Some time ago, in this series The same poem, one more song, we listened to the song that Charles Ives composed based upon the poem by Hermann Allmers that begins with the words “Ich ruhe still”, the same poem that Johannes Brahms turned into the beautiful lied Feldeinsamkeit. In that article, I mentioned that Ives’s song was an academic exercise assigned by Horatio Parker, his professor at Yale University, who wanted his students to become familiar with the Germanic repertoire.
Ives set several other German poems to music, among them one by Heinrich Heine, the one that begins with the phrase “Ich grolle nicht,” which inspired one of the most famous lieder in the repertoire, included in Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe. Although in this series we focus on the poems and their various musical settings, I must tell you that Ives set Heine’s poem to music, yes, but using the modifications and repetitions added by Schumann. That is: if Schumann adds a final -e to “Traum[e]” and “Raum[e],” Ives does the same; if Schumann repeats the first part of the second verse, and then the second part, Ives, too, all the way to the final addition of two “Ich grolle nicht.”
Our student, however, made a small change to “Schumann’s poem” that’s worth mentioning: when he links the last words of the first stanza with the first phrase of the second, he repeats “Herzens Nacht” [night of the heart]. And also “Das weiss ich lang” [I’ve known this for a long time], three times! Think about it...
When Charles Ives published this song, number 33 of his 114 Songs, he was heavily criticized: how dared he?! But the composer had no intention of comparing himself to anyone. He was too sensible for that, and he was also free enough to ignore such malicious comments and publish whatever he pleased.
Listen to Ives’s Ich grolle nicht, performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Michael Ponti. You won’t be able to avoid “hearing” Schumann’s version in the background, but if you listen again, you’ll see how it begins to take on a life of its own...
Ich grolle nicht, und wenn das Herz auch bricht,
Ewig verlor’nes Lieb! ich grolle nicht.
Wie du auch strahlst in Diamantenpracht,
Es fällt kein Strahl in deines Herzens Nacht.
Das weiss ich längst. Ich sah dich ja im Traume,
Und sah die Nacht in deines Herzens Raume,
Und sah die Schlang’, die dir am Herzen frisst,
Ich sah, mein Lieb, wie sehr du elend bist.
Please follow this link if you need an English translation
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