The poem we return to today is Richard Dehmel's Die stille Stadt, included in the collection Aber die Liebe [But love, 1896]. It tells us about a silent city, while the night falls and fog also falls from the mountains.
The first song we heard from this poem was the one by Sibelius.. I told you back then that the silence and calm that reign in the city have something disturbing, and preparing this article I have realized what it is (it is surely obvious, but I had overlooked it). The second stanza of the poem tells us that no sound can cross the fog, and the only way that this is possible is that silence is complete because fog is an excellent conductor of the sounds. And what kind of city makes no sound at all during the night?/p>
The song I propose today is that of Alma Mahler, composed in 1901, when she was studying with Zemlinsky and her name was still Alma Schindler. After two bars of the piano, which anticipate the conflict, the first stanza begins calmly. The second stanza begins with music similar to the first one, until from the third verse the tempo changes and becomes urgent, while the poetic voice describes how thick the fog is. The third stanza begins with the same urgency and is when we discover the conflict: there is a wanderer alone, disoriented, unable to find his way. When he discovers a small light and begins to hear a song that guides him, the music calms down again, and becomes sweeter when the poet tells us that what he hears is a choir of children.
Alma Mahler's song is as descriptive as it is beautiful. I hope you like it, as well as the interpretation of Barbara Hannigan and Reinbert de Leeuw.
Liegt eine Stadt im Tale,
Ein blasser Tag vergeht.
Es wird nicht lange dauern mehr,
Bis weder Mond noch Sterne
Nur Nacht am Himmel steht.
Von allen Bergen drücken
Nebel auf die Stadt,
Es dringt kein Dach, nicht Hof noch Haus,
Kein Laut aus ihrem Rauch heraus,
Kaum Türme noch und Brücken.
Doch als dem Wandrer graute,
Da ging ein Lichtlein auf im Grund
Und durch den Rauch und Nebel
Begann ein leiser Lobgesang
Aus Kindermund.
A town lies in the valley;
A pallid day fades.
It will not be long now
Before neither moon nor stars
But only night will be seen in the heavens.
From all the mountains
Fog presses down upon the town;
No roof may be discerned, no yard nor house,
No sound penetrates through the smoke,
Barely even a tower or a bridge.
But as the traveller became filled with dread
A little light shone out,
And through smoke and fog
A song of praise began,
Sung by children.
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