~~Tunes For The Troops~~
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Yorkie, this one's for you!
*HUG*
*HUG*
Hey there pretty lady!
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!
Don’t you worry about me..
I am tough olde bat!
LOL
Finding videos with English translations wasn’t easy, but I found some historic recordings from Ukranian basso Alexander Kipnis from 1936. This is how German lieder were sung in the bad old days under the influence of Wagner and the opera house. It’s not how they do it today, thanks to the hard work of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, two Englishmen who saved the art of lieder after World War II.
This song is a heartbreaker, and the turn to falsetto at 3:42 will bring out the handkerchiefs. The opening notes are from the beginning of the Fourth Symphony.
“O Death, How Bitter You Are”, Op. 121/3
Brahms ends the set on an optimistic note with a song from St. Paul.
”Though I Speak With the Tongues of Angels and Men”, Op. 121/4
In May 1896, Clara died at the age of 77. It was as though her death gave Brahms permission to die.
One would think that after all those years of chain smoking, Brahms would have contracted lung or throat cancer. Instead, it was just bad genes: Daddy Brahms had died of liver cancer, and now Jo developed it. It’s just as incurable today as it was then. Brahms chose to live with the fiction that it was merely a bad case of jaundice, and his friends let him get away with it.
In March 1897, Hans Richter conducted the Fourth Symphony, and Brahms was in the balcony for what would be his last public appearance. His face was greenish brown from jaundice, and everyone in the audience knew this was his valediction. The applause and cheers ran on and on.
A month later Johannes Brahms was dead.
He had looked at the trend in German politics, particularly the antisemitism, and he knew where it would lead. He also sensed which way music was trending, and he knew where that would lead. He was probably pleased to miss the future.
His greatest fear was that he would be remembered like Cherubini: a composer whose perspiration was visible, but not his inspiration. He would be delighted to know that his stringent self-censorship made sure that only the best of his work survives, and it has all found a place in the repertory. It was a life well spent.
~~Tunes For The Troops~~
Want more information about the artists we play?
Perhaps you'd like to buy concert tickets or their
CDs? Click the links provided at the top of the
thread for more information!