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