Sunday Classics: Now we hear Mahler's heartbreaking "Kindertotenlieder"

Baritone Matthias Goerne sings "Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n" ("Now will the sun rise just as brightly"), the opening song of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, with Jonathan Nott conducting the Mahler Youth Orchestra, at a Proms concert in the Royal Albert Hall, Sept. 4, 2009.

Now will the sun rise just as brightly
as if no misfortune had happened in the night.
The misfortune happened to me alone;
the sun shines for everyone.

Your must not hoard the night within,
it must be absorbed into the eternal light.
A little lamp in my shelter has gone out;
hail to the joyful light of the world!

-- translation by Lucy E. Cross

by Ken

Aa promised, after focusing on the last of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children), "In diesem Wetter" ("In this weather"), with its final stanza minor-to-major "switcheroo," in Friday night's preview, today we hear the whole of this haunting song cycle.

It's worth recalling that at the time Mahler undertook to set this handful of the poems written on the subject by Friedrich Rückert, his own daughters were still healthy, and Alma Mahler was more than a little upset at this challenge to fate. This was likely not ameliorated as their own tragedies struck. A case could be made that she never forgave him.

In the case of other Mahler songs we've listened as well to the original piano-accompanied settings. We're going to skip that in the case of this cycle we're going to skip that step. It would be especially hard to forego Mahler's orchestral setting, which is notably spare and chamberlike -- the chilly, melancholy opening oboe-and-horn duet sets the tone. There's a normal complement of woodwinds, but of brasses there are only horns, a pair in Nos. 1-4 and four in "In diesem Wetter," and there are only dabs of percussion. The harp is a notable presence.


MAHLER: Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children)

I'm going to let the songs and performances speak for themselves. In a couple of cases you'll notice (intentional) performer groupings. In general I've tried to give some feeling for the range of performance possibilities of each songs. In the case of the women in particular I've tried to avoid repeating singers we've already heard in Friday's preview; with the men, limiting myself to CD, I've got a narrower range of choices.


1. "Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n"
("Now will the sun rise just as brightly")

Now will the sun rise just as brightly
as if no misfortune had happened in the night.
The misfortune happened to me alone;
the sun shines for everyone.

Your must not hoard the night within,
it must be absorbed into the eternal light.
A little lamp in my shelter has gone out;
hail to the joyful light of the world!

-- translations of Nos. 1-4 by Lucy E. Cross

Siegfried Lorenz, baritone; Gewandhaus Orchestra (Leipzig), Kurt Masur, cond. Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded January 1978

Agnes Baltsa, mezzo-soprano; Vienna Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, cond. Sony, recorded 1985

Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. BMG, recorded Mar. 9-12, 1998


2. "Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen"
("Now I see well why such dark flames")

Now I can well see
why such dark flames
you flashed at me in many a look.
O eyes!
As if in one look you would completely
focus together all of your strength.

But I was not aware,
because mists swarm around me,
woven by deceitful Fate,
that the beam was already homeward bound
to the place where all beams are born.

You wanted, with your light, to say to me:
We would like to stay near you,
but Fate has forbidden us.
Look at us, for soon we shall be far away!
What in these days are only eyes to you
will be in future nights only stars.

Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano; Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, cond. EMI, recorded May 4, 1967

Linda Finnie, mezzo-soprano; Royal Scottish Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, cond. Chandos, recorded Oct. 20-24, 1991
José van Dam, bass-baritone; Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Forlane, recorded April 1986

Siegfried Lorenz, baritone; Gewandhaus Orchestra (Leipzig), Kurt Masur, cond. Deutsche Schallplatten, recorded January 1978


3. "Wenn dein Mütterlein tritt zu Tür herein" 
("When your mummy comes through the door")

When your mummy
comes through the door
and I turn my head
to look toward her,
at first my sight falls
not upon her face
but upon the place
nearer the threshhold
where your dear little
face would be,
when bright with happiness
you would come in with her,
as usual, my little daughter.

When your mummy
comes through the door
with the glow of a candle,
it seems to me as if,
as always, you came in with her,
scurrying around behind her,
as ever, into the room.
O you, little bit of your father,
ah, too quickly
extinguished light of happiness.

Jessye Norman, soprano; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. Philips, recorded in Frankfurt, December 1988

Maureen Forrester, contralto; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded Dec. 29, 1958

Andreas Schmidt, baritone; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Jesús López-Cobos, cond. Telarc, recorded Apr. 30-May 1, 1991

4. "Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen" 
("Often I think they've just gone out")

Often I think they've just gone out!
Soon they'll be coming home again!
It's a lovely day! O don't be afraid!
They're just taking a long walk.

Indeed, they've just gone out,
and now they'll be coming home!
O don't be afraid, it's a lovely day!
They've just taken a walk to those heights!

They've just gone out before us,
and won't want to come home again.
We'll meet them at those heights in the sunshine!
It's a lovely day on those heights!

Bryn Terfel, baritone; Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. DG, recorded November 1992

Brigitte Fassbänder, mezzo-soprano; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Riccardo Chailly, cond. Decca, recorded c1993

Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded Feb. 16, 1960


No. 5, "In diesem Wetter" ("In this weather")

In this weather, in this bluster,
never would I have sent the children out.
They were taken out.
I had nothing to say about it.

In this weather, in this storm,
never would I have sent the children out.
I would have been afraid that they would catch sick.
Those are now idle thoughts.

In this weather, in this horror,
never would I have sent the children out.
I worried they might die tomorrow.
That's now not to be worried about.

In this weather, in this bluster,
never would I have sent the children out.
They were taken out.
I had nothing to say about it.

In this weather, in this storm, in this bluster,
they're resting as if in their mother's house,
not frightened by any storm,
by God's hand protected,
they're resting as if in their mother's house.

[switcheroo at 2:53] Doris Soffel, mezzo-soprano; Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Eliahu Inbal, cond. Denon, recorded June 9-10, 1992

[switcheroo at 2:49] Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Berlin Philharmonic, Rudolf Kempe, cond. EMI, recorded June 10-12, 1955

[switcheroo at 2:52] Kirsten Flagstad, soprano; Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Adrian Boult, cond. Decca, recorded May 1957

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