Brahms: Two Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano, Op. 91
A distance of 21 years separates Johannes Brahms' Two Songs for Viola, Voice and Piano, Op. 91, written separately in 1863 and 1884 and published in the opposite order of their composition, but the songs are tied together by their shared theme of wind in the trees, by Brahms’ penchant for dark sonorities, and by their intended recipients. Brahms wrote both songs for his close friends Joseph Joachim and Amalie Schneeweiss, first for the occasion of their wedding, and later in a futile attempt to mend their damaged relationship.
“Gestillte Sehnsucht” (Assuaged longing) opens the set with a wistful text by Friedrich Rückert that surely appealed to Brahms’ love for nature and Romantic sensibilities. Each stanza sounds a refrain of whispering wind and birds, each time delivering a different message and ultimately confessing that the speaker’s longing will only end when life itself ends. Brahms paints the twilight yearning of the poetry in his characteristic dusky timbres, with murmuring arpeggios deep in the piano while the viola croons in velvet tones. Atop this carpet of viola and piano, the low female voice glows like the opening lines it pronounces: “Bathed in golden evening glow, / How solemnly the forests stand!”
“Geistliches Wiegenlied” (Sacred lullaby) establishes a rocking lilt as the viola simply sets out the tune of “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein”, a well-known medieval Christmas carol in which Mary asks Joseph to help rock the Baby Jesus. Brahms even provided the words of the song beneath the viola line in the score, perhaps to prod Joachim by his given name, as the new couple was expecting a baby (they would go on to name it Johannes, after Brahms).
© Graeme Steele Johnson for Chamber Music Northwest
A distance of 21 years separates Johannes Brahms' Two Songs for Viola, Voice and Piano, Op. 91, written separately in 1863 and 1884 and published in the opposite order of their composition, but the songs are tied together by their shared theme of wind in the trees, by Brahms’ penchant for dark sonorities, and by their intended recipients. Brahms wrote both songs for his close friends Joseph Joachim and Amalie Schneeweiss, first for the occasion of their wedding, and later in a futile attempt to mend their damaged relationship.
“Gestillte Sehnsucht” (Assuaged longing) opens the set with a wistful text by Friedrich Rückert that surely appealed to Brahms’ love for nature and Romantic sensibilities. Each stanza sounds a refrain of whispering wind and birds, each time delivering a different message and ultimately confessing that the speaker’s longing will only end when life itself ends. Brahms paints the twilight yearning of the poetry in his characteristic dusky timbres, with murmuring arpeggios deep in the piano while the viola croons in velvet tones. Atop this carpet of viola and piano, the low female voice glows like the opening lines it pronounces: “Bathed in golden evening glow, / How solemnly the forests stand!”
“Geistliches Wiegenlied” (Sacred lullaby) establishes a rocking lilt as the viola simply sets out the tune of “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein”, a well-known medieval Christmas carol in which Mary asks Joseph to help rock the Baby Jesus. Brahms even provided the words of the song beneath the viola line in the score, perhaps to prod Joachim by his given name, as the new couple was expecting a baby (they would go on to name it Johannes, after Brahms).
© Graeme Steele Johnson for Chamber Music Northwest