Three madrigals in the words of young Werther

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The three madrigals after the words of the young Werther is the name of the three madrigal compositions for five-part mixed choir (two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass) by Arnold Mendelssohn with the opus number 47, which were published in print in 1912. The texts of the setting are taken from the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from 1774. Soloists or small vocal groups are provided for the cast of the choir .

General

The madrigals take three days out of Werther's life. First a summer day in 1771 and then two days in December 1772 shortly before his suicide .

The three madrigals are composed in three different church modes. Arnold Mendelssohn writes in his notes regarding the three madrigals:

“ Use of the old church modes is often sought today in an archaic sense. Is misunderstanding. They can still be used alive today, without switching off the chromatic and extensive modulation . One only has to trace their essence back to the core, and this consists in the fact that every church key gravitates according to the root key. So D Doric to C major ; not like D minor after F major . G Mixolydian to C major; not in D major , rather in D minor. I applied this principle in the madrigals. "

- Arnold Mendelssohn

The choirs are dedicated to Gustav von Lüpke, a musician friend of Mendelssohn, who was born in Lower Saxony in 1875 and studied in Berlin from 1894 to 1898 . He then worked as a conductor , as director of the Meisterchen Music Institute and as head of a music association in Silesia and died in 1915 at the age of 39 as a volunteer in the Landsturm near Warsaw after being shot in the head .

structure

I will see her

After Werther met Lotte, he was lively and excited. Mendelssohn chose the fourth church key (Tetrardus) as the tone type for the first piece , which is often used to express joy and pleading. The movement is headed with the instruction Lively and Fiery , is in four-quarter time and the root note is a (accidental F sharp and C sharp). The final cadence runs harmoniously through distant keys over the chords A major, C major, G major, E minor, B major, D major, F sharp major, A major, E major and ends on A major.

Text:

July 19, 1771:
"I will see her!"
I call out in the morning
when I encourage myself
and look towards the beautiful sun with all serenity;
"I will see her!"
and then I have no further wishes for the whole day.
Everything, everything is devoured in this view!

How the figure chases me

Werther's expectations for Lotte are still hopeful at this point. The ethos of hope is often compositionally expressed in the first church mode, the protus , as is the case with many Advent hymns . The movement is headed with the instruction Hasty and excited , is in twelve-eighth time and the root note is E (accidental F sharp and C sharp). The distinctive motif on the opening text How the figure follows me! is always present in one of the five voices at the beginning and at the end of the piece and is exaggerated by duoles shortly before the end . The final turn goes from A minor to E major.

Text:

December 6, 1772:
How the figure pursues me!
Waking and dreaming, it fills my whole soul!
When I close my eyelids
stand in my inner forehead
her black eyes rest like an abyss before me.

Why do you wake me up, spring air?

Shortly before Christmas and three days before his death, Werther was already certain of Lotte's aloofness, which was expressed by desperate wailing and contractions. Mendelssohn set the last piece accordingly in the Phrygian tone , which belongs to the second church key, the Deuterus. The movement is overwritten with the instruction Something slowly , is in four-quarter time (interrupted by six measures in twelve-eighth time) and the root note is d (accidental b-flat and es). The first soprano introduces the melody of the first verse, which is then imitated by all voices. In the course of the play, the votes are in pairs almost continuously in parallel , often in parallel thirds . The final turn goes from G minor to D major.

Text:

December 21, 1772:
Why do you wake me up, spring air?
You court and speak:
I dew with drops of heaven!
But the time of my withering is near
near the storm that blows down my leaves.
Tomorrow the wanderer will come
come who saw me in my beauty,
all around his eye in the field will seek me,
and won't find me

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Mendelssohn - Biographical Overview , accessed online January 27, 2013
  2. ^ Arnold Mendelssohn: God, the world and art - records, Darmstadt, Insel-Verlag (1949), page 8
  3. ↑ Werner Zager : Albert Schweitzer as a liberal theologian: Studies on a theological and philosophical thinker , Volume 11 of Contributions to Albert Schweitzer Research, LIT Verlag, Münster (2009), ISBN 9783643102843 , page 134
  4. ^ The voice: Central sheet for voice and tone formation, singing lessons and voice hygiene , Volume 10, Verlag Trowitsch & Sohn (1915), page 124
  5. ↑ a b c Markus Bautsch: About the Ethos of Church Tones , accessed online on January 27, 2013