Rinaldo (Brahms)

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Johannes Brahms around 1866

Rinaldo op. 50 is a cantata for tenor solo, male choir and orchestra by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) based on a text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . The work was started in 1863, completed in 1868 and premiered in Vienna in 1869 .

Text template

The textual basis of Brahms's Rinaldo comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who for his part drew on Canto 16 of the poem “ The Liberated Jerusalem ” by Torquato Tasso , completed in 1574 . This epic was subsequently set to music many times, for example in the opera Rinaldo by Georg Friedrich Händel . Goethe's verses were also written in 1811 with a view to setting them to music and intended for Prince Friedrich von Gotha , who had a tenor voice. This (first) setting was made by Peter von Winter .

Goethe's poetry describes the episode in which the crusader Rinaldo struggles to break free from the seductions of the sorceress Armida , to whom he succumbed on the way to Jerusalem. His companions try to call him back to his duties and hold a diamond shield in front of him, in which Rinaldo recognizes his effeminate reflection. Rinaldo reluctantly frees himself from the spell and leaves the island set up as a love paradise, on which Armida has angrily destroyed the garden and palace.

Origin and premiere

Most of the Rinaldo was created in Hamburg in the summer of 1863 . The trigger was a composition competition for symphonic male choir works by the Aachen had Liedertafel, combined with a cash prize of 300 taler awarded. His friend, violinist and conductor Joseph Joachim , to whom Brahms had submitted parts of the score, wrote in early August 1863 with praise: I like the characteristic way with which you contrast Rinald and the urging, admonishing, disapproving choir [...] That too the diamond shimmer of the shield [...] is reproduced in the most effective way: it literally blinded me at the point.

However, Brahms was unable to complete the final chorus by the deadline for submitting the competition on October 1, 1863 and put the composition aside for several years. It was not until the summer of 1868, after the premiere of the German Requiem (at that time in a six-movement version), that Brahms composed the final chorus to his cantata in Bonn .

The image conveyed in Goethe's poetry of the dissolution of the restrictive bond with a woman is sometimes put into autobiographical contexts that could have (partly) induced Brahms to reach for this text: In 1859 Brahms, who remained unmarried throughout his life, had his relationship with Agathe von Siebold solved. At the beginning of the 1860s there was a friendly relationship with the singer Ottilie Hauer. In 1863/1864 Brahms gave the young, highly musical Elisabeth von Stockhausen (later Heinrich von Herzogenberg's wife ) piano lessons.

The premiere took place on February 28, 1869 in the Great Redoutensaal of the Vienna Hofburg with the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra, the Academic Choral Society Vienna and the tenor Gustav Walter under the direction of the composer.

The first edition of Rinaldo was published in 1869 as op. 50 by Johannes Brahms by Verlag N. Simrock , Berlin.

Cast and duration of performance

Rinaldo is set for tenor solo, 4-part (up to 8-part in the final choir) male choir (tenor I / II, bass I / II) and orchestra. The orchestral line-up includes piccolo , 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 2 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , timpani and strings .

The performance lasts about 40 minutes.

characterization

The cantata is in the basic key of E flat major. The fully composed first part comprises 1144 bars, the post-composed final chorus separated from it 346 bars.

An allegro introduction by the orchestra is immediately followed by the opening chorus of Rinaldo's companions (“To the beach!”). This is followed by an extensive solo by Rinaldo, which leads to a two-part aria via a recitative (“O leave me here a moment”) and Arioso (“You were so beautiful”) (“Place her in the golden days”) ). After a new chorus movement (“Sachte comes!”) Rinaldo answers with an aria (“But everything announces”).

The presentation of the diamond shield (choral fugato “No! No longer needs to be hemmed”) is indicated by a striking change in harmony (D flat major). This is followed by the recitative and arioso of the self-aware Rinaldo (“Weh! What am I seeing?”). The male choir drives to departure (“Back only!”). Rinaldo hesitates again in the aria “For the second time I see”, and in the following aria (“And transformed, I see the fair girl”), he is shocked to Armida's demonic transformation. The male choir encourages the defaulting party again ("Geschwinde, geschwind."). The optimistic final chorus (“swell sails”) in A major seems to paint the play of waves and the sung dolphins. The first tenor is carried here up to b 1 .

The Rinaldo echoes in the choirs from Richard Wagner's Flying Dutchman . Max Kalbeck also refers to points of contact with Tristan , who was not performed at the time and which Brahms dealt with in detail in connection with the countless, ultimately unsuccessful rehearsals in Vienna in 1863. Even though the work is clearly laid out as a cantata - in line with the original composition purpose - some authors see Brahms' attempt in Rinaldo to approach musical theater (Brahms never composed an opera, despite several attempts to find a suitable libretto).

reception

Brahms was very satisfied with the world premiere and reported to Fritz Simrock : [...] it was as good as I do not easily experience again. Walter raved about his part and sang it extremely beautifully. The choir (300 young people) was excellent […]. The response was restrained, however, and Brahms went on accordingly: [...] The audience and criticism would be the most important thing for you - but, as usual, there is not so much to report [...] I cannot speak of a success either . And this time the critics heard the paper and wrote a lot together [...] So this time one hoped for a crescendo of the Requiem and certainly a nice, excited, horny Venusberg bar at Armida etc. [...].

Even Clara Schumann asked in view of a publication: Is this after the Requiem significant enough? The Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick said: Frankly, I am unable to warm to the whole work. The cause of the evil lies first of all in Goethe's poem. In fact, the original text offers few dramatic moments, as it is partly designed as a retrospective reflection, and Armida is only indirectly present as an acting figure.

To this day, Rinaldo is one of the seldom performed works by Brahms, which is also attributed to the unusually difficult design of the solo part: the tenor part remains almost constantly in the passaggio or the high register, and has to repeatedly sing piano / pianissimo in an uncomfortable position cope with unusual leaps in intervals. There are, however, several recordings under conductors such as Giuseppe Sinopoli , Helmuth Rilling , Bertrand de Billy and Gerd Albrecht .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. n. Hubert Karl Boos: In: Concert program October 31, 1987, BASF-Feierabendhaus Ludwigshafen; Gächinger Kantorei, among others, RSO Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling.
  2. ↑ Carol A. Hess: Some Autobiographical Overtones in Brahms's "Rinaldo". In: The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial (Ed.): Music History From Primary Sources - A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives. Library of Congress, Washington DC 2000, ISBN 0-8444-0987-1 , pp. 156-160. ( Digital version , PDF; 275 kB)
  3. ^ Max Kalbeck: Johannes Brahms. Volume II, new print, Breitkopf & Härtel, Tutzing, 1921/1976, ISBN 3-7952-0187-X , pp. 68/69.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms Handbook. Joint edition JB Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Bärenreiter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02233-2 (Bärenr.), Pp. 283–284.
  5. ↑ cit. n. Max Kalbeck: Johannes Brahms . Volume II, new print, Breitkopf & Härtel, Tutzing, 1921/1976, ISBN 3-7952-0187-X , p. 70/71.
  6. ↑ Both cit. n. Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms Handbook , joint edition JB Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Bärenreiter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02233-2 (Bärenr.), p. 282
  7. ↑ Michael Lewin: CD-text OC 673, OehmsClassics, Brahms: Rinaldo et al. Bertrand de Billy, Vienna Radio SO, Johan Botha (tenor).

literature

  • Werner Oehlmann: Reclam's choir leader . 2nd edition, Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart, 1976, ISBN 3-15-010017-8 , pp. 461-462.
  • Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms Handbook. Joint edition JB Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Bärenreiter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02233-2 (Bärenr.), Pp. 282–284.
  • Guadalupe Rivera, jr .: Making an unknown choral-orchestral work accessible: Performing chorusses from Brahms' cantata Rinaldo. Diss. Univ. Arizona, 2010, [1] .

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