| Date sent: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 13:53:33 EST Subject: Re: Brahms "Four Serious Songs" To: vocalist Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
In a message dated 01/07/2000 12:34:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, Laurence.l.Kubiak-at-IS.shell.com writes:
<< Brahms wrote the vocal line in the bass clef, so tenors tend not to do them (they have quite enough on their plates already, poor dears, what with walking and breathing at the same time), but I've heard of contraltos going them.
These beautiful songs, among Brahms's last musical thoughts, are about death. They are among the most concentrated things Brahms wrote, miracles of musical economy (most clearly displayed in the second song). They share a motif comprising a chain of descending thirds with the fourth symphony: you will find studying this symphony thows a great deal of light on the songs. I've often felt the songs pick up where the symphony left off. >>
1) I, a mezzo-soprano, am currently preparing these songs for a recital in February. I also did them on my Master's recital when I was waaaay too young to be doing any such thing. I find that, in common with many of Brahms' songs, although they cover quite a wide range (G below middle C to two G's above), Brahms had such a fine sense of how the voice works that they are vocally adept. This is not to say they're easy - they're not. But I never feel that I'm fighting the line the way I do in some songs. They work beautifully from a vocal standpoint. Very singable. 2) I never noticed the relationship to the 4th Symphony, but am very pleased to have that pointed out. It's my favorite Romantic symphony and I will certainly take this as an opportunity to listen to it with a fresh sense. 3) These incredible songs convey a personal emotionality that I find incredibly moving. They were presented to the children of Robert and Clara Schumann after Clara's death. I don't remember the exact wording of the letter, but I've read it, and the essence of the letter is that they were a memorial to Clara. Brahms and Clara Schumann were close friends for most of Brahms' life, and there were times when the relationship was very deep. The sense of loss in the songs is palpable, and I find that, especially in the third song, I cannot think of the circumstances under which they were written because it overcomes me and I cannot sing. The first three songs are among the gloomiest ever written, but this gloom is transcended by the glory of the fourth song, with its deep faith that love overcomes. I cannot hear the text (Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am nothing) read in church without thinking of this song. In fact, my husband and I used part of the text as one of the readings in our wedding because of this connection. 4) If you don't know these marvelous songs, you should take some time to listen to a good recording of them. I used to have a recording on vinyl of John Shirley-Quirk that I loved.
Lee Morgan Mezzo-soprano
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