Songs
Mondnacht
(1853)
WoO 21
Mondnacht
Es war, als hätt’ der Himmel,Die Erde still geküßt,Daß sie im BlütenschimmerVon ihm nur träumen müßt’.Die Luft ging durch die Felder,Die Ähren wogten sacht,Es rauschten leis die Wälder,So sternklar war die Nacht.Und meine Seele spannteWeit ihre Flügel aus,Flog durch die stillen Lande,Als flöge sie nach Haus.
Moonlit Night
It was as though HeavenHad softly kissed the Earth,So that she in a gleam of blossomHad only to dream of him.The breeze passed through the fields,The corn swayed gently to and fro,The forests murmured softly,The night was so clear with stars.And my soul spreadHer wings out wide,Flew across the silent land,As though flying home.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Composer
Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna.
Brahms has been considered, by his contemporaries and by later writers, as both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by many.
Information from Wikipedia. Click here for the full article.
See Full Entry
Poet
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some of his works have been very popular in Germany.
Eichendorff first became famous for his novella Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing) and his poems. The Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing, a typical romantic novella, whose main themes are wanderlust and love. The protagonist, the son of a miller, rejects his father's trade and becomes a gardener at a Viennese palace where he subsequently falls in love with the local duke's daughter. As, with his lowly status, she is unattainable for him, he escapes to Italy - only to return and learn that she is the duke's adopted daughter, and thus within his social reach. With its combination of dream world and realism, Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing is considered to be a high point of Romantic fiction. One critic stated that "Eichendorff’s 'Good-For-Nothing' is the "personification of love of nature and an obsession with hiking." Thomas Mann called Eichendorff's Good-For-Nothing a combination of "the purity of the folk song and the fairy tale."
Many of Eichendorff's poems were first published as integral parts of his novellas and stories, where they are often performed in song by one of the protagonists. The novella Good-For-Nothing alone contains 54 poems.
Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 22 Oct 2019: 61. Forest Twilight: Sophie Karthäuser, Stephan Loges & Eugene Asti
-
- 08 May 2018: Bethan Langford, Ashley Riches & Sholto Kynoch
-
- 23 Oct 2017: Mastercourse Day One
-
- 28 Oct 2016: Robert, Clara & Johannes: Aoife Miskelly, Johnny Herford & William Vann
-
- 20 Oct 2016: Poetry Declaimed: Benjamin Appl & Gary Matthewman
-
Mondnacht
Moonlit Night
Composer
Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna.
Brahms has been considered, by his contemporaries and by later writers, as both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by many.
Information from Wikipedia. Click here for the full article.
See Full Entry
Poet
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some of his works have been very popular in Germany.
Eichendorff first became famous for his novella Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing) and his poems. The Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing, a typical romantic novella, whose main themes are wanderlust and love. The protagonist, the son of a miller, rejects his father's trade and becomes a gardener at a Viennese palace where he subsequently falls in love with the local duke's daughter. As, with his lowly status, she is unattainable for him, he escapes to Italy - only to return and learn that she is the duke's adopted daughter, and thus within his social reach. With its combination of dream world and realism, Memoirs of a Good-For-Nothing is considered to be a high point of Romantic fiction. One critic stated that "Eichendorff’s 'Good-For-Nothing' is the "personification of love of nature and an obsession with hiking." Thomas Mann called Eichendorff's Good-For-Nothing a combination of "the purity of the folk song and the fairy tale."
Many of Eichendorff's poems were first published as integral parts of his novellas and stories, where they are often performed in song by one of the protagonists. The novella Good-For-Nothing alone contains 54 poems.
Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 22 Oct 2019: 61. Forest Twilight: Sophie Karthäuser, Stephan Loges & Eugene Asti
- 08 May 2018: Bethan Langford, Ashley Riches & Sholto Kynoch
- 23 Oct 2017: Mastercourse Day One
- 28 Oct 2016: Robert, Clara & Johannes: Aoife Miskelly, Johnny Herford & William Vann
- 20 Oct 2016: Poetry Declaimed: Benjamin Appl & Gary Matthewman
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