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Arnold Schoenberg

Gurre-Lieder

Composed 1911

Gurre-Lieder (Songs of Gurre) is a tripartite oratorio followed by a melodramatic epilogue for five vocal soloists, narrator, three choruses, and grand orchestra. The work, which is based on an early song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano, was composed by the then-Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg from 1900 to 1903. After a break, he resumed orchestration in 1910 and completed it in November 1911. It sets to music the poem cycle Gurresange by the Danish writer Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by Robert Franz Arnold).

The Gurre Castle and its surrounding areas in Denmark are the settings of the plot, which involves the mediæval love-tragedy (related in Jacobsen's poems) revolving around a legend of the love of king Valdemar Atterdag (Valdemar IV, 1320–1375, German: Waldemar) for his mistress, Tove, and her subsequent murder by Valdemar's jealous wife, Queen Helvig of Schleswig, (a legend which is historically more likely connected with his ancestor Valdemar I).

It is the most important tonal work of the composer, alongside Verklärte Nacht.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Movements

  1. Part I. Orchestral prelude
  2. Part I: Waldemar: "Nun dämpft die Dämmrung jeden Ton"
  3. Part I: Tove: "O, wenn des Mondes Strahlen leise gleiten"
  4. Part I: Waldemar: "Ross! Mein Ross! Was schleichst du so träg!"
  5. Part I: Tove: "Sterne jubeln, das Meer, es leuchtet"
  6. Part I: Waldemar: "So tanzen die Engel vor Gottes Thron nicht"
  7. Part I: Tove: "Nun sag' ich dir zum ersten Mal"
  8. Part I: Waldemar: "Es ist Mitternachtzeit"
  9. Part I: Tove: "Du sendest mir einem Liebesblick"
  10. Part I: Waldemar: "Du wunderliche Tove!"
  11. Part I: Orchestral interlude
  12. Part I: Voice of the Wood Dove: "Tauben von Gurre! Sorge quält mich"
  13. Part II: Orchestral Prelude - Waldemar: "Herrgott, weisst du, was du tatest"
  14. Part III: Orchestral Prelude - Waldemar: "Erwacht, König Waldemars Mannen Wert!"
  15. Part III: Peasant: "Deckel des Sarges klappert"
  16. Part III: Chorus: Waldemar's Men: "Gegrüsst, O König"
  17. Part III: Waldemar: "Mit Toves Stimme flüstert der Wald"
  18. Part III: Klaus-Narr: "Ein seltsamer Vogel ist so'n Aal"
  19. Part III: Waldemar: "Du strenger Richter droben"
  20. Part III: Waldemar's Men: "Der Hahn erhebt den Kopf zur Kraht"
  21. Part III. Orchestral Prelude
  22. Part III. "Herr Gänsefuß, Frau Gänsekraut" (Speaker)
  23. Part III: Chorus: "Seht die Sonne"

Elsewhere

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