Johannes Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52

Performed by . the BSU Chorale & Chamber Singers ·

Dr. Sfeven Young, director

Bridgewater State University Department of Music ·· · Spring Choral Con.cert

· .~orace Mann Auditorium · . April 26, 2015

8:00-p.m.

Bridgewater State University Chamber Singers · Steven Young, director ·

Laudate Do.minum . ..

Vezzosette Ninfe e ·bella

. ·Musica, <;ii ganz lieblich Kunst .

Dragon Dan~e

Parabolae Solor::nonis, _Op. 44

Multlhomines

Jozef Swider .. (193.0-2014)

Giovanni Gastoldi (1554-1609) .

·arr. Patrick Liebergen .

Johann Jeep (ca. 1581-.1644)

Leeong Yoon Pin (1931.:.2011)

Zdenek Lukas . . (1928-2007)

Most men will proclaim· their own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?

Fruhlingszeit

Deep River

. I'll Hear the Trumpet Sound

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

. arr .. Dar.in Lewis

. arr. Vijay.Singh (b. 1966)

. Bridgewater State University Chorale ·Steven Yourig, director

. James Hay, accompanist

Liebeslieder Walzer, Opus 52 Johannes B.rahms

Rede, Madchen Am Gesteine .rauscht die Flut

·:. O die Frauen · Wie des Abends schone Rote Die grDne Hapfenranke Ein k/einer, hDbscher Vogel . Wohl schon bewandt was e$

Angela Maloney, soprano Wenn so find dein Auge mir Am Donaustrande 0 wie sanft die Que/le

. (1833-1897) .

Nein, est is nicht auszukommen Schlosser auf, und mach Schlosser V6gelein durchrauscht die.Luft Sieh, wfe ist die Welle klar

· Nachtigal/, sie singt so schon Ein dunkeler $chacht ist Liebe

' Nicht wandle, mein Licht . Richard Moran, tenor

Es bebet das Gestriiuche

James Hay, piano Sarah McQuarrie·, piano

Soprano

Brittany·Churchill Brianna Crockett Abigail Cromer Taylor Eckstrom .Alyss·a Germaine Julia 'Karadus Elizabeth Lach *Ange·la Mal.oney Annalise McGrail Meghan O'Neil *Justine Smigel . Brooke Spiegel Dawna Vella *Jiaying Zhu

Tenor

Nolan Driscoll *Richard Moran QylanMowry *Tim Prosser

Chorale Personnel

Alto

Patricia Bello . Mackenzie Brennan Marilyn Carozzq *Ruby De La Rosa *Nicole D~smarais Terry Doyon Kelly 'Fischer Megan Polk Carly Queeno Abigail Reynolds

· · · Nicol~ Willett · · Theresa Zeoli

· Bass

*Christopher Bosch 'Patrick Dauwer Joshua Dyer . Robett Gariepy

· · Kade Page · · . *Tom Warren

*=Member of the BSU Cha:mber.Singers

- ---------------------· ------ ----

. . Notes on Johannes Brahms.' Liebes!ieder: Walzer fur das Pianoforte zu vier Handen

(und Gesang ad lib/turn), Op, · 52

. The great German composer Johannes Brahms (183~-1897) adopted Vienna as his home in the 1860s, and the Lieb~lieder . · ·

· (Love· Songs), Op. 52, provide effervescentproof of his respect and affectiqn for the Austrian c.apital. In th.es~ _waltz-style love ' s.ongs, shaped by the rhythms and forms of A~tria's traditional dance, even the famously self-critical composer him.self found. much to admire. "I must admit," he wrote to his publisher, 'Tu.at on this occasion, for the first time, I smiled to see my _ work in print! Moreover; I gladly risk beip.g called an ass if oiir Liebeslieder don't give a few people pleasure."

Brahms completed theLiebeslieder .in 1869, 'while spending the summer near the Black Forest resort of J?aden-Baden, no.t far from the family of his late friend and mentor, Robert . Schumann. .The songs set translations by Georg Daum.er (1800-1875) of traditional Eur~pean poetry, mostly -Polish, Hungarian, and Russian. _The first song-sets the tone of the · group by welcoming "wild, ardent feelings," and musicologist.

. Malcolm MacDonald suggests that the songs "could well have . been the outward expression of [Brahms'] current daydreams about th_e beautiful Julie Schumann," daughter of his friends Robert and Clara. When Julie soon thereafter announced her engagemep.t to another man, Brahms seems to have expressed his disappointment'in the Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53. 9lara . . Schumann-an accomplished compo.ser and pianist in her own right, ·and valued critic to Brahms-· heard in Op. 53 "the expression ofhis oWn. heart's. anguish." For the'premiere of the.: Liebeslieder,: Brahms and Clara played the piano parts, and the . so~gs were an immediate success. · · ·

The Liebeslieder were published with the direction Gesang ad libitum (voices optional), indicating the suitability of the work as. a piano duet without sillgers, making them accessible to any householq with a piano; Brahms and Clara also premiered this version. Another arrangement calls for voices and a single pianist, and the vocal parts may be sung by soloists or .. as in this performance, a choir; in addition, Brahms orchestrated several of the songs (plus a new composition later incorporated into the Neile Liebeslieder, Op. 65) in a Liebeslieefer Suite for orchestra ·

The Liebeslieder include few tempo markings, allowing the . conductor the flexibility of pace associated with the waltz. The first song, however, is marked Im Li:indler.;.tempo, referring to a slower ancestor !)f the ·waltz. Jn adqiti.on, two songs are · markedLebhaft ·(lively): the anxious No. 16, in which.Jove is described as a dark well into which one falls, and the

· picturesque No.18, in which both sJn:ubbery and the soul tremble. Meter remains a constant 3/4 tbroughout the set, and al~ but one of the songs are shaped by some version of the binary form (two contrasting sections, each repeated) · associated with much traditional dance. No. 6, with :frequent recurrences of the phiase, "If I were. a pretty, small bird," accommodates t;hat element of its text witli a rondo form, which features :frequent recurrences of the same musical material. · - ·

.. . The songs vary in a number-of significant ways, includlng their . ·textures· and tone colors, which reflect close attention to texts. The first song begins with male voices only, in a plea for .~ maiden's attention; the women's voices re~pond with a warm invitation, and the entire choir sings together only at the end.

- A related pattern is heard in the fifth song, whose text also

··- - ·--- -· ·-···· . .

inv9lves a dialogue, "this one begim:µng with female voices. No. 3,'."0 die Frauen, o die Frauen," which rhap~odizes about · women, is s-Ung by men only, while women alone sing No. 4, expressmg a maiden's wish.to please a boy. Similarly,_ No. 13 calls for women alone to present the delicate image of a lit:tle bird, while No. 14 uses only men's voices for more expansive imagery encompassing both moon aI!-d-sea. Solo voices are . used for No. 7, whose t~xt portrays a wpman' s isolation from her former lover, and No. 17, another lon~ly lament, this one markedMitAusdruck (with expression). Overfappmg ·imitation ofvoic.e parts can be heard in No. 2, perhaps"e9hoing the repeated movement of water rushing against stones, and iii · No. 10, representing love ri.ciprocated. Other musical · · · . elementS also illustrate or. ~µggest details of the text: for . example; short repeated figui-es in both piano and v:ocal parts 9f No. 15 mimic the song of the text's mghtingale~ while the · opening images of No. 18 may be heard ill the very quiet but quickly moving and bigh-pit.ched piano line (the ''trembling'~ bushes) and the soaring of the ensuing vocal phrase (the ''bird . . in flighf'). .

·The Liebeslieder also vary in key, accompaniment style, and rhythm. Only five of the eighteen songs are .in minor keys, . including those referring to a maiden wh9 ·misses her · . . :

1

.: sweetheart (No. 5), tbe woe oflost love (the solo song ofNoi 7), and the dark well oflove into which one falls (No. 16, noted .i . above as one of the "lively" songs): The diverse piano pcµts .feature not only some stereotypical triple-meter oom-pah-pah · patterns, but also a great deal of melody (essential for . perfo~ance wi~ou~ voices),.some pC1;ssages of especially thick .. chords (as in No. 11, which rails against the malicious opinions of others), and more sparsely textured accompaniments (as in ·No. 13, the one with "little bird" imagery). Within the.

consistent triple meter, Brahms organizes time in a numher of ways, offering triplets, hemiola, dotted rhythms, and syncopation, aJ?.d sometimes linking consecutive songs (e.g., Nos. 10 and 11, Nos. Band 14) with similar rhythmic patterns. The challenging final song, whose text associates love's stirring of the soul with the workings of the natural world, mixes minor and major keys, staccato and legato, crescendo and decrescendo, portraying ''pleasure and, sorrow"· and concluding with a gentle pianissimo to evoke the mystery oflove's power.

Often cited among the works that first established the · popularity of Brahms' music, the Liebeslieder ably represent the composer's attention to both craft and passionate expression. Six years after the publication of the Lieb es lieder, Brahms capitalized on their great popularitY by issuing the

. Neue Liebeslieder (New Love .Songs), Op. 65, which also garnered immediate acclaim. Together,·the two sets have been described by musicologist A. Craig Bell as "not only ... rare, unbuttoned Brahms, 'but ... uD.rivaled Brahms." .Their thoughtful exuberance rewards the student; the listener, and perhaps most of all, the penorm.ers fortunate enough to sing ·and play these lilting songs oflove.

J. L. Kreiling