I read a few days ago that 2024 marks 150 years since the birth of Charles Ives. I had overlooked the round anniversary (however, not long ago we heard his delightful Two little flowers), so, as a small celebration, this week we will listen to one more song of the composer that I jotted down for this series.

When we talk about Hugo Wolf’s Lieder, we begin to explain them since February 1888, from the Mörike-Lieder, his first great collection. But the composer, who was then twenty-eight years old, had already composed a good handful of Lieder while searching for his own voice (for instance we listened a while ago to Zur Ruh', zur Ruh', from 1883). Some Lieder composed in the [...]

A few weeks ago we talked about lotus and water lilies, following a poem by Emanuel Geibel, Die stille Wasserrose. The point is that when Clara Schumann set the poem into music, she changed the water lily for a lotus (the reason is not known), and hence the little introduction talking about both flowers. This week we will listen to another song composed upon the same [...]

Last week, we completed the regular season with a guest post by composer Oliver Grühn, and this one, already in July, we're starting summer. It is time for holidays, and I am sure many of you will go up and down and disconnect from the electronic devices, which is so healthy. But when you come back to Liederabend, you will find a short article and a song every week [...]

Diese Woche habe ich einen Gastbeitrag: Der Komponist Oliver Grühn erzählt uns von seinem Lied „Nächtlicher Regen“, das dem Orchesterliederzyklus „Sommerliebe“ entstammt und auf ein Gedicht von Hermann Hesse verfasst ist. Es wird von Diana Schnürpel und der Norddeutschen Philharmonie Rostock unter der Leitung von Kuan-Ju Lin gespielt.

This week we have a guest blog post. The author is the composer Oliver Grühn, who tells us about his Lied Nächtlicher Regen, with a poem by Hermann Hesse, the sixth of the seven Lieder that form the cycle for soprano and orchestra Sommerliebe.. We will listen to it being performed by Diana Schnürpel and the Norddeutschen Philharmonie Rostock under the direction of Kuan-Ju Lin.