Ravinia 2024 Issue 4

premiere of “Sommerabend” in Vienna on Feb- ruary 4, 1896. There is no documented first per- formance of “Mondenschein.” When he composed the Vier Lieder , op. 96, in Vienna and Mürzzuschlag during the spring and early summer of 1884, Brahms intended a song set devoted entirely to Heine’s poetry. However, when his friend and musical confi- dante Elisabeth von Herzogenberg judged the second song, “Wie der Mond sich leuchtend dränget,” not worthy of his talent, Brahms re- placed it with “Wir wandelten, wir zwei zusam- men,” based on a poem by George Friedrich Daumer. N. Simrock published the Vier Lieder , op. 96, in Berlin in March 1886. The cover art by Max Klinger depicted a young man lying under a thick shade tree. In “Meerfahrt” (no. 4), two lovers float together in a boat toward a beautiful island, where there is music and dancing. Their boat just drifts past, melancholy, into the open sea. German tenor Gustav Walter gave the first performance in Vi- enna on January 8, 1886. “Es schauen die Blu- men” (no. 3), in which songs fly to the singer’s beloved with tears and sighs, elicited the stron- gest emotions from members of Brahms’s close circle of friends. Clara Schumann exclaimed, “Oh, how the third moves on with its cry of de- spair at the end,” while the discerning Elisabeth von Herzogenberg declared it “a gem indeed, a marvel of compactness!” In “Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht” (no. 1), the singer grows weary af- ter a long day. Life is the sultry day; Death is the cool night. A tree rises over his bed. A nightin- gale sings a melody that the singer hears even in his dreams. Lieder und Gesänge , op. 32 Brahms composed the Lieder und Gesänge , op. 32, in September 1864 while vacationing in Baden-Baden, although some sketch material may have originated two years earlier. Passing a summer at the most fashionable spa in Europe populated with the rich and famous appears Heinrich Heine by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1831) at odds with Brahms’s general austerity and yearning for privacy. However, the handsome young pianist and composer could not resist the chance to spend several months near Clara Schumann and her children, who lived a highly ordered, frugal existence at her modest summer cottage in nearby Lichtental (“the kennel,” ac- cording to the children). Other seasonal resi- dents whom Brahms encountered included the mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot-Garcia, pianist Anton Rubinstein, conductor Hermann Levi, novelist Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, engraver and photographer Julius Allgeyer, and Johann Strauss Jr., the “waltz king.” In assembling texts for his Lieder und Gesänge , Brahms drew together the exquisitely disparate lyrics of August, Graf von Platen-Hallermünde (“Count Platen,” 1795–1835) and the 14th-centu- ry Persian mystic and poet Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz-e Shirazi (known as “Hafiz” or “Hafez”), as translated into German by Georg Friedrich Daumer, along with a Moravian folk- song also rendered by Daumer. Although not conceived as a song cycle, the Neun Lieder und Gesänge display strong internal unity in musical temperament and poetic narrative. The Lieder und Gesänge , op. 32, voyage down an emotional path that parallels the 15 Romanzen , op. 34 ( Magelone-Lieder ) and the regal cantata Rinaldo for tenor solo, male chorus, and orches- tra—both of which occupied Brahms during the summer of 1864. Max Kalbeck observed, in his eight-volume biography of the composer, similarities between the unnamed Lieder sing- er and the title hero in Rinaldo . One wonders how much of his own frustration over affairs of the heart Brahms poured into these nine songs, whose sheer simplicity of musical setting results in a compelling artistic and spiritual journey. The first four selections comprise a complete psychological unit, a fact Brahms disclosed to the Swiss music publisher Jakob Melchior Riet- er-Biedermann by requesting that, if the collec- tion should be issued serially, this opening group should be published together. Our melancholy singer laments his isolation (no. 1), emotion- al conflict and anxious longing for his beloved (no. 2), the gloom of pain and decay (no. 3), and the relentless passage of time (no. 4). His mood shifts in the next two songs from a desperate plea to free the passions of his soul (no. 5) to sad resignation that not only has the poor man lost his lover forever, but she even refuses to ac- knowledge their past affections (no. 6). The final grouping encompasses three songs in which the singer idealizes his beloved: her bitter remarks emanate from sweet lips (no. 7), he timidly rec- ognizes their incompatibility (no. 8), and, in a final act of desperation, the singer seeks blissful death in her arms (no. 9). –Program notes © 2024 Todd E. Sullivan MATTHIAS GOERNE Born in Weimar, Germany, Matthias Goerne be- gan his professional voice training in 1985 with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, later studying with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fisch- er-Dieskau. Goerne’s triumphs in opera date to his 1992 title-role performance in Hans Werner Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg in Cologne and his Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème . Goerne has since appeared at London’s Royal Opera House, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Paris National Opera, Bavaria and Vien- na State Operas, and the Metropolitan Opera, among many other leading stages. Goerne’s rep- ertoire includes the Wagnerian roles of Wolfram in Tannhäuser , Amfortas in Parsifal , Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde , and Wotan in Die Walküre ; Strauss’s Orest in Elektra and Jochanaan in Sa- lome ; and the title roles of Berg’s Wozzeck , Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle , Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler , and Aribert Reimann’s Lear . His broad discography has earned awards from Gramophone , BBC Music Magazine , and Di- apason , as well as five Grammy nominations. Between 2008 and 2014, Goerne released nine Schubert discs with Harmonia Mundi, which also issued his albums of Schumann songs (with Leif Ove Andsnes) and Brahms’s German Requiem (with the Swedish Radio Symphony and Choir). In 2022, Deutsche Grammophon released his album of Schumann and Brahms songs with Daniil Trifonov, having also issued his duo collections with Seong-Jin Cho (Wag- ner, Strauss, and Pfitzner songs) and Jan Lisiec- ki (Beethoven songs). The label most recently released his Schubert Revisited , featuring the composer’s songs in orchestral arrangements. Goerne was an artist-in-residence at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie for 2017/18 and with the New York Philharmonic for 2018/19, and recent high- lights have included premiering Jörg Widmann’s Schumannliebe ; concerts with the Royal Con- certgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphil- harmonie Bremen, French National Orchestra, and Dallas, Pittsburgh, Vienna Symphonies; and recital tours with Leif Ove Andsnes, Markus Hinterhäuser, Víkingur Ólafsson, and Evgeny Kissin. First appearing at Ravinia in 2001, Mat- thias Goerne is marking his 10th season at the festival this summer. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 18, 2024 80 CAROLINEDEBON