Gurre-Lieder
Gurre-Lieder (Songs of Gurre) is a tripartite oratorio followed by a melodramatic epilogue for five vocal soloists, narrator, three choruses, and grand orchestra. The work, which is based on an early song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano, was composed by the then-Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg from 1900 to 1903. Following a break, he resumed orchestration in 1910 and completed it in November 1911. It sets to music the poem cycle Gurresange by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by Robert Franz Arnold).
Gurre-Lieder
Songs of Gurre
Gurre-Lieder von Jens Peter Jacobsen, Deutsch von Robert Franz Arnold, für Soli, Chor, und Orchester
Gurrelieder
Romantic
poems by Jens Peter Jacobsen
German
1900–1903, 1910
23 February 1913: Vienna
Vienna, 1920
at least 90 minutes
I: 11; II: 1, III: 7; Epilogue: 3
- 5 solo singers
- narrator
- mixed choir
- symphony orchestra
23 February 1913
The Gurre Castle and its surrounding areas in Denmark are the settings of the plot, which involves the mediæval love-tragedy (related in Jacobsen's poems) revolving around a legend of the love of king Valdemar Atterdag (Valdemar IV, 1320–1375, German: Waldemar) for his mistress, Tove, and her subsequent murder by Valdemar's jealous wife, Queen Helvig of Schleswig, (a legend which is historically more likely connected with his ancestor Valdemar I).
It is generally considered the most important tonal work of the composer, alongside Verklärte Nacht.
Composition[edit]
In 1900 Schoenberg began composing the work as a song cycle for soprano, tenor, and piano for a competition run by the Wiener Tonkünstler-Verein (Vienna Composers' Association). It was written in a lush, late-Romantic style heavily influenced by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. According to Schoenberg, however, he "finished them half a week too late for the contest, and this decided the fate of the work."[1] Later that year, he radically expanded his original conception, composing links between the first nine songs as well as adding a prelude, the Wood Dove's Song, and the whole of Parts 2 and 3.
By the time he returned to the piece in 1910, he had already written his first acknowledged atonal works, such as the Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 11, Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16, and Erwartung, Op. 17. He had also come under the spell of Gustav Mahler, whom he had met in 1903 and whose influence may be discernible in the orchestration of the latter parts of the Gurre-Lieder. Whereas Parts 1 and 2 are clearly Wagnerian in conception and execution, Part 3 features the pared-down orchestral textures and kaleidoscopic shifts between small groups of instruments favoured by Mahler in his later symphonies. In Des Sommerwindes wilde Jagd, Schoenberg also introduced the first use of sprechgesang (or sprechstimme), a technique he would explore more fully in Pierrot Lunaire of 1912.[2] The orchestration was finally completed in November 1911.[3]
Premieres[edit]
Franz Schreker conducted the premiere of the work in Vienna on 23 February 1913. By this time, Schoenberg was disenchanted with the style and character of the piece and was even dismissive of its positive reception, saying "I was rather indifferent, if not even a little angry. I foresaw that this success would have no influence on the fate of my later works. I had, during these thirteen years, developed my style in such a manner that to the ordinary concertgoer, it would seem to bear no relation to all preceding music. I had to fight for every new work; I had been offended in the most outrageous manner by criticism; I had lost friends and I had completely lost any belief in the judgement of friends. And I stood alone against a world of enemies."[4] At the premiere, Schoenberg did not even face the members of the audience, many of whom were fierce critics of his who were newly won over by the work; instead, he bowed to the musicians, but kept his back turned to the cheering crowd. Violinist Francis Aranyi called it "the strangest thing that a man in front of that kind of a hysterical, worshipping mob has ever done."[5]
It would be wrong to assume that Schoenberg considered Gurre-Lieder a composition of no merit, however. A few months after the premiere he wrote to Wassily Kandinsky, "I certainly do not look down on this work, as the journalists always suppose. For although I have certainly developed very much since those days, I have not improved, but my style has simply got better ... I consider it important that people give credence to the elements in this work which I retained later."[6]
The first Dutch performance, directed by Schoenberg himself, was in March 1921 in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.[7] Schoenberg's champion and former pupil, the BBC programme planner Edward Clark, invited the composer to London to conduct the first British performance on 27 January 1928, in a translation by David Millar Craig.[8][9] Clark had tried to have the premiere the previous year, on 14 April 1927, but these plans fell through.[10] Leopold Stokowski conducted the American premiere on 8 April 1932, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, soloists and chorus.
First recording[edit]
Stokowski's performances on 9 and 11 April 1932 were recorded 'live' by RCA Victor (see below). The company issued the 11 April performance on twenty-seven 78rpm sides, and remained the only recording of the work in the catalogue until the advent of the modern Long Play record. RCA Victor eventually reissued the recording on LP and CD. Bell Laboratories had been experimentally recording the Philadelphia Orchestra in high fidelity and stereophonic sound; RCA Victor reportedly used the new technology to record the performances on 33 1/3 rpm masters.[11][12]
Other performances[edit]
A performance of Gurre-Lieder without intermission runs over an hour and a half. Riccardo Chailly's 1990 Decca recording, for example, lasts more than 100 minutes and takes two compact discs.[13] In 2014 the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam was the first company to perform the Gurre-Lieder as a stage presentation, in a production directed by Pierre Audi.[14]