Fanny MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL. Songs 1

Transcription

1 Fanny MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL Songs 1 Du bist die Ruh Schwanenlied Im Herbste Traum Nacht Dein ist mein Herz Dorothea Craxton, Soprano Babette Dorn, Piano

2 Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel ( ) Songs 1 Sechs Lieder, Op. 1 13:12 1 Schwanenlied (Swansong) 3:10 (Heinrich Heine, ) 2 Wanderlied (Wanderer s Song) 1:53 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ) 3 Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass 2:12 (Why are then the roses so pale) (Heinrich Heine) 4 Mayenlied (May Song) 1:41 (Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, ) 5 Morgenständchen (Morning Serenade) 1:49 6 Gondellied (Gondola Song) 2:27 (Emanuel Geibel, ) Sechs Lieder, Op. 7 12:16 7 Nachtwanderer (Night Wanderer) 2:20 8 Erwin 1:44 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 9 Frühling (Spring) 1:42 0 Du bist die Ruh (You are the calm) 1:58 (Friedrich Rückert, )! Bitte (Please) 1:54 (Nikolaus Lenau, 1802 Dein ist mein Herz (Yours is my heart) 2:38 (Nikolaus Lenau) Fünf Lieder, Op :00 # Nach Süden (To the South) 2:07 (Anon.) $ Vorwurf (Reproach) 2:30 (Nikolaus Lenau) % Abendbild (Evening Picture) 2:19 (Nikolaus Lenau) ^ Im Herbste (In Autumn) 2:22 (Emanuel Geibel) & Bergeslust (Mountain Pleasure) 1:42 Eichendorff-Lieder 15:28 * Die Stille (Stillness) 2:13 ( Liebe in der Fremde 3:14 (Love in a Foreign Land) ) Traum (Dream) 2:39 Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer 1:53 (Night is like a quiet sea) Ich kann wohl manchmal singen 2:45 (I can often sing) Im Herbst (In Autumn) 2:44 Anklänge 5:46 1. Vöglein, in den sonn gen Tagen 1:52 (Little bird, on sunny days) 2. Ach, wie ist es doch gekommen 1:42 (Ah, how has it come about) 3. Könnt ich zu den Wäldern flüchten 2:12 (Could I to the woods flee) 2

3 Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel ( ) Songs 1 For many years Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel was known only as a footnote in the history of music, if she was known at all. Even now, the fame of her younger brother Felix far eclipses her own despite the fact that she was a gifted composer in her own right. Descended from the well-known philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Fanny was born in Hamburg in 1805 into a highly cultured family. Her upbringing was unusual, and somewhat conflicted although she was given more or less the same musical education as Felix (and apparently showed similar promise) she was always made aware that as a woman, she would be unable to follow the path for which she had such obvious natural aptitude. On her 23rd birthday, her father Abraham instructed her to become more steady and collected, and prepare more earnestly and eagerly for your real calling, the only calling of a young woman I mean the state of a housewife. Even her beloved brother Felix, with whom she had an intensely close relationship, was ambivalent towards her musical aspirations. Although supportive of her work, even passing off some of her compositions as his own, he always discouraged her from publishing under her own name. In 1829 Fanny did get married to the artist Wilhelm Hensel, and a year later she gave birth to their son Sebastian. She remained musically active, travelling to Italy several times, where she met the young French composer Charles Gounod, who later remarked that she had introduced him to Bach s keyboard music. She was a passionate champion of Bach, and had joined the Berlin Singakademie, which was dedicated to reviving music of the past, in Fanny also continued to give private performances (her only public appearance took place in 1838) and to compose, although it was not until 1846 that she ventured to publish anything, a collection of Lieder that became her Op. 1. Publication represented a step towards independence for Fanny, and future years would presumably have seen more pieces appearing in print, but her nascent career was cut short by her untimely death. On 14th May 1847, a day after 3 completing her final Lied, she died from a stroke. Songs and piano pieces make up the bulk of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel s compositions, which number around five hundred. Considered by her contemporaries to be a salon composer, such small-scale works as these were a socially acceptable outlet for her talents. The sensitive word-setting, small-scale structures and deeply personal expressiveness of Fanny s songs are all typical of Lieder in the German Romantic tradition, particularly as exemplified by Robert Schumann, but her unique harmonic sense and gift for melody are entirely her own. The Lied was, in many ways, the most quintessential of all Romantic genres fragile, fragmentary and intimate and it allowed her to demonstrate true mastery of her craft. All of the Lieder on this recording date from the last decade of her life, most from the final few years. The 1840s, and 1846 in particular, were an astonishingly rich period. It is significant that the first music she chose to publish was her Six Lieder, Op. 1, although it received mixed reviews. Over the next few years more collections of songs appeared (posthumously), including her Op. 7 (published in 1848) and Op. 10 (1850). Op. 10 includes her last completed composition, a witty and charming setting of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff ( ) entitled Bergeslust. The poetry that Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel chose to set was almost exclusively written by German authors of the Romantic era, including many of the most famous literary names of the day. Goethe ( ) and Heinrich Heine ( ) are perhaps best known, and were favourites of contemporary composers. Goethe, in particular, served as a Muse to such eminent musicians as Schumann (both Robert and Clara), Schubert, Brahms, Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn, as well as countless others. Two of the settings on this disc, the introspective Schwanenlied (1840) and Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass (1837), are of Heine. Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass, in particular, conjures up the poet s melancholy, bitter-sweet aesthetic.

4 It is Eichendorff, however, to whom Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel returned again and again for inspiration. His poetry is immersed in the sublimity of nature, a theme which evidently struck a chord with her. The small-scale song-cycle Anklänge (comprised of the final three songs on this release), dating from 1841, is typical of Fanny s settings of Eichendorff. Wistful, fleeting and delicate, they capture the pensive longing of the text perfectly. Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer and Ich kann wohl manchmal singen, both composed around 1846, are similarly evocative, while Die Stille of 1844, with its lilting vocal line and rocking accompaniment is especially beautiful. Perhaps her most powerful setting of Eichendorff, however, is Nachtwanderer (1843). The opening is deceptively serene, although the restless accompaniment hints at dark undercurrents. Growing in animation, the music rises to a brief climax, before drawing to a close on a final, almost imperceptibly quiet chord, which seems somehow unresolved. The whole Lied is imbued with a sense of longing and of secrets hidden just below the surface. It seems extraordinary to think that her Op. 7, of which Nachtwanderer is the first song, was criticized upon publication for its supposed lack of emotional depth. The lyric poets Emanuel Geibel ( ), Friedrich Rückert ( ) and Nikolaus Lenau ( ) are also represented among Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel s settings. Geibel s Gondellied is particularly notable: an ethereal love-song with a gossamer-fine, rippling accompaniment, its delicate charm is a perfect counterpart to the sparkling imagery of the poem. It is tempting to see the central three songs from Op. 10 Vorwurf, Abendbild (both by Lenau) and Im Herbste (Geibel) as a set within themselves. All were written around the same time in 1846, and all deal with the metaphor of something drawing to a close. The mournful Vorwurf shows Fanny at her most vulnerable, and Im Herbste likewise deals with the imagery of lost love and death in sombre autumnal colours. Abendbild, however, though suffused with a sense of coming darkness, is in the manner of a lullaby, and is overwhelmingly peaceful and serene. It is difficult not to let knowledge of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel s approaching death colour one s perception of these poignant works, or to speculate what she might have gone on to achieve had she not died less than a year later. Being Mendelssohn s sister has often inhibited consideration of her as a composer in her own right, a tendency reinforced by the similarity of their musical styles. Her work, however, belies this glib dismissal, revealing instead a distinct and richly powerful musical voice a voice that deserves to be heard. Caroline Waight 4

5 Dorothea Craxton Dorothea Craxton graduated from the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Cologne with the Artists Diploma and continued her studies with Anna Reynolds and Barbara Schlick. She has appeared as a soprano soloist in numerous oratorio and concert performances, with premières and in chamber music. She gives regular Lieder recitals and in recent years has given particular attention to the work of women composers of the romantic period. In February 2009 her recording of the complete Clara Schumann Songs was released by Naxos. The collaboration of Dorothea Craxton and Babette Dorn was born of their common interest in the works of women composers. As an ensemble singer she performs in different well known ensembles and choirs. In 2004 she first joined the Immortal Bach Ensemble, that has made some highly acclaimed recordings for Naxos. She has received invitations to festivals such as the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern, the Handel Festspiele in Halle and the Europa Bach Festival in Paris. Photo: Frank Domahs 5

6 Babette Dorn Babette Dorn was born in Braunschweig and divides her time between Italy and Germany. She studied with Renate Kretschmar-Fischer in Detmold and was a laureate of the International Schubert Piano Competition in Dortmund in She performs as a soloist, chamber musician and Lieder pianist, appearing in festivals including the Moselfestwochen, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Mai Musical d Aÿ (France), Ravello (Italy), and Frutillar (Chile), and in concert halls including the Konzerthaus Berlin and Bruchsal Palace. She has taught in Germany, Italy and in the United States. Many of her concerts have been broadcast. Her première recording of the piano works of Ilse Fromm-Michaels (Tacet 1999) was highly acclaimed by the press and followed by a series of musicological papers, radio broadcasts, interviews and lecture-concerts, in 2008/09 in Venice, Palermo and Bremen. She has recorded two CDs with piano compositions on Mozart s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro (Genuin 2006), and The Magic Flute will conclude the cycle. Babette Dorn is co-author of the Heine Liederbuch (Hoffmann & Campe 2005). Photo: Adelheid Dorn-Seemann (2009) 6

7 V O C A L Also Available M U S I C

8 NAXOS MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL: Songs 1 A gifted composer of some 500 works, mainly songs and small piano pieces, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel has been eclipsed by the fame of her younger brother Felix Mendelssohn. Yet her sensitivity in setting the German Romantic poets she loved, principally Goethe, Heine, Geibel and von Eichendorff, warrants greater attention. Like Clara Schumann, whose songs Dorothea Craxton has also recorded for Naxos ( ), Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel possessed a distinct and richly powerful musical voice, by turns introspective, melancholic, delicate, lilting and serene which deserves to be heard on its own terms. Fanny MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL ( ) Sechs Lieder, Op. 1 13:12 1 Schwanenlied 3:10 2 Wanderlied 1:53 3 Warum sind denn die Rosen 2:12 4 Mayenlied 1:41 5 Morgenständchen 1:49 6 Gondellied 2:27 Sechs Lieder, Op. 7 12:16 7 Nachtwanderer 2:20 8 Erwin 1:44 9 Frühling 1:42 0 Du bist die Ruh 1:58! Bitte Dein ist mein Herz 2:38 Fünf Lieder, Op :00 # Nach Süden 2:07 $ Vorwurf 2:30 % Abendbild 2:19 ^ Im Herbste 2:22 & Bergeslust 1:42 Eichendorff-Lieder 15:28 * Die Stille 2:13 ( Liebe in der Fremde 3:14 ) Traum 2:39 Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer 1:53 Ich kann wohl manchmal singen 2:45 Im Herbst 2:44 Anklänge 5:46 1. Vöglein, in den sonn gen Tagen 1:52 2. Ach, wie ist es doch gekommen 1:42 3. Könnt ich zu den Wäldern 2:12 Dorothea Craxton, Soprano Babette Dorn, Piano Recorded in the Mendelssohn-Saal, Gewandhaus, Leipzig, Germany on 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th April, 2008 Producer, Engineer and Editor: Thomas Wieber, Beoton Leipzig Booklet notes: Caroline Waight Sung texts and English translations are available at: Cover Picture: Bäume und Eingesponnenes, 2006 by Antje Seemann (used with permission) DDD Playing Time 57:44 & 2009 Naxos Rights International Ltd. Booklet notes in English Sung texts and English translations are available at: Disc Made in Canada Printed & Assembled in USA NAXOS MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL: Songs 1