Dave Har p
{ program notes
The BSO
great sweeping theme, first heard in the
violins and returning in triumph at the
conclusion, is sung by Agathe as she greets
her lover, Max.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings.
Four L ast Songs
Richard Strauss
Born in Munich, Bavaria, June 11, 1864;
died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany, September 8, 1949
Rarely are we privileged to hear what a
composer of very advanced age but still at
the height of his creative powers has to say
to us. Most composers if they are lucky
enough to live past seventy have long
since put their pens and score paper into
retirement. But Richard Strauss never laid
down his pen and produced some of his
most remarkable works after 75. His last
messages to the world were the sublime
Four Last Songs of 1948, written when he
was 84. They combine consummate musical craft with the serene, otherworldly
vision of a very old man who still loves life
but sees approaching death as a blessing.
And they weave together the two forms of
musical expression for which he was most
renowned: music for large orchestra and
music for the voice.
At the end of World War II, Strauss
and his wife of more than 50 years,
Pauline, found themselves in limbo.
24 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
In 1933, Strauss had incautiously accepted
an official musical post under the newly
installed Nazi government, and although
he was fired a year and a half later for
insubordination and spent the war years
on Hitler’s persona non grata list, he was
charged by the Allies as a suspected Nazi
collaborator. In 1948 while composing the Four Last Songs, he was finally
absolved by the De-Nazification Board.
But in the meantime, he was not allowed
to work in Germany or collect any royalties. However, since he and Pauline were
in frail health, they were permitted to go
into exile in Switzerland while his case
was being considered.
The first song, “Frühling”,
stands a little apart
from the others in
its youthful ecstasy.
When the composer’s son, Franz,
visited his parents in Montreux, he found
Strauss homesick and deeply depressed.
Reportedly, Franz told his father: “Papa,
stop writing letters and brooding, it does
no good. Write a few nice songs instead.”
The suggestion struck a spark. Strauss
had already been musing over a poem
Im Abendrot (“At Sunset”) by Joseph
Eichendorff, who had inspired many
lieder by Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf;
its description of an old couple who have
shared years of “Not und Freude” (need
and joy) together and now contemplate
death in a strange land mirrored exactly
his and Pauline’s situation. And an admirer had sent him a book of poems by
Hermann Hesse, winner of the 1946
Nobel Prize for Literature; he selected
five of these poems for musical setting,
but ultimately completed only three:
“Frühling” (“Spring”), “September”, and
“Beim schlafengehen” (“Going to sleep”).
So special were these poems that Strauss
decided to give them a full orchestral
scoring and set them for the voice he
loved best: soprano. In her youth, Pauline
had been a fine professional soprano, and
it is a remembrance of her voice we hear
in the Four Last Songs.
The best way to appreciate these indescribably beautiful songs is to read along
with the text translations provided; words
and music fuse into a mood of glowing
serenity, without regret or pain. The first
song, “Frühling”, stands a little \\