Will ruhen unter den Bäumen hier,

Die Vögelein hör’ ich so gerne,

Wie singet ihr so zum Herzen mir?
Von unsrer Liebe was wisset ihr
In dieser weiten Ferne?

Will ruhen hier an des Baches Rand,

Wo duftige Blümlein sprießen.
Wer hat euch Blümlein hierher gesandt?
Seid ihr ein herzliches Liebespfand
Aus der Ferne von meiner Süßen?

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza 1. The opening is exactly like that of Scheiden und Meiden.

At the end of the first line and into the second, however, the music diverges,
moving

from D minor to the “relative” key of F major in a descent above the continuing
arpeggios.

There is then a five-bar interlude, the first bar of which completes the vocal
phrase.

There are yearning harmonized leaps, reversing the direction of the similar
descents

in the previous song. This interlude redirects the key to D major, where the song

will remain.
0:19 [m. 13]--The third line begins firmly in D major. A new accompaniment begins,

with slow, wide left hand arpeggios and syncopated right hand after-beat responses

in thirds and sixths. The vocal line, descending in groups of three and gradually

working upward, works to a climax as the line is repeated, condensing “singet” to

“singt” (“singet” is an older poetic form), and omitting “so.” The piano repeats

the last bar as a bridge to the next line, completing the phrase after the
condensed

repetition of the line.

0:31 [m. 21]--The fourth line settles the music back down with a large descent.

The accompaniment pattern continues, introducing a fourth and fifth under “wisset.”

The fifth and last line is a fairly direct echo of the second line in each verse

of Scheiden und Meiden. The line is repeated, beginning a step higher and with
slightly

altered contour to lead to the somewhat open cadence. A four-bar postlude follows

in which the accompaniment patterns slow down, including the after-beat responses,

which use fifths evocative of horn calls. The bass slows down to a drone under
this

postlude.
0:56 [m. 37]--Stanza 2. The first two lines are set to similar music as in Stanza

1, derived from Scheiden und Meiden and preserving the characteristic piano
arpeggios.

In fact, the music is essentially the same except for being in a major instead of

a minor key. There is a slight alteration at the end, which is extended by a bar

in the vocal line on the word “sprießen.” The motion to F is also avoided. The

interlude, while similar, is half as long since there is no need to change keys.

1:13 [m. 47]--Line 3 is set to the music of 0:19 [m. 13], at least in the vocal
line.

The accompaniment replaces the right hand after-beat responses with an undulating

background in fast triplet rhythm, suggesting the murmuring of the brook. Broken

sixths and thirds in the triplets preserve the harmony. The left hand arpeggios

remain the same. The repetition of the line omits the word “Blümlein,” resulting

again in a two-syllable deficit. There is a buildup to a climax, as before, and

repetition of the piano’s last bar as a bridge.

1:25 [m. 55]--Lines four and five, including the repetition of line 5, are set as

at 0:31 [m. 21]. The undulating triplets continue, introducing broken fourths and

fifths in the same places where these harmonies were found in the first stanza.

The postlude preserves the harmonies as well, still using the triplets until the

end, where the horn call evocations slow to a swinging undulation The postlude is

extended by two bars so that it can move to the chord of the home key (which it did

not do between verses). Like the vocal cadence, this postlude still has a somewhat

“open” feeling, just as did the ending of Scheiden und Meiden.

2:02--END OF SONG [72 mm.]

4. Der Schmied (The Blacksmith). Text by Johann Ludwig Uhland. Allegro. Simple

strophic form. B-FLAT MAJOR, 3/4 time (High key C major, low key G major).

German Text:
Ich hör’ meinen Schatz,
Den Hammer er schwinget,
Das rauschet, das klinget,
Das dringt in die Weite,
Wie Glockengeläute,
Durch Gassen und Platz.
Am schwarzen Kamin,
Da sitzet mein Lieber,
Doch geh’ ich vorüber,
Die Bälge dann sausen,
Die Flammen aufbrausen
Und lodern um ihn.

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza (strophe) 1. The vocal line is extremely exuberant and joyful.

It begins on an upbeat and contains wide leaps. Each of the first four lines is

set to a two-bar phrase. The second line echoes the first in its leaps and
directions,

with static harmony. The third and fourth lines are new, with two leaping descents

for the third and a stepwise rise for the fourth. The harmonies also move to F
major.

The piano part is highly distinctive. Two-note “snaps” in short-long rhythm evoke

the sparks of the hammer on the anvil. The direction is downward on the first and

third beats, upward on the second beats of each bar. The second beat usually dips

lower for its first note. The left hand plays leaping, drone-like chords.
0:09 [m. 9]--The fifth line is also set to a two-bar phrase. After a downward leap

at the end of the fourth line, the fifth line rises by step again, also with active

harmony (suggesting another related key, E-flat). It has a large leap at the end.

The sixth line is extended by a bar through a long dissonant note that resolves

upward on “Gassen.” This dissonance and resolution move back to the home key.
There

is a final descent. The two-note short-long “snaps” continue as before, as do the

leaping left-hand chords.

0:14 [m. 14]--A seven-bar piano postlude continues the short-long snaps, but the

left hand is more active, replacing the long-short drone-like chords with leaping

octaves on each beat. The cadence is emphatic.

0:22 [m. 1]--Stanza (strophe) 2. Lines 1-4, as at the beginning.
0:31 [m. 9]--Lines 5-6, as at 0:09. The extended word on the dissonant note is
“lodern.”

0:37 [m. 14]--Piano postlude and close, as at 0:14.

0:49--END OF SONG [20 mm.]

5. An eine Äolsharfe (To an Aeolian Harp). Text by Eduard Mörike. Poco lento.

Through-composed form with partial return. A-FLAT MAJOR, Cut time [2/2] (Middle
key F-sharp major, low key E-flat major).

German Text:
Angelehnt an die Efeuwand
Dieser alten Terrasse,
Du, einer luftgebor’nen Muse
Geheimnisvolles Saitenspiel,
Fang’ an,
Fange wieder an
Deine melodische Klage!

Ihr kommet, Winde, fern herüber,

Ach! von des Knaben,
Der mir so lieb war,
Frisch grünendem Hügel.
Und Frühlingsblüten unterweges streifend,
Übersättigt mit Wohlgerüchen,
Wie süß, wie süß bedrängt ihr dies Herz!
Und säuselt her in die Saiten,
Angezogen von wohllautender Wehmut,
Wachsend im Zug meiner Sehnsucht
Und hinsterbend wieder.

Aber auf einmal,

Wie der Wind heftiger herstößt,
Ein holder Schrei der Harfe
Wiederholt mir zu süßem Erschrecken,
Meiner Seele plötzliche Regung;
Und hier, die volle Rose streut, geschüttelt,
All’ ihre Blätter vor meine Füße!

English Translation

PART 1 (Stanza 1)--Recitative

0:00 [m. 1]--“Recit.” is a rare marking for Brahms. It refers to the operatic
style

of “sung speech,” usually set in opposition to “aria” or “arioso.” The recitative

begins in A-flat minor, but it turns out to be a very unstable minor. The first

two lines, however, are unambiguous, starkly set against low block piano chords
with

prominently accented stepwise falling figures with delayed resolutions

(“appogiaturas”).

0:16 [m. 7]--With striking harmonies, the third and fourth lines begin the
inevitable

march to the major key. Under the fourth line, a very high murmuring in triplet

rhythm with repeated chords surreptitiously begins. These continue for three bars,

gradually descending, before the entry of “Fang’ an.”

0:39 [m. 17]--The recitative comes to an end with an almost achingly delayed
confirmation
of the major key, as vestiges of the minor continue. Tension is built over “Fang’

an, Fange wieder an.” The last line slows down , stretching out the word
“melodische”

before coming to an anticipatory arrival on the “dominant” chord of the major key

on the extended word “Klage.” The top of the high chords now doubles the voice.

Note the conflict between the slow triplets of the high repeated chords and the

“straight” rhythm of the vocal line from “Fange wieder an.”

PART 2 (Stanza 2)--First section of main material (“arioso”)
1:04 [m. 25]--The high long-short chords of the piano right hand are set against

an undulating left hand that consistently sets a rising arpeggio in triplet rhythm

followed by a falling leap in straight rhythm. The rising arpeggio is on the first

beat, the falling leap on the second. The voice enters, ascending up to meet the

rhythm and pitch of the high chords. The melody floats beautifully in both voice

and piano. Note the gradual descent of the left hand bass.
1:17 [m. 31]--The second and third lines introduce darker harmonies borrowed from

the minor. They are set to two parallel musical lines, the second higher than the

first, with a smaller leap down to the last descent in long notes. The bass begins

to move back up. The right hand chords abandon the long-short patterns in favor

of long chords lasting full bars. The fourth line introduces a characteristic
descent

that will return in the last section. It contains a very brief motion to the
“dominant”

key of E-flat major.

1:32 [m. 38]--The piano left hand leaps down an octave. The fifth line is set
similarly

to the first. The long-short patterns of the right hand resume. The sixth line

makes a harmonic detour that is atmospheric, intensifying and veering toward the

key a half-step higher, A major and again abandoning the long-short patterns. The

seventh line emphasizes the repeated “wie süß” of the text, the voice making the

downward leap of a third, first in A major, then immediately a half-step lower, in

the home key. The completion of the line touches on minor. Both the voice and
piano

move down, the voice touching its lowest note on “Herz.”

2:08 [m. 55]--The eighth and ninth lines have very colorful harmonies reminiscent
of the recitative. The music becomes rapturous at “wohllautender Wehmut,” landing

on B major (which had been heard in the recitative, spelled as “C-flat major”).

A series of accented stepwise falling figures begins.

2:27 [m. 63]--The resolving falling figures immediately shift up a half-step to C

major with the tenth line. Then the music begins to collapse with the last line

of the section, moving back to dominant (anticipatory) chord of the home key. The

vocal line trails off with “hinsterbend wieder.” The piano right hand begins
downward

leaps. There is a three-bar interlude, the last two bars of which have octave
leaps.

PART 3 (Stanza 3)--Brief recitative and arioso

2:54 [m. 74]--The expected arrival on the home key is starkly interrupted by a
dissonant

chord (a “diminished seventh”). The first two lines of this section are then sung

to a brief recitative in the minor. “Aber auf einmal” is sung without the piano.

The last falling figure in the voice is echoed by the piano, leading back to major

and the main material.

3:06 [m. 79]--The harmonies and basic melodic material for this third line making

reference to the harp are essentially the same as the first line of Part 2 at 1:04

[m. 25], without the introductory bars and with the vocal line adapted to the
shorter

text.
3:15 [m. 83]--The fourth line uses the same basic material as the second and third

lines of Part 2 from 1:17 [m. 31], but the vocal line is greatly adapted. The
fifth

line, however, is virtually identical to the fourth line of Part 2, with an added

leap and an additional note on the second syllable of “Seele.” The next bar
contains

the downward leap in the bass heard at 1:32 [m. 38], but the music diverges from

there.
3:34 [m. 91]--The last two lines are set to new music that diverges both from Part

2 and from the established rhythms. Brahms directs that it should be slightly
slower

(“Poco più lento”). The left hand abandons the straight-rhythm falling leap on the

second beats of bars, instead adding a descending arpeggio in triplet rhythm,

creating
an arching motion in consistently flowing rhythm. Against this, the right hand
becomes

much more active, playing straight rhythms that clash directly with the left hand

triplets. The vocal line is quite halting, and harmonies from the minor key (or

the related key of D-flat) are introduced for color. The last line flows more in

an upward motion before its final descent. The cadence sounds strangely
inconclusive

because of the preceding “borrowed” harmonies.

3:59 [m. 100]--The piano postlude continues with motion begun under the vocal
cadence,

still with the clashing rhythms and arching left-hand triplets. It slows down with

longer notes before its conclusion, which in spite of the slowing also sounds
somewhat

open and not completely conclusive.

4:24--END OF SONG [104 mm.]
END OF SET

THREE DUETS FOR SOPRANO AND ALTO, OP. 20

Recording: Edith Mathis, soprano, Brigitte Fassbaender, alto; Karl Engel, piano [DG

449 641-2]
Published 1861.
Opus 20, Brahms’s first set of vocal duets, has come in for as much negative
criticism

as any of his works. They are certainly much different from his later duets, or

even from his contemporary solo songs (such as Op. 19). They seem to be rather
simple

pieces, at least on the surface. All of them share the same 6/8 meter, the voices

frequently move together in thirds and sixths, and Nos. 2 and 3 include much
strophic

repetition. No. 1 is slightly more complex, with more variation between the verses

and the voices moving in imitation, rather than strictly together, in the middle

verses. But some of the negative criticism misses the point. Brahms never
published

anything that he didn’t think was worthy, and it is quite clear that in his first

set of duets he is emulating one of his great predecessors, Felix Mendelssohn. The

third duet adopts the idiom of that composer’s “Venetian Gondola Songs” for piano.
 Brahms also enjoys his characteristic harmonic surprises in the two “Path of Love”

duets. All of the texts are translations by the great German scholar Herder of folk

poems. The first two come from the same larger group of English poems with the
refrain

of “love will find the way (path),” but are apparently unconnected in origin. The

musical settings also have no thematic relationships. They were included in

Herder’s

“Voices of the Nations” (“Stimmen der Völker”). The third comes from an Italian

source (hence the “gondola song” idiom chosen by Brahms).

Note: Links to English translations of the texts are from Emily Ezust’s site at
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder.

For the most part, the translations are line-by-line, except where the difference

between German and English syntax requires slight alterations to the contents of

certain lines. The German texts (included here) are also visible in the
translation

links. In the case of No. 1, the “translation” is, for the most part, simply the

original English text, to which Herder remained extremely close in his poetic
translation.

Links to translations of Herder’s version as well as the original English texts

are provided for Nos. 1 and 2.

IMSLP WORK PAGE

ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck) NOTE: This
first

edition score differs from the later 1927 Complete Edition (Gesamtausgabe), in that

the strophic repetitions in Nos. 2 and 3 are marked with repeat signs rather than

written out. The measure numbers given in the guides correspond to the Complete

Edition, with the repetitions written out.

ONILNE SCORE FROM IMSLP (From Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche Werke) NOTE: Repetitions

are written out in this score.

1. Weg der Liebe I (The Path of Love I). Text by Johann Gottfried Herder, adapted

from an English folk poem. Allegro. ABCB’A arch-like varied strophic form. E
MAJOR,

6/8 time.

German Text:
Über die Berge,
Über die Wellen,
#GSPLIT:u#master - Copy
(2).txt############################################################################
###################################################################################
############################################################################GSplit
Archive############################################################################
##########&{3556881E-0858-4370-BF6F-
3E1C12C2ED45}######################################################################
###################################################################################
################################################################�@######
%�##############