The life of Mary
Das Marienleben is a song cycle for soprano voice and piano (Op. 27) by Paul Hindemith based on the poem cycle of the same name Das Marien-Leben (1912) by Rainer Maria Rilke .
Hindemith set Rilke's poems to music - like many other of his works - twice: first in 1923/24 as op. 27 and then later (in a heavily revised version) again in 1948. The cycle includes the following individual songs:
- Birth of Mary
- The representation
- Annunciation
- Visitation of the Virgin Mary
- Suspicion of Joseph
- Annunciation about the Shepherd
- Birth of Christ
- Rest on the run in Egypt
- From the wedding
- Before the passion
- Pietà
- Satisfaction of Mary with the Risen One
- From the death of Mary I.
- From the death of Mary II
- From the death of Mary III
One of the earliest recordings in the cycle was made by Erna Berger . Later, Gundula Janowitz and a number of other sopranos took on the challenges of this cycle.
literature
- Wilhelm Sinkovicz : Paul Hindemith's song cycle “Marienleben” and its two versions as an example of the style change in music in the first half of the 20th century. Diss. Vienna 1993.