Liederkreis Op.39 (1840)

In der Fremde (“Aus der Heimat”)

Intermezzo

Waldesgespräch

Die Stille

Mondnacht

Schöne Fremde

Auf einer Burg

In der Fremde (“Ich hör’ die Bächlein”)

Wehmut

Zwielicht

Im Walde

Frühlingsnacht

“The Eichendorff cycle is my most romantic music ever and contains much of you in it, dear Clara.” Schumann had chosen 12 poems which, though not connected by any narrative thread, belong together for imagery corresponding not only to the blissful hopes but also to the haunting fears he experienced in the months before his marriage to Clara. Although they were less coherently organised in the first edition, in the work we now know they are linked by way of a logical sequence of keys leading from the F sharp minor of In der Fremde to the F sharp major of Frühlingsnacht.

Many of them are set at night – eerily in the ballad-style encounter with the Lorelei in Waldesgespräch, sadly in the second of the two In der Fremde songs, sinisterly in Zwielicht but ecstatically in that most beautiful of Schumann songs, Mondnacht, and scarcely less rapturously in Schöne Fremde and Frühlingsnacht. Weddings are twice observed but, strangely, with liittle joy: none at all in Auf einer Burg where, uncannily, the party cannot be heard while the tears of the bride are clearly visible, and not very much in Im Walde once the sounds of revelry have died away. There is a strong feeling of alienation in the two In der Fremde songs while nightingales sing with painful nostalgia both here and in the masterfully equivocal Wehmut. Horns echo through the forests in Waldesgespräch, Zwielicht and Im Walde but without their conventionally exhilarating associations. The whole cycle is illuminated, however, both emotionally and musically by the Clara image introduced amidst the palpiting syncopations of Intermezzo and carried through to the end.

In der Fremde (“Aus der Heimat”)

Intermezzo

Waldesgespräch

Mondnacht

Schöne Fremde

“The Eichendorff cycle is my most romantic music ever and contains much of you in it, dear Clara.” Schumann had chosen poems which, though not connected by any narrative thread, belong together by virtue of their intimate correspondence with not only the blissful hopes but also the haunting fears he experienced in the months before his marriage to Clara Wieck.

In the first edition the Eichendorff Liederkreis began with Der frohe Wandersmann, a bright start that was dropped in the revised edition of 1850 to be replaced by what had originally been the second song, In der Fremde. A good choice from a long-term harmonic point of view, in that its F sharp minor tonality relates to the F sharp major of the last song in the cycle, In der Fremde seems in its death-wish sentiment out of place here, beautifully expressed though it is. Intermezzo, which is clearly addressed to Clara and which begins with a descending motif frequently associated with her in Schumann’s music, might have been a more appropriate starter, emotionally at least. It is true, of course, that there is an uneasiness about several of these songs, not least those those set at night: after its unsuspecting folk-song style beginning, Waldesgespräch reveals itself as one such eerie inspiration, just as the mysterious bride reveals herself as the unforgiving Lorelei. But night is also a time of ecstasy as in that most beautiful of Schumann songs, Mondnacht, with its breathtakingly precarious vocal line set against an exquisitely fragrant piano part, and the scarcely less rapturous if more impulsive Schöne Fremde.

In der Fremde (“Aus der Heimat”)

Intermezzo

Waldesgespräch

Die Stille

Mondnacht

Schöne Fremde

Auf einer Burg

In der Fremde (“Ich hör’ die Bächlein”)

Wehmut

Zwielicht

Im Walde

Frühlingsnacht

“The Eichendorff Liederkreis is my most romantic music ever and contains much of you in it, dear Clara.” Schumann had chosen 12 poems by Joseph Eichendorff which, though not connected by any narrative thread, belong together for imagery corresponding not only to the blissful hopes but also to the haunting fears he experienced in the months before his marriage to Clara Wieck.They are linked by way of a logical sequence of keys reflecting the emotional progression from the joyless In der Fremde at the beginning to the ecstatic Frühlingsnacht at the end.

Many of them are set at night – eerily in the ballad-style encounter with the Lorelei in Waldesgespräch, sadly in the second of the two In der Fremde songs, sinisterly in Zwielicht but ecstatically in that most beautiful of Schumann songs, Mondnacht, and scarcely less rapturously in Schöne Fremde and Frühlingsnacht. Weddings are twice observed but, strangely, with little joy: none at all in Auf einer Burg where, uncannily, the party cannot be heard while the tears of the bride are clearly visible, and not very much in Im Walde once the sounds of revelry have died away. There is a strong feeling of alienation in the two In der Fremde songs while nightingales sing with painful nostalgia both here and in the masterfully equivocal Wehmut. Horns echo through the forests in Waldesgespräch, Zwielicht and Im Walde but without their conventionally exhilarating associations. The whole cycle is illuminated, however, both emotionally and musically by the Clara image introduced amidst the palpiting syncopations of Intermezzo and carried through to the end.

In der Fremde (“Aus der Heimat”)

Intermezzo

Waldesgespräch

Die Stille

Mondnacht

Schöne Fremde

Auf einer Burg

In der Fremde (“Ich hör’ die Bächlein”)

Wehmut

Zwielicht

Im Walde

Frühlingsnacht

“The Eichendorff cycle is my most romantic music ever and contains much of you in it, dear Clara.” Schumann had chosen 12 poems which, though not connected by any narrative thread, belong together by virtue of their intimate correspondence with not only the blissful hopes but also the haunting fears he experienced in the months before his marriage to Clara. Although they were less coherently organised in the first edition, in the work we now know they are linked by way of a logical sequence of keys leading from the F sharp minor of In der Fremde to the F sharp major of Frühlingsnacht.

Many of them are set at night – eerily in the ballad-style encounter with the Lorelei in Waldesgespräch, sadly in the second of the two In der Fremde songs, sinisterly in Zwielicht but ecstatically in that most beautiful of Schumann songs, Mondnacht, and scarcely less rapturously in Schöne Fremde and Frühlingsnacht. Weddings are twice observed but, strangely, with liittle joy: none at all in Auf einer Burg where, uncannily, the party cannot be heard while the tears of the bride are clearly visible, and not very much in Im Walde once the sounds of revelry have died away. There is a strong feeling of alienation in the two In der Fremde songs while nightingales sing with painful nostalgia both here and in the masterfully equivocal Wehmut. Horns echo through the forests in Waldesgespräch, Zwielicht and Im Walde but without their conventionally exhilarating associations. And yet the whole cycle is illuminated, both emotionally and musically, by the Clara image introduced amidst the palpiting syncopations of Intermezzo and carried through to the end.

In der Fremde (“Aus der Heimat”)

Intermezzo

Waldesgespräch

Die Stille

Mondnacht

Schöne Fremde

Auf einer Burg

In der Fremde (“Ich hör’ die Bächlein”)

Wehmut

Zwielicht

Im Walde

Frühlingsnacht

“The Eichendorff cycle is my most romantic music ever and contains much of you in it, dear Clara.” Schumann had chosen 12 poems which, though not connected by any narrative thread, belong together by virtue of their intimate correspondence with not only the blissful hopes but also the haunting fears he experienced in the months before his marriage to Clara Wieck. Although they were less coherently organised in the first edition, in the work we now know they are linked by way of a logical sequence of keys leading from the F sharp minor of In der Fremde to the F sharp major of Frühlingsnacht.

Many of them are set at night – eerily in the ballad-style encounter with the Lorelei in Waldesgespräch, sadly in the second of the two In der Fremde songs, sinisterly in Zwielicht but ecstatically in that most beautiful of Schumann songs, Mondnacht, and scarcely less rapturously in Schöne Fremde and Frühlingsnacht. Weddings are twice observed but, strangely, with little joy: none at all in Auf einer Burg where, uncannily, the party cannot be heard while the tears of the bride are clearly visible, and not very much in Im Walde once the sounds of revelry have died away. There is a strong feeling of alienation in the two In der Fremde songs while nightingales sing with painful nostalgia both here and in the masterfully equivocal Wehmut. Horns echo through the forests in Waldesgespräch, Zwielicht and Im Walde but without their conventionally exhilarating associations. And yet the whole cycle is illuminated, both emotionally and musically, by the Clara image introduced amidst the palpiting syncopations of Intermezzo and carried through to the end.