FROM VIENNA TO WEIMAR
Weimar Voices, Kings Place, Wednesday 27 January.
Chrstian Immler baritone
Helmut Deutsch piano
Programme
Franz Schreker (1878-1933) Das feurige Maennlein
Und wie mag die Liebe
.jpg)
Hans Gal (1890-1987)
Fuenf Melodien, Op.33 Vergaengliches
Der Wiesenbach
Voeglein Schwermut
Drei Prinzessinnen
Abend auf dem Fluss.
Berthold Goldschmidt (1903-1966)
Two songs by Morgenstern, Op. 27 Ein Rosenzweig
Nebelweben
Hanns Eisler (1898-1962)
From Galgenlieder to poems by Morgenstern Die zwei Wurzeln
Die beiden Trichter
Philanthropisch
Erich Wolfgang Korngold(1897-1957)
Songs of the Clown, Op. 29
To poems by Shakespeare Come away, death
O Mistress Mine
Adieu, Good Man Devil
Hey Robin
For the rain it raineth every day
Ernst Krenek (1900-1991)
From Reisebuch aus den Oesterreichischen Alpen Op. 62
Motiv
Regentag
Unser Wein
Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942)
From Twelve Songs, Op. 27 Der Wind des Herbstes
Regenzeit
Gib ein Land mir wieder
Afrikanischer Tanz
Hanns Eisler (1898-1962)
From Balladenbuch, Op. 18 (i)Ballade von der
Krueppelgarde
(ii)Ballade von Nigger Jim
Wilhelm Grosz (1894-939)
From Baenkel und Balladen, Op.31 Die Ballade von Sammy Lee
****************************************************************************************************
This is part of the FROM VIENNA TO WEIMAR series taking place at Kings Place, London. The series as a whole is designed to showcase the incredible flowering of the arts that occurred during the Weimar Republic - almost as if they knew they were doomed and had to cram in as much achievememt as possible during the few years they had.Here is an introduction from the Programme;
From the late Romantic lyricism of Schrreker and Korngold to the sound of the 'Roaring Twenties', as exemplified by Hindemith and Weill, From Vienna to Weimar explores music, film and cabaret from this remarkable era. The critically acclaimed Aurora Orchestra curates the series, performing alongside world-class guest artists including the Artis-Quartett Wien and violinist Clio Gould.
This song recital featured rarely heard songs from the early 20th century, most of which are almost unknown; most of the composers featured in the programme were forced to leave Germany or Austria in the 1930s. Korngold and Weill (who is not included in this recital) made alternative careers for themselves in Hollywood, but Zemlinsky was unable to make a new life for himself in the USA, and died of pneumonia in 1942. Eisler returned to what became the German Democratic Republic, where he became a senior figure in the arts until his death in 1962. Franz Schreker, with whom the programme began, died in December 1933, but by then his career was already at an end because of the rise of Nazism - in 1932 he lost his post as Direktor of the Musikhochschule in Berlin, and the following year also his post as professor of composition at the Akademie der Künste.
The two songs by Schreker with which the programme began could not be a greater contrast with each other. Das feurige Maennlein is a frantic song using the metaphor of the 'fiery gnome' to illustrate the devastation of a war-damaged landscape.
The second sond, Und wie mag die Liebe, sets a poem by Rilke on the subject of how love awakes in the heart, and is wonderfully peaceful and serene.
The programme continued with Hans Gal's Five Songs, of which I found the fourth, Drei Prinzessinnen, to be really tragic. It's a paraphrase by Hans Bethge of a Chinese story about three princesses whose youth is wasted in waiting for lovers who never come, and finally end up sitting by the sea, scattering the sand in their hair under the delusion that it is flowers. Hans Gal isn't all that well-known in this country, although he lived in Edinburgh from 1938 until his death in 1987, so I was glad of the oppportunity to hear some of his music. I was particularly struck by the expressive piano postludes to some of the songs, to some extent reminiscent of the importance Schumann attached to his piano postludes.
The recital continued with two settings by Berthold Goldschmidt f poems by Christian Morgenstern - Ein Rosenzweig is a gentle song about a sprig of roses that a girl throws to her lover, while Nebelweben is a very, very, strange song about the 'fogweaver' weaving a white shirt for his bride, the birch-tree - the mist is expressed in shifting chromaticism, creating an atmosphere of shadow and mystery.
The three songs by Hanns Eisler were also to poems by Morgenstern, but these were humorous songs (Galgenlieder). It is worth quoting the second song here, as it is an example of what would now be called Concrete Poetry.
Zwei Trichter wandeln durch die Nacht.
Durch ihres Rumpfs verengten Schacht
Fliesst weisses Mondllicht
Still und heiter
auf ihren
Waldweg
u.s.
w.
The first song is a nonsense song about two tree roots, for whom an old squirrel is knitting stockings.
After the interval, the recital continued with Korngold's settings of songs by Shakespeare. Korngold is probably best known now for his film music, and he seems to have suffered the same critical fate as Kurt Weill, being accused of giving up 'serious' music in order to write for popular culture.Space doesn't permit us to pursue this discussion here, I will just leave the question open as to why Korngold's film scores are supposed to be less 'serious' than anything else he wrote.
The Shakespeare songs are not all that well-known in the country of Shakespeare, oddly enough!! So it was interesting to hear them in an unfamiliar setting - I especially like the witty, fast-paced setting of Adieu, Good Man Devil. A criticism could be that the settings don't foreground the text enough, but this could just be because we are all familiar with the texts, while being less familiar with Korngold's settings. I love For the rain it raineth every day - it could only have been written by an Englishman, of course!
The songs by Ernst Krenek were really intriguing. Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen is a musical travelogue about Austria ; the text is by Krenek too, and it is a series of through-comnposed recitatives, or prose-poems. The middle poem describes the pleasures of a day of rain; the narrator is happy that he can sit at home listening to the gentle patter of rain on the roof while enjoying a glass of dark-red wine. The next text goes on to extol the virtues of Austrian wine, which has a discreet charm which is not immediately apparent to the undiscrimintating palate.
This was followed by a series of songs by Zemlinsky, three of which were wistful, rather nostalgic songs about autumn and memory, the fourth a complete contrast, African Dance, emphasising the insistent, mysterious rhythms of the tom-tom. The poem is by the African-American poet Langton Hughes.
The programme continued with two more songs by Hanns Eisler, the first, Ballade von der Krueppelgarde, was an explicitly revolutionary song; the cripples (war-wounded, limping, some with only one leg, some only one arm, some blind) are nevertheless "the strongest battalion, the front line of the world revolution". The marching tune to which this was set was first ironic, but metamorphosed into a revolutionary call to arms, losing its ironic overtones.
The second Eisler song was Ballade vom Nigger JIm - there is no date given for this, but he must have set it while he was in the USA, as it tells the story of an African-American who suffers from the discrimination in the Deep South it's a very tragic tale
The final song in the programme was another ballad, this time set by Wilhelm Grosz. This name was completely unfamiliar to me; Grosz came to England in 1934, and set the lyrics of popular songs, of which the best known is Red Sails in the Sunset. He was also known as Hugh Williams. The ballad was DIe Ballade von Sammy Lee, the text by Carola Sokol, about whom I have been able to find very little information. It's a very lively story of girls audition for the chorus of a musical; Sammy Lee is the impresario, who has very high standards, and none of the girls he auditions is found to be good enough; even God is surprised at his rejection of one of the girls! The music of this ballad is in an appropriately jazzy idiom, reaching a frenetic pace as the narrative describes the hopeful dance of the girl whom Sammy Lee rejects.
A fascinating programme, well-chosen to illustrate the variety of musical idioms in the early to mid- twentieth century and the cultural ambience of the Weimar Republic. The singer, Christian Immler, evidently has a deep rapport with this period.Though his voice may have been a bit on the dry side in some of the more lyrical songs, he sang the Eisler Ballade von der Krueppelgarde with inspiring passion and commitment, and was brilliantly partnered throughout by the gifted Pianist Helmut Deutsch.
