Paul Hindemith Das Marienleben New Version 1948 Soile Isokoski soprano Marita Viitasalo piano Paul Hindemith (1948) 2 aul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben (The Life of gestural musical structure and empathic understand- Pthe Virgin Mary), a song cycle for voice and ing of the poem, is sti ll the epitome of Hindemithian piano to Rainer Maria Rilke’s cycle of fi ft een poems expressionism, in the other setti ngs he arrives at the of the same name, which was published in 1912, Neue Sachlichkeit following the formal principles of is without questi on one of his principal works. Carl literature: through a historical stylizati on of music Orff ’s obituary of Hindemith even referred to him as in the spirit of a neo-Baroque which takes up the the “master of the Marienleben.” In his infl uenti al “retrospecti ve stance” of Rilke’s poetry, the adopti on history of modern music, Die moderne Musik seit of the style of poeti c expression and communicati on der Romanti k (Modern Music Since the Romanti c – as narrati ve, lament, confession, lullaby, hymn, Period) of 1928, Hans Mersmann deemed Hin- etc. – with the appropriate musical infl ecti on, and, demith’s cycle the “foremost achievement in new fi nally, the choice of a parti cular musical form as an music of the 1920s.” Although he was already well elaborately developed expression of the content of acquainted with Rilke’s poems, Hindemith report- the poems. This transformati on of the concept of edly did not summon the courage to att empt a musical expression becomes parti cularly clear in the setti ng of this powerful cycle unti l he saw the famed passacaglia (No. 2), fugato (No. 9), basso osti nato “Stuppach Madonna” (1517–19) by Matt hias Grüne- (No. 8), and variati on (No. 14), which Hindemith wald (c. 1480–1528). He repeatedly alluded to the uses for the fi rst ti me in song setti ngs for purposes diffi culti es the compositi on caused him. Under the of textual interpretati on. The importance which song “Vom Tode Mariae II” (Of the death of B.V.M.), Hindemith himself att aches to the work goes far be- which he completed last, he quoted a line from yond the development of new principles of musical the poem “Argwohn Josephs” (Joseph’s doubt), as expression, however. In later years he acknowledged though relieved – “Dann sang er Lob” (Then sang he that “The strong impression which the fi rst perform- praise). And in a lett er to his publisher he declared, ance made on the audience – I had expected noth- “I like the pieces very much and am certain that they ing – made me aware of the ethical imperati ves of are my best works thus far – and I don’t believe that music and the moral obligati ons of the musician for a song cycle of similar proporti ons has been com- the fi rst ti me in my musical life.” posed recently.” These challenging ethical and moral obligati ons The cycle, which the 26-year-old Hindemith to both the audience and the work, and to his own began on 27 June 1922 with the compositi on of abiliti es as a composer, soon led Hindemith to No. 11, “Pietà,” and concluded on 4 July 1923 with improve his musical design of the Marienleben if No. 14, “Vom Tode Mariae II,” was extremely impor- possible. He wanted to further perfect a work which tant in his process of fi nding himself as a composer. he loved and was deeply att ached to and began It records the transformati on of the expressionist to alter individual bars already in 1924. In 1935 he concept into the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objecti v- undertook a complete revision of the enti re cycle. ity), which was decisive for Hindemith and early At that ti me he was working on his theoreti cal study twenti eth-century music history. If the “Pietà,” Unterweisung im Tonsatz (translated into English as with its completely free, extraordinarily suggesti ve, The Craft of Musical Compositi on) and, as a conse- 3 quence of the revisions – through self-observati on, Auferstandenen” (Assuageing of B.V.M. with the so to speak – he clearly arrived at new principles Arisen one) was left enti rely unchanged. He did not of music theory which he described as “harmonic complete this new version unti l 1948 and published fl uctuati ons” and a “two-voice framework.” (Har- it with a preface in which he gave a detailed expla- monic fl uctuati on measures the harmonic tension nati on of the reasons that had led him to revise it, in a sequence of chords, and the two-voice frame- its principles and aims. He also interspersed this work governs the structure of a polyphonic musical preface with polemical comments against the “new texture.) By the same token, however, his theoreti - music” of that day, however, for instance, “Aft er cal work also prompted him to organize the tonal a thousand variants, this ‘new’ has become stale, relati onships in the music of the Marienleben more but the age-old quest for spiritual intensifi cati on of methodically, systemati cally and, above all, more music is sti ll as new as ever. For all the appreciati on audibly and adapt them to the spirit of the poetry. with which one may well greet the technical innova- In March 1941 he developed a plan for a fundamen- ti ons, for they are intended to make work easier, tal revision of the enti re work in which all elements it is nevertheless advisable, in the term ‘new art,’ of compositi on were to serve the interpretati on to lay less stress on the word ‘new’ and emphasize of the poems. He connected the songs through a the word ‘art’ more.” The resulti ng backlash was system of themati c and moti vic references and gave undoubtedly detrimental to the recepti on of the the clearly percepti ble tonal centres extramusi- new version of the Marienleben but, viewed from cal meanings. He assigned the tonality of E to the a distance of more than a half-century, Hindemith fi gure of Christ (that is, the keynote E is the centre was to a large extent right. In the revised version of the respecti ve tonal relati onships) and A to Mary. recorded here by Soile Isokoski and Marita Viitasalo, Such tonal codes are also given specifi c moods Das Marienleben has held its own and is one of the or emoti ons expressed in the poems, such as “in- most demanding but, at the same ti me, sti mulati ng comprehensibility,” “earthly tumult,” “infi nity,” or challenges in the lieder singer’s repertoire. “idyllicism.” Hindemith was thus able to elucidate or interpret the meaning of the poetry without eroding Giselher Schubert or undermining the autonomy of the musical form. Director of the Hindemith Insti tute, Frankfurt/Main; Moreover, he endeavoured to rid the vocal part of Editor-in-Chief of the Complete Works of its instrumentalisms, making it more singable. Paul Hindemith Hindemith was only able to realize this new (Translati on: Phyllis Anderson) concepti on of the work with great eff ort, however, parti cularly because he wanted to conti nue to use the musical material from the original version. He himself reported that he revised individual songs up to twenty ti mes in order to adapt them to his new standards, his stronger, expansive ethos. Only the setti ng of No. 12, “Sti llung Mariae mit dem 4 Soile Isokoski is recognized as one of the world’s Marita Viitasalo has been the permanent duo fi nest lyric sopranos and regularly appears on the partner of Soile Isokoski since 1987. Together they most renowned stages. Aft er graduati ng from the have given recitals all over the world, including Sibelius Academy, she gave her début recital in London, Vienna, Paris, New York, Washington, Helsinki in 1986 and subsequently won a number Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Frankfurt, and of important internati onal singing competi ti ons. made recordings of Scandinavian works and songs She made her début at the Finnish Nati onal Opera by Schubert, Schumann, and Wolf. Marita Viitasalo is as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème and has since de- a founding member of Trio Finlandia. Her solo career lighted audiences and criti cs alike at opera houses was initi ated with a prize at the Maj Lind Piano Com- in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, London, Milan, peti ti on. She graduated from the Sibelius Academy Paris, and New York, and at the festi vals of Salzburg, in Helsinki in 1972 and subsequently went on for Savonlinna, Edinburgh, and Orange. Soile Isokoski further studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in has worked with numerous disti nguished conductors Rome and the Academy of Music in Vienna. Her solo such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, recordings include works by Sibelius, Debussy, and Mikko Franck, Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, Ravel. Marita Viitasalo has been a lecturer at the Sir Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki since 1981 and Arti sti c Sir Simon Ratt le, Bernhard Haiti nk, Riccardo Muti , Co-Director of the Internati onal Piano Festi val in Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, and James Levine. Espoo since 1989. In 2006, she received the Pro She has an extensive concert repertoire, and she Finlandia Medal. regularly gives recitals with her permanent accom- panist Marita Viitasalo. Soile Isokoski’s award-winning recordings for Ondine include Sibelius’s Luonnotar and other orchestral songs by Jean Sibelius, with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam (2007 BBC Music Magazine Award ‘Disc of the Year’ and MIDEM Classical Award), and Four Last Songs and other orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marek Janowski (2002 Gramophone Award).