Frühling
September
Beim Schlafengehen
Im Abendrot
In 1948, composer Richard Strauss was 84 and suffering from failing health and depression, yet still nurtured the ambition to write once more for the soprano voice. In exile in 1946, he had come across a collection of poems by Joseph von Eichendorff and had been moved by one of them, Im Abendrot, whose portrait of an elderly couple at the end of their lives closely matched the circumstances of Strauss and his wife Pauline. Two years later he composed three more songs on texts by Hermann Hesse: Frühling (Spring), September and Beim Schlafengehen (When Falling Asleep). Each of these, like Im Abentrot, explores themes of farewell, fulfilment, lifelong love and death.
The title ‘Four Last Songs’ is not Strauss’s own, but taken together the songs represent not only a summation of his style, but also a mood of conscious and deliberate farewell. Strauss never heard the songs performed; he died on 8 September 1949 at Garmisch and the first performance was given by Kirsten Flagstad with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall on 22 May 1950.
James Ledger was commissioned to write a chamber arrangement for the great British soprano Dame Felicity Lott, which was premiered at the Wigmore Hall by her and the Nash Ensemble in 2005. He writes: “My philosophy in arranging these songs was to create an honest representation of the original as chamber music. There exists already an arrangement of Vier letzte Lieder for piano and voice. It could be argued that this version already constitutes chamber music. However, the piano only goes so far in capturing the breadth of the original (it is after all, played by only one person) and it leaves the songs firmly in a monochrome world and therefore offers no insight into the translucent instrumental world that Strauss occupies in the original.
“For this new arrangement, a combination of thirteen players (plus soprano) was decided upon, the instrumentation being: flute doubling piccolo, oboe doubling cor anglais, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, two violins, two violas, two cellos, double bass and piano. From this list it can be seen that the woodwind section is represented quite healthily, whilst the horn is the sole representative for the brass. Celesta, harp and timpani are also omitted in this version, but there is the inclusion of piano. The reduced number of strings firmly places this arrangement in an entirely different sound world from the original. For example, the lush opening of the fourth song, Im Abendrot, might typically have 50 or more string players in the orchestra and this physically can’t be re-created in this reduced version. Importantly, it shouldn’t try to do so.
“This leads to an interesting perception of arrangements as they are often regarded as poor cousins of the original. An arrangement shouldn’t be regarded as trying to improve on the original – although there are undoubtedly instances where this has been the case. An arrangement should be seen as a separate version in its own right. There are several reasons for remaining as true to the original instrumentation as possible with this arrangement. Firstly, Strauss writes so idiosyncratically for orchestral instruments it seemed fallacious to go against this. For example, I couldn’t imagine the horn solo that concludes September or the violin solo in Beim Schlafengehen on any other instrument. Secondly, these songs are so well known and well loved that to tamper with instrumentation too much could be seen as desecration of the original. I do hope that this chamber version presents the songs in a fresh way and at the same time remain as faithful as possible to the intentions of Richard Strauss.”
Frühling (Spring)
An invocation to Spring as a metaphor for all which is lost and irrecoverable. Strauss’s music captures the poet’s progress from impatience to fulfilment.
September
The symbolism of youth declining into old age is more explicit here; over a rippling of strings and woodwind, the soprano repeats a rocking phrase as the poet speaks of summer yearning for peace and closing wearied eyes.
Beim Schlaffengehen (Falling asleep)
The downward fall of the opening phrases mirror the gradual sinking into slumber. Strauss creates a ravishing melody first head on the solo violin. At the end his most characteristic instrument, the horn, takes over before being absorbed into the gently lulling string rhythm.
Im Abendrot (In the Sunset)
The song Strauss composed first takes its place as the finale. The poet shares a vision of an elderly couple looking into the sunset and asking ‘Ist das etwas der Tod?‘ (Is that perhaps death?) Strauss changed ‘that’ to ‘this’ and in the score quoted from his early tone poem, Tod und Verklärung (Death and transfiguration).