Living wounds

In Memoriam Neus Català.

We have a shorter post his week, as usual in Holy Week. In fact, it's a continuation of last week's post. By chance, the first part of Wolf's Spanisches Liederbuch, the Geistliche Lieder (Sacred songs) is most appropriate for these dates.

Hugo Wolf musicalized ten out of the thirteen Geistliche Lieder that Emanuel Geibel and Paul Heyse included in their collection and reordered them in pairs: the first two are prayers to the Virgin Mary, the next two are those of Joseph and Mary, the next two address the Child, two more are inspired by the Gospels and the last two talk about the Calvary.

This first part of the Spanisches Liederbuch, so short if compared with the thirty-four lieder of the second part, is enough for us to realise that the cycle is great work. As a sample, the last Lied, Wunden trägst du, mein Geliebter (Thou art wounded, my beloved Lord). The original Spanish poem is by José de Valdivieso, priest and author of various religious and mystical works, including the Romancero espiritual, published in 1612. The verses that Geibel translated, the dialogue between a soul and Jesus, are part of a poem entitled (at least one edition of 1880) Poem of a soul at the foot of a Crucifix.

This Lied is sung either by men or by women. In fact, there are recordings where a woman sings the verses of the soul and a man those of Jesus. For instance, the version chose to share, with Michaela Selinger, Wolfgang Holzmair and Russell Ryan. The poem has something of morbid, but Wolf's wisdom enhances gratitude, love and cpity; It's a moving song.

Finally, a comment about the picture that illustrates the post. Itºs name is It's finished and it's the last one of a series of seven self-portraits, The Seven Words, taken by Fredrick Holland Day in 1898 (yes, 1898). If you want to know more about the pictures, follow this link. By the way, I would say that "It's finished" is the sixth Word, but I took the names from that webpage.

Next week I'm posting on Tuesday, Sant Jordi's Day; of course, I'll give you a musical rose. I hope you enjoy Wunden trägst du, mein Geliebter and your Easter week!