Travel book from the Austrian Alps
Travel Book from the Austrian Alps (op. 62) is a song cycle by Ernst Krenek, completed in 1929 .
The original version for medium voice and piano was premiered in Leipzig in January 1930 , an arrangement for medium voice and orchestra by Till Alexander Körber in Krems in 2018 .
Content and form
The cycle influenced by Schubert was written by Krenek directly after a tour through Austria with his parents and his wife at the time and consists of twenty songs:
- 1st motive
- 2. Transport
- 3. Monastery in the Alps
- 4. Weather
- 5. Sad hour
- 6. Cemetery in the mountain village
- 7th rainy day
- 8. Our wine
- 9. Review
- 10. Up and down
- 11. Alpine residents
- 12. Politics
- 13. Thunderstorm
- 14. Homesickness
- 15. Hot day at the lake
- 16. Small town in the southern Alps
- 17. View to the south
- 18. Decision
- 19. Homecoming
- 20th epilogue
Some of the songs deal directly with the external impressions of the trip ( traffic, cemetery in the mountain village, ... ), while others are inner reflections of the lyrical self that are sometimes satirical and socially critical or warn ( homesickness , alpine residents, ... ).
In " Politics" , Krenek addresses the collapse of the Danube Monarchy and the war that followed with the words:
"We were chosen to be shepherds for the many peoples
of the east and south that were united with us.
We didn't do the job
failed the exam, poorly prepared by bad teachers.
The punishment was terrible. Or did you forget that? "
Interpretations
According to his own statements, the work is the favorite cycle of tenor Matthäus Schmidlechner and is one of his main focuses.
It has been interpreted by a number of well-known opera singers, including Hermann Prey , Julius Patzak , Wolfgang Holzmair , Erwin Belakowitsch and Heinz Zednik .
Web links
Complete text in the Austrian Folk Dictionary: https://www.volkswoerterbuch.at/beitrag/542/reisebuch_aus_den_oesterreichischen_alpen
Individual evidence
- ↑ Database entry "Travel book from the Austrian Alps" on krenek.at. Accessed June 1, 2020 .
- ^ Ernst Krenek: Travel book from the Austrian Alps in the Universal Edition. Accessed June 1, 2020 .
- ^ Austrian folk dictionary. Accessed June 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Portrait from the radio station Ö1. Accessed June 1, 2020 .