Wesendonck songs
The Wesendonck songs are a cycle of songs by Richard Wagner based on poems by Mathilde Wesendonck . The five poems for female voice and piano were written in 1857 and 1858 and were published by the music publisher CF Peters with a typo in the surname (“Wesendonk”, see title page).
In Richard Wagner's opinion, every artist has the right to a muse . He found one of these in Mathilde Wesendonck, in his Swiss exile in Zurich from 1852, whose husband Otto Wesendonck , a wealthy silk merchant, supported him financially and ideally. The relationship between the two, however, stood in the way of Mathilde's husband on the one hand and Wagner's wife at the time, Minna , on the other , so that a real love relationship could not develop. The relationship lasted until the sudden end, when Minna intercepted a letter from Wagner to Mathilde and provoked a break, above all in an unfulfilled longing for one another.
This situation is reflected in Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde . Around this time he set Mathilde's five poems to music. Wagner explicitly described two songs from this cycle as studies on Tristan and Isolde ("Im Treibhaus" and "Träume"). The arrangement of the songs is not clearly defined and Wagner changed it several times.
Wagner composed the Wesendonck songs for a woman's voice and piano. He himself orchestrated the song "Träume" in December 1857 for solo violin and small orchestra. Felix Mottl created the instrumentation of the cycle for large orchestra, taking over the aforementioned arrangement by Wagner for “Träume”. Versions for voice and chamber orchestra were created in 1972 by Vieri Tosatti , in 1976 by Hans Werner Henze , in 2005 by Andreas N. Tarkmann and Ronald Kornfeil (world premiere in 2007), and by cellist Rudolf Leopold a version for soprano and string sextet.
The most common sequence of songs is:
- The angel
- Stand still!
- In the greenhouse (study on Tristan and Isolde )
- Pain
- Dreams (study on Tristan and Isolde )
Expenses (selection)
- Poems by Mathilde Wesendonk. Set to music by Richard Wagner. (For voice and piano). With an afterword by Joachim Kaiser . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 1961. ( Insel-Bücherei 107 / B)
- Five poems for a woman's voice (Wesendonk songs). German Publishing House for Music, Leipzig 1962 (facsimile edition)
- Five songs based on poems by Mathilde Wesendonk for a female voice and piano. Edition for soprano. Edition Peters, Leipzig 1982.
- Five songs for voice and organ, arr. by Hans Peter Eisenmann. Edition Walhall, Magdeburg 1994.
Recordings (selection)
- Frida Leider , London Symphony Orchestra , John Barbirolli (1931)
- Eileen Farrell , Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra , Leopold Stokowski (1947)
- Kirsten Flagstad , Bruno Walter (piano), (Live March 23, 1952, New York)
- Christa Ludwig , Philharmonia Orchestra , Otto Klemperer (1962)
- Hanne-Lore Kuhse , Gewandhausorchester , Václav Neumann (1965)
- Yvonne Minton , London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (1979)
- Birgit Nilsson , London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis
- Jessye Norman , London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis (1975)
- Marjana Lipovsek (original version), piano: Wolfgang Sawallisch (live recording in the singing hall of Neuschwanstein Castle , 1991)
- Marjana Lipovsek (instrumentation by Hans Werner Henze ), Philadelphia Orchestra , Wolfgang Sawallisch (1996)
- Dagmar Pecková , Pražská komorní filharmonie , Jiří Bělohlávek (1999)
- Nina Stemme , Vienna Philharmonic , Mariss Jansons ( Salzburg Festival 2012)
Web links
- 5 Poems for a Woman's Voice, WWV 91 (Wagner, Richard) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Detailed information on Wagner Web ( Memento from December 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Further information and audio samples on the WebSitePortal
- Text of the songs with date
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert Konrfeil. Five songs, 1857/58 ( memento of August 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 11, 2016.