, in 1918 for soprano and piano, and orchestrated one in 1933 and five in 1940. The piano version was first published by Adolph Fürstner in Berlin in 1919. They are also known as Brentano Lieder.
The following lists note recordings in opera and recital of soprano Jessye Norman.
"Wiegenlied", Op. 49, No. 4, is a lied for voice and piano by Johannes Brahms which was first published in 1868. It is one of the composer's most famous pieces.