The orchestral song before the First World War
Christopher Grafschmidt
1.
In the second half of the 19th century, following the model set by French composers such as Hector Berlioz and others, the orchestral song began to gain a foothold in Germany too. Initially, this was in the form of lieder whose original piano accompaniment was arranged for orchestra, as was the case with the Schubert songs orchestrated by Johannes Brahms. It is noteworthy that Brahms, just like Reger at a later date, was inspired to do this by performers.1 In parallel with the “institutionalisation of the Liederabend”2 through public performances in a concert setting, original works for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment became increasingly common from the 1890s onwards, such as those by Hans Pfitzner (Herr Oluf op. 12, 1891), Gustav Mahler (including Des Knaben Wunderhorn, 1892–98, and his Kindertotenlieder, 1901–4), Alexander von Zemlinsky (Waldgespräch, 1896), Richard Strauss (Vier Gesänge op. 33, 1896–97, and Zwei größere Gesänge op. 44, 1899), Siegmund von Hausegger (including his 3 Hymnen an die Nacht, 1902), Arnold Schoenberg (Sechs Orchesterlieder op. 8, 1903–04, and Vier Lieder op. 22, 1913–16), Rudi Stephan (Liebeszauber, 1908–09/14), Alban Berg (Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskartentexten von Peter Altenberg op. 4, 1912) and finally Max Reger (An die Hoffnung op. 124, 1912, and Hymnus der Liebe op. 136, 1914). In subsequent years, after the First World War at the latest, “interest in the orchestral song declined rather swiftly, despite several important works”3.
Reger’s contemporaries Siegmund von Hausegger and Rudolf Louis were not uncritical of this new genre, as it brought together two components that they believed to be mutually exclusive. On the one hand there was the classical lied with piano accompaniment, which combined the human voice as the sole “vehicle of lyrical-melodic sensibility” with the piano, whose “non-legato” character meant it was subordinated to the “actual instrument of singing”, namely the voice.4 When this intimate combination – an ideal example of chamber music – began being integrated in large-scale symphony concerts, it was essentially assuming a place on a stage where it perhaps did not really belong.
On the other hand, the orchestra with its array of string and wind instruments constituted a “chorus of animated beings […] that [runs counter] to the lied singer’s need to convey subjective, personal, emotional expression”.5 According to Hausegger, “song here encounters an almost overwhelming abundance of melodic instruments whose individual timbres threaten to stifle the individuality of the singer”.6 Louis furthermore noted “a disturbing disparity between the intimacy of the content and the power of tonal means employed; however, there is also all-too-great a temptation to place more emphasis on external matters – such as tone-painting, mere sound effects and the like – than is actually compatible with the essence of pure lyric poetry whose aim is primarily to exert a subjective impact.”7
Despite all this criticism, Hausegger was nevertheless convinced that moving the lied with piano into the chamber music hall would “also result in an awakening of understanding for the dramatic/symphonic character of orchestral song”. “When song is performed in large concert halls, people will get used to listening with other ears, with other expectations, and they will learn to grasp the rich sound world of the orchestra in addition to the singing itself”. He hoped that “this art form, which is still in its infancy, and that has grown out of the demands of a poetry situated between the lyric and the dramatic, the dramatic and the epic, can look forward to a rich process of development, inasmuch as it is afforded the response that every creation of the spirit needs in order to have life breathed into it.”8
About this Blogpost
Authors:
Christopher Grafschmidt
Translations:
Chris Walton (en)
Date:
20th September 2023
Tags:
Module IISongsVol. II/6
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Citation
Christopher Grafschmidt: The orchestral song before the First World War, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/rwa_post_00030, version 3.1.0-rc3, 20th December 2024.
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