Do ghosts sing? At the end of Schiller’s trio of plays about the Thirty Years’ War, Thekla, the daughter of the hero Wallenstein, found her life in the balance. With audiences wanting to know more about her fate, Schiller wrote a poem giving her a happy afterlife. Franz Schubert set this to music in his early teens as pure recitative, but at age 20, he rethought it as a strophic song, a seance set to music. It’s haunting and heartbreaking at the same time. One recent performance had the performer singing offstage while the spotlight shone on an empty stage.
I’ll provide English lyrics.
You ask me where I am, where I turned to
When my fleeting shadow vanished.
Have I not finished, reached my end?
Have I not loved and lived?
Would you ask after the nightingales
Who, with soulful melodies,
Delighted you in the days of spring?
They lived only as long as they loved.
Did I find my lost beloved?
Believe me, I am united with him
In the place where those who have formed a bond
Are never separated, where no tears are shed.
There you will find us again,
When your love is as our love;
There too is our father, free from sin,
Whom bloody murder can no longer strike.
And he senses that he was not deluded
When he gazed up at the stars.
For as a man judges so shall he be judged;
Whoever believes this is close to holiness.
There, in space, every fine, deeply felt belief
Will be consummated;
Dare to err and to dream:
Often a higher meaning lies behind childlike play.
This is Wen Kaiwen accompanied by Sandro Zanchi, from a memorial concert for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Turin.
Good evening, Publius, and thank you for the Halloween: Spooky Classical Music for the troops to enjoy. ((HUGS))