.........m DEUTSCHE NAXOS SCHUBERT-LIED-EDITION 4 SCHUBERT Mayrhofer-Lieder, Vol. 1 Cornelius Hauptmann, Bass Stefan Laux, Piano THE DEUTSCHE SCHUBERT-LIED-EDITION I In 1816 Franz Schubert, together with his circle of friends, decided to publish a collection of all the songs which he had so far written. Joseph Spaun, whom Schubert had known since his schooldays, tried his (and Schuhert's) luck in a letter to the then unquestioned Master of the German language, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: A selectiofi of Gerrfian sorfgs ~villcorrstitrrte the begifari~rgof this edifio1r;it 1si11corfsist of eight 1~011mies.Tlrefirst hvo (tlrefirst of ~nich,as an e.1-arnrple, yo11 willfiffdirr our letter) corftaifrspoems ~srittenby yorrr Ercellerrcy, tlre tlrird, poefr)' by Sclriller; the forrrtlr artdfifth, 118orksby Klopstock, tlfe .si.xflr by Motthiso~r,Holty, Solis etc., the se1,entlt and eight11 contai~rsorrgs by Ossion, x~lrose works are quite e.~ceptionnl. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition follows the composer's original concept. All Schubert's Lieder; over 700 songs, will be grouped according to the poets who inspired him, or according to the circle of writers, contemporaries, members of certain literary movements and so on, whose works Schubert chose to set to music. Fragments and alternative settings, providing their length and quality make them worth recording, and works for two or more voices with piano accompaniment will also make up a part of the edition. Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biederrrreier poets, his contemporaries, and, of course, finally, poems by Heinrich Heine, although, sadly, the two never met. The entire edition is scheduled for completion by 2005. Thanks to the Nerre Schabert-Afrsgabe (New Schubert Edition), published by Barenreiter, which uses primary sources - autograph copies wherever possible - the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. For the first time, thelistener and interested reader can hear worthwhile alternative settings, performable fragments and follow Schubert's textual alterations in the booklet. The artistic directors of this project are the pianists Stefan Laux and Ulrich Eisenlohr, who together have chosen the tlite of today's young German Lieder singers, performers whose artistic contribution, they believe, will stand the test of time. Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828): Songs by Mayrhofer Among the many poets whose \vork Schuhertchose long time considering the cramped conditions. Then, to set to music, three stand out as particular favourites: cracks began to appear. Whilst Mayrhofer remained true Goethe, Schiller and Mayrhofer. Two great writers, to the ideas of the Enlightenment, Schubert tumed more famous in their and our time, and one little-known poet, and more toward Romanticism, to the poetry of the whose name has since slipped into oblivion - or rather, younger generation, attracted by its exalted mysticism. it would have done so, were it not for the forty-seven These two years were a period in the composer's life in settings of his poems which Schubert conlposed over a which he went through several artistic crises, searching period of eleven years. Apart from these, he also began for a new, individual direction. Much of what he an opera entitled Adrflst, and completed a lyrical drama composed during this time remained uncompleted. As in two acts, Die Frerrrlde la11Snlnmnncn, both based on the two friends drifted apart, so Schubert set fewer and Mayrhofer's texts. fewer of Mayrhofer's texts to music, and finally, in Schubert never met either Goethe or Schiller; 1824, he chose a poem entitledAlrposs11g(Dissolution) Mayrhofer, on the other hand, was one of his closest as if to signal the end of their co-operation. friends; a man whose literary knowledge and tastes Johann Mayrhofer was born on 3rd November 1787 undoubtedly had a strong influence on the composer. in Steyr in Upper Austria. His remarkable talents became Another close friend, Joseph von Spaun, initiated the apparent already at school: "He was always the best in his friendship and artistic co-operation by sho\ving Schubert class," and showed "extraordinary abilty in Latin and one of Mayrhofer's poems and suggesting he set it to Greek, as well as being well versed in the Classics" music. He did so, and composed A111 See (DIZJ) at the (Joseph von Spaun). Mayrhofer's father died at a beginning of December 1814. Two years later the relatively young age, leaving his family without any acquaintance began to develop into a much closer financial support. Hence, in 1806, at nineteen, his son had relationship, a kind of artistic symbiosis, which lasted for to fend for himself and joined the Augustinian canons at four years. During this time they shared their interests, St Florian near Linz (later well-known for its connection their ideas and their work. Schubert frequently found in with Bruckner). He left again four years later, shortly Mayrhofer's poems the musical inspiration he was before taking his final vows. Instead, he went to Vienna, looking for, and Mayrhofer was encouraged by the where he studied law, surviving on next to nothing. transformation of his poetry into song to continue writing. Nevertheless, he managed to complete his studies, In November 1818, on his retnm from Zseliz where whereupon he joined the civil service. Thanks to his he had spent his first summer on Count Esterbszy's literary knowledge he was given the position of official estate employed as a piano teacher to the Count's censor in the "royal, imperial book-inspection office". He daughters, Schubert decided to move out of his parents' soon became known and feared among writers and home and to join Mayrhofer in his far From luxurious booksellers for his strict adherence to the laws. Mayrhofer lodgings: "Both the house and the room had felt the found himself having to censor the expression of the influence of time. Time had lowered the ceiling and ideals he held dear. A believer in the search for a freer darkened the room by erecting a large building on the society, he was, in daily life, paid to be an instrument of other side of the street, add an old, over-used piano and a repression, to strengthen the efforts the Austro-Hungarian narrow book-shelf and you have the room which, empire was making tore-establish its power. together with the hours I spent there, will never fade Those who knew Mayrhofer describe him as a from my memory." (Thus Mayrhofer in his Afelriories of sensitive man and thus it is easy to imagine how much he Frnr~zScl~rrbert). This mbmge b de11.v- which was quite must have suffered under this gaping discrepancy. His common in those days -lasted two years; a remarkably attempts to overcomeit led to an even stricter observation 3 8.554738 of the censorship regulations. He was fully aware that if Schubert and Schober were the only two among he allowed his real opinions to become known, it would Mayrhofer's friends who did not subscribe to his mean the loss of his livelihood, possibly imprisonment modest publication. Surprisingly, many of the poems "My opinions are one thing, my duty quite another," was Schubert had set to music are not contained in the slim the rather terse explanation he gave to Joseph von Spaun. volume. What is more, the many differences between When Mayrhofer heard the news of the uprising in the printed poems and Schubert's song-texts, which Poland in 1830 his mood became euphoric; on learning were based on the original, handwritten manuscripts, of the fall of Warsaw he fell into a deep depression and show that Mayrhofer altered his work for publication. In tried to drown himself in the Danube. Six years later his most cases it is not clear why, especially as the sensitivity had turned to irrational fear and on 5th alterations are not for the better. February 1836 he threw himself from the third-floor Schubert handled his friend's poetry very windo\\! of his office in the Imperial Administration differently from that of his other two favourites, Schiller Building. He was unable to face the thought of falling and Goethe. He obviously had no reservations about victim to the cholera epidemic which had - once again - making frequent and sometimes radical changes. broken out in Vienna. Mayrhofer does not appear do have raised any In 1824 Mayrhofer, in response to promptings from objections. He was as passionately fond of music as he friends, published a small number of copies of a was interested in literature and learnt to play the guitar collection of his poetry. He had selected the poems so that he could accompany himself at private musical carefully, knowing exactly what mould or would not soirees. It is quite likely that some poems were cause offence to his colleagues at the "book-inspection conceived as song-texts from the very beginning, or at department". Much of what he had written had to be least written with Schubert's music in mind. kept back. Shortly after his death, a friend who had Mayrhofer's comment on Ale~nnon(D 541), that it "can intended to see to the publication of Mayrhofer's work only be understood through Schubert's music" was afraid that a large proportion nrould "disappear if it substantiates this theory. fell into the hands of the police". The text uses the classical legend of Memnon to Mayrhofer's style, with the exception of his express the poet's aesthetic concept and his personal convivial drinking-songs and descriptions of nature, is suffering.