Dichterliebe, Op. 48 (Low)

Song Cycle On Poems By Heine. The ups and downs of disappointed love: who could fail to sympathize with the feelings that Schumann immortalized in his song cycle Dichterliebe after Heine? The pieces range from hopeful anticipation (?Im wunderschönen Monat Mai?) to solitary grief (?Und wüssten?s die Blumen, die kleinen?) and bitter sarcasm (?Die alten bösen Lieder?). Schumann knew what he was writing about: the cycle originated in the year of his marriage to Clara Wieck, an event that took place only after years of struggle. The tried-and-tested Henle Urtext edition by the Schumann specialist Kazuko Ozawa is now also available for singers with low voice: in close collaboration with the experienced pianist and renowned Lied accompanist Gerold Huber, we have adapted the whole cycle, including the four songs of the appendix, for medium and low voices.

Twelve Poems op. 35 Set of Songs on Texts by Kerner-As with the Dichterliebe (HN 549) Frauenliebe und Leben (HN 547) or the song cycles with texts by Heine and Eichendorff (HN 548 and 550) the Kerner Cycle op. 35 was written in 1840 Schumann?s ?Liederjahr?. Yet ithas a special place: it was composed in the time immediately following Schumann?s marriage to Clara Wieck.Schumann set a series of poems to music in November during a ?quiet week which went by withcomposing and much loving and kissing? and the cycle was complete by the turn of the year. It contains a great deal of intimate musical innuendos. The first edition of 1841 was soon followed by a second issue many of the songswere published individually and the ?Wanderlied? soon became a core piece in the repertoire. With this edition the songs in Schumann?s cycle are once again being published together in a single volume.

These Schumann songs set to poems by Heinrich Heine are a deeply psychological and disturbing journey as they reflect more often than not the bitterness of unrequited love. The most cheerful songs begin as deceptively happy experiences which ultimately turn sour as they eventually reveal themselves as somewhat despairing looks at love.Written for Medium/High Voice and Piano.