Myrthen, op. 25
Song cycle
Myrthen (Myrtles), Op. 25, is a song cycle composed in the spring of 1840 by Robert Schumann. Its 26 Lieder were written as a wedding gift for his fiancée, Clara Wieck, and presented to her on the eve of their wedding which took place on 12 September that year. The cycle was published that same month, with a dedication to Clara, in four books by Kistner in Leipzig where the couple lived.
The texts are poems by various authors, including eight by Robert Burns, translated into German by the poet Wilhelm Gerhard, and several each by Friedrich Rückert, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. The cycle was originally published in a version for high voice, but has been performed by singers of all voice types, sometimes by a woman and man alternating.
The opening song "Widmung" (Dedication) is the best-known song from the cycle. Regarded as a profound expression of marital devotion, it was one of Clara Schumann's favourites among her husband's Lieder.
Movements
- Widmung
- Freisinn
- Der Nußbaum
- Jemand
- Sitz' ich allein
- Setze mir nicht, du Grobian
- Die Lotosblume
- Talismane
- Lied der Suleika
- Die Hochländer-Witwe
- Lied der Braut I ("Mutter! Mutter!")
- Lied der Braut II ("Lass mich ihm am Busen hangen")
- Hochländers Abschied
- Hochländisches Wiegenlied
- Mein Herz ist schwer
- Rätsel
- Leis' rudern hier, mein Gondolier
- Wenn durch die Piazzetta die Abendluft wecht
- Hauptmanns Weib
- Weit, weit
- Was will die einsame Träne?
- Niemand
- Im Westen
- Du bist wie eine Blume
- Aus den östlichen Rosen
- Zum Schluß