The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More Information
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information The Song Cycle The song cycle was one of the most important musical genres of the nineteenth century. Famous examples by Schubert, Schumann and Mahler have received a great deal of attention. Yet many other cycles – by equally famous composers, from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – have not. The Song Cycle introduces key concepts and a broad repertoire by tracing a history of the genre from Beethoven through to the present day. It explores how song cycles reflect the world around them and how national traditions and social relationships are reflected in composers’ choices of texts and musical styles. Tunbridge investigates how other types of music have influenced the scope of the song cycle, from operas and symphonies to popular song. A lively and engaging guide to this important topic, the book outlines how performance practices, from concert customs to new recording technologies, have changed the way we listen. LauraTunbridgeisSeniorLecturerinMusicattheUniversity of Manchester. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information Cambridge Introductions to Music The Song Cycle LAURA TUNBRIDGE © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521721073 ◦C Cambridge University Press 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-89644-3 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-72107-3 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information For Alec © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information Contents List of music examples page ix List of tables xiv Preface and acknowledgements xv Selected chronology xvii Chapter 1 Concepts 1 Chapter 2 Wanderers and balladeers 23 Chapter 3 Performance: the long nineteenth century 40 Chapter 4 Gendered voices 50 Chapter 5 Between opera and symphony: the orchestral song cycle 64 Chapter 6 Travels abroad 81 Chapter 7 Modern subjects 112 Chapter 8 The death of the song cycle 123 Chapter 9 Performance: the twentieth century 144 Chapter 10 Afterlife: the late twentieth century 153 Chapter 11 Rebirth: pop song cycles 169 Notes 187 Guide to further reading 213 Index 218 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information Music examples 1.1 Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe, no. 11, ‘Ein Jungling¨ liebt ein Madchen’¨ (‘A Boy Loves a Girl’) to 12, ‘Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen’ (‘One Bright Summer Morning’). ‘It’s an old story,/Yetremainsevernew;/Andhetowhomithappens,/It breaks his heart in half . One bright summer morning, / I walk around the garden.’ Trans. Richard Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 471. page 12 1.2 Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe,no.1,‘Imwunderschonen¨ Monat Mai’ (‘In the Wondrous Month of May’) to 2, ‘Aus meinen Thranen¨ spriessen’ (‘From my Tears will Spring’). Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 469. 16 2.1 Johannes Brahms, Romanzen aus Ludwig Tiecks ‘Magelone’, no. 15, ‘Treue Liebe dauert lange’ (‘True Love Abides’). ‘And whatever held the spirit captive / Then recedes like mist, / And the wide world opens its doors / To the cheerful gaze of spring.’ Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder,p.86. 30 2.2 Franz Schubert, Winterreise, no. 1, ‘Gute Nacht’ (‘Good Night’). ‘A stranger came, / A stranger I depart. / The month of May favoured me / With many bouquets of flowers . I cannot choose the time / For my journey: I must find my own way / In this darkness.’ Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 363. 35 2.3 Franz Schubert, Winterreise, no. 24, ‘Der Leiermann’ (‘The Organ Grinder’). ‘There beyond the village, / An organ-grinder stands, / And with numb fingers / Plays as best he can . No one cares to listen, / No one looks at him; / And the dogs snarl / Around the old man.’ Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 373. 36 2.4 Franz Schubert, Winterreise, no. 14, ‘Der greise Kopf’ (‘The Hoary Head’). ‘The frost has sprinkled a white sheen / On my hair.’ Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 369. 37 4.1 Robert Schumann, Frauenliebe und -leben, no. 8, ‘Nun hast’ du mir den ersten Schmerz getan’ (‘Now you Have Caused me my ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information x List of music examples First Pain’). ‘There I have you and my lost happiness, / You, my world!’ Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 443. 52 4.2 Gyorgy¨ Kurtag,´ Messages of the Late R.V. Troussova,no.4, ‘A Little Erotic’. With permission of Editio Musica Budapest. 57 5.1 a) Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde Act II, ‘Descend night of love, grant oblivion that I may live’. b) Wesendonck Lieder,no.5,‘Traume’¨ (‘Dreams’). ‘Say, what wondrous dreams are these / Embracing all my senses’. Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 568. 67 5.2 Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, no. 1, ‘Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgehn’ (‘Now the Sun Will Rise as Bright’). Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 209. 73 5.3 Gustav Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, no. 5, ‘In diesem Wetter’. ‘In this weather, this howling gale, this raging storm’. Trans. Stokes, The Book of Lieder, p. 211. 74 5.4 Gustav Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde,no.4,‘VonderSchonheit’¨ (‘Of Beauty’). 79 6.1 Modest Musorgsky, Sunless, no. 1, ‘Komnatka tesnaya, tikhaya, milaya’ (‘A Little Room, Cosy, Quiet, Dear’). 83 6.2 Alexander Dargom¨ızhsky, ‘Vostochniy romans’ (‘Oriental Romance’). 84 6.3 Modest Musorgsky, The Nursery,no.1,‘Snyaney’(‘With Nanny’). ‘And how those children cried out, wept. Nanny dear! Why did the wolf eat those children?’ Trans. David Fanning. 87 6.4 Modest Musorgsky, Songs and Dances of Death, no. 2, ‘Serenada’ (‘Serenade’) ‘Magical bliss blue-shaded night, trembling spring twilight . “In the darkness of stern and narrow captivity”’. Trans. David Fanning. 89 6.5 Tchaikovsky, Shest’ Romansov (Six Romances) op. 73, no. 6, ‘Snova, kak prezhde, odin’. ‘Again, as before, I am alone, / Once again I am wrapped in grief . The poplar is seen at the window, / All lit by the moon.’ Trans. David Fanning. 90 6.6 Jules Massenet, Po`eme d’avril, no. 1, ‘Prelude’. ‘A chilly rose, its heart drenched with rain, / Has just blossomed on a trembling bough. / And I feel the sweetest folly assail me once more / To create songs and recall the past! // All the dead loves asleep in my soul, / Gentle Lazarus, on whom I shed so many tears, / Laughingly raise their shroud of flowers, / And ask me the name of my new love. // O my blue-eyed darling, dress and let us flee / Through woods filled with melancholy and shade, / To seek a © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-72107-3 - The Song Cycle Laura Tunbridge Frontmatter More information List of music examples xi sweetcureforoursweetfolly./Thesunhaswoundedmewithits first rays!’ Trans. Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 306. 95 6.7 Gabriel Faure,´ La Bonne Chanson, no. 5, ‘J’ai presque peur, en verite’.´ (Transposed to C minor.) ‘In truth, I am almost afraid, / So much do I feel my life bound up / With the radiant thoughts / That captured my soul last summer.’ Trans. Richard Stokes in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Faur´e: The Songs and Their Poets (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), p. 233. 98 6.8 Claude Debussy, Fˆetes galantes (I), no. 1, ‘En sourdine’ (‘Muted’). ‘Calm in the twilight / Cast by lofty boughs.’ Trans. Stokes, A French Song Companion, p. 111. 100 6.9 Claude Debussy, Fˆetes galantes (II), no. 3, ‘Colloque sentimentale’ (‘Lovers’ Dialogue’). ‘Do you remember our past rapture?’ Trans. Stokes, A French Song Companion, p. 120. 102 6.10 Maurice Ravel, Chansons mad´ecasses, no. 2, ‘Aoua!’ ‘Aoua! Aoua! Beware of white men, dwellers of the shore. In our fathers’ time, white men landed on this island; they were told; here is land, let yourwomenworkit;bejust,bekind,andbecomeourbrothers.’ Trans. Stokes, A French Song Companion, p. 42. 105 6.11 Karol Szymanowski, Słopiewnie, no. 3, ‘Sw. Franciszek’ (‘St Francis’). ‘Little birds, little flowers . cheerful alleluia, holy gospels.’ C 1923 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien/UE 6968. Text: Julian Tuwim. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. 109 7.1 Arnold Schoenberg, Das Buch der hangenden¨ Garten¨ , no. 15, ‘Wir bevolkerten¨ die abenddustern¨ Lauben’ (‘We Peopled the Evening-Dusky Arbours’).