Four Last Songs

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Four Last Songs

for soprano and orchestra

Frühling (Hesse)

September (Hesse)

Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)

Im Abendrot (Eichendorff)

Two months after he finished the last of what are known as his “Four Last Songs,” Richard Strauss composed one more last song, a private tribute to Maria Jeritza which was written in November 1948 but published only after the singer’s death in 1982. Even so, Im Abendrot, Frühling, Beim Schlafengehen, and September, to take the “Four Last Songs” in the order in which they were written, are Strauss’s last songs in every sense except the strictly chronological one. In whatever order they are performed - and it is nearly always in the order chosen by their publisher when he issued them as “Four Last Songs” a year after the Strauss’s death - they are quite clearly a very old composer’s farewell to the beauty and the tribulations of this world.

Although the Eichendorff setting, Im Abendrot, is most effectively presented at the end of the set, it was actually written first. The fact that Strauss then decided to group it with three or four settings of poems by Hermann Hesse can only mean that those later songs must be seen in the failing light of the presentiment of death so poignantly expressed in Im Abendrot. It is true that Frühling,welcomes spring but it does so from “twilit tombs” (“dämmrigen Grüften”) - from the C minor harmonies and the dark orchestral and vocal colouring of the beginning of the song - and it only gradually achieves the somewhat unreal A major radiance in which it ends.

In the same failing light, September should be taken not only at its face value - summer giving way to autumn in a garden of rain-soaked flowers and falling leaves - but also as a metaphor for the weary creative artist longing for release. As in all the “Four Last Songs,” there is no bitterness here: Strauss sustains an even balance between the bleak implications of the autumn motif introduced on woodwind in the opening bars and the lyrical impulse later associated with summer; he ends the song not so much by confirming the impending resolution into the minor as by gently inclining towards it.Beim Schlafengehen is another expression of longing for rest, a prayer for release from all physical and mental activity and - as anticipated in a violin solo floating away on a lovely modulation to the major - freedom for the soul to take wing for a different kind of life.

Strauss didn’t know the work of his great contemporary Hermann Hesse until he was introduced to it in 1948. The romantic lyricist Joseph von Eichendorff, a poet particularly favoured by Robert Schumann, he had always known. He had set only one of his poems before but, you cannot help feeling, he must have been aware of Im Abendrot for years, waiting for the appropriate moment in his long-married life to re-create it in his own terms. The desired end is achieved here not by the poet or composer alone but “hand in hand” with a long-term companion. As two skylarks dreamily fly up together with two flutes quietly trilling in thirds, voice and solo violin mingle in unison, and on the words “Is this death perhaps?” a significant motif from Death and Transfiguration rises on first horn. The last bars echo with distant lark song - now most poetically transferred to two piccolos - as the harmonies finally resolve into a reconciled E flat major.

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Four Last Songs

Frühling

September

Beim Schlafengehen

Im Abendrot

Two months after he finished the last of what are known as his Four Last Songs, Richard Strauss composed one more last song. It was not the Hesse setting he at one time intended to add to the others but a private tribute to the singer Maria Jeritza, Malven, which was written in November 1948 but published only after her death in 1982. Even so, Im Abendrot, Frühling, Beim Schlafengehen, and September – to take the Four Last Songs in the order in which they were written – are Strauss’s last songs in every sense except the strictly chronological one. Whether they are performed in that order or (as they nearly always are) in the order chosen by their publisher when he issued them as Four Last Songs a year after the Strauss’s death, they are quite clearly a very old composer’s farewell to the beauty and the tribulations of this world.

Although the Eichendorff setting, Im Abendrot, is most effectively presented at the end of the set, it was actually written first. The fact that Strauss then decided to group it with three or fours settings of poems by Hermann Hesse can only mean that those later songs must be seen in the failing light of the presentiment of death so poignantly expressed in Im Abendrot. It is true that Frühling,welcomes spring but it does so from “twilit tombs” (“dämmrigen Grüften”), from the C minor harmonies and the dark orchestral and vocal colouring of the beginning of the song, and only gradually achieves the somewhat unreal A major radiance in which it ends.

In the same failing light, September should be taken not only at its face value – of summer giving way to autumn in a garden of rain-soaked flowers and falling leaves – but also as a metaphor for the weary creative artist longing for release. As in all the Last Songs, there is no bitterness here: just as he sustains a balance between the bleak implications of the autumn motif introduced on woodwind in the opening bars and the lyrical impulse later associated with summer, Strauss is so careful to preserve his own emotional equilibrium that the song ends not so much by confirming the impending resolution into D minor as by gently inclining towards it.

Beim Schlafengehen is another expression of longing for rest, a prayer in F minor for release from all physical and mental activity and – as anticipated in a violin solo floating on a lovely modulation to D flat major – freedom for the soul to take wing for a different kind of life.

Strauss didn’t know the work of his great contemporary Hermann Hesse until, with such fortunate timing, he was introduced to it in 1948. The romantic lyricist Joseph von Eichendorff, a poet particularly favoured by Robert Schumann, he had always known. He had set only one of his poems before but, you cannot help feeling, he must have been aware of Im Abendrot for years, waiting for the appropriate moment in his life and that of his wife Pauline to re-create it in his own terms. The desired end is achieved here not by the poet or composer alone but “hand in hand” with a life-long companion. As two skylarks dreamily fly up together with two flutes quietly trilling in thirds, voice and solo violin mingle in unison. On the words “Is this death perhaps?” a significant motif from Death and Transfiguration rises on first horn. The last bars echo with distant lark song – now, in one of the most memorable of all Strauss’s instrumental inspirations, on two piccolos – as the harmonies finally resolve into a reconciled E flat major.

Gerald Larner ©2009

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Four Last Songs

for soprano and orchestra

Frühling (Hesse) 18/7

September (Hesse) 20/9

Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse) 4/8

Im Abendrot (Eichendorff) 4/5

Two months after he finished the last of what are known as his “Four Last Songs,” Richard Strauss composed one more last song. It was not the Hesse setting he at one time intended to add to the others but a private tribute to the singer Maria Jeritza, Malven, which was written in November 1948 but published only after her death in 1982. Even so, Im Abendrot, Frühling, Beim Schlafengehen, and September - to take the “Four Last Songs” in the order in which they were written - are Strauss’s last songs in every sense except the strictly chronological one. Whether they are performed in that order or (as they nearly always are) in the order chosen by their publisher when he issued them as “Four Last Songs” a year after the Strauss’s death, they are quite clearly a very old composer’s farewell to the beauty and the tribulations of this world.

Although the Eichendorff setting, Im Abendrot, is most effectively presented at the end of the set, it was actually written first. The fact that Strauss then decided to group it with three or fours settings of poems by Hermann Hesse can only mean that those later songs must be seen in the failing light of the presentiment of death so poignantly expressed in Im Abendrot. It is true that Frühling,welcomes spring but it does so from “twilit tombs” (“dämmrigen Grüften”), from the C minor harmonies and the dark orchestral and vocal colouring of the beginning of the song, and only gradually achieves the somewhat unreal A major radiance in which it ends.

In the same failing light, September should be taken not only at its face value - of summer giving way to autumn in a garden of rain-soaked flowers and falling leaves - but also as a metaphor for the weary creative artist longing for release. As in all the “Last Songs,” there is no bitterness here: just as he sustains a balance between the bleak implications of the autumn motif introduced on woodwind in the opening bars and the lyrical impulse later associated with summer, Strauss is so careful to preserve his own emotional equilibrium that the song ends not so much by confirming the impending resolution into D minor as by gently inclining towards it.

Beim Schlafengehen is another expression of longing for rest, a prayer in F minor for release from all physical and mental activity and - as anticipated in a violin solo floating on a lovely modulation to D flat major - freedom for the soul to take wing for a different kind of life.

Strauss didn’t know the work of his great contemporary Hermann Hesse until, with such fortunate timing, he was introduced to it in 1948. The romantic lyricist Joseph von Eichendorff, a poet particularly favoured by Robert Schumann, he had always known. He had set only one of his poems before but, you cannot help feeling, he must have been aware of Im Abendrot for years, waiting for the appropriate moment in his life and that of his wife Pauline to re-create it in his own terms. The desired end is achieved here not by the poet or composer alone but “hand in hand” with a life-long companion. As two skylarks dreamily fly up together with two flutes quietly trilling in thirds, voice and solo violin mingle in unison. On the words “Is this death perhaps?” a significant motif from Death and Transfiguration rises on first horn. The last bars echo with distant lark song - now, in one of the most memorable of all Strauss’s instrumental inspirations, on two piccolos - as the harmonies finally resolve into a reconciled E flat major.

Gerald Larner©