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Track(s) taken from CDJ33029

Hymne III, D661

First line:
Wenn alle untreu werden
composer
May 1819; first published by Gotthard in 1872 as No 39 of Vierzig Lieder
author of text
author of text

Marjana Lipovšek (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: December 1996
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: September 1997
Total duration: 2 minutes 30 seconds
 

Reviews

‘One of the most rewarding CDs to date in this whole, comprehensive Lieder Edition. Utterly absorbing’ (Gramophone)

‘Lipovšek provides a feast of marvellous singing. She has one of the most beautiful mezzo voices around at the moment. A great addition to the series’ (Classic CD)

‘Endlessly satisfying music and performances of poise and distinction’ (Hi-Fi News)
This hymn, like Hymne II, is also in the original key of B flat minor, and it also contrasts the dark-hued opening lines of each strophe (accompanied by conventionally voice-doubling chords in the minor key) with a shift to the major – in this case a dance-like motif in semiquavers (the change is at ‘Drum geb ich dir mit Freuden’) which is rather merry and in eighteenth-century style. Whatever one thinks of this music, it cannot be written off as uninspired Schubert, only as Schubert deliberately attempting a religious stylization which he thought appropriate to the poet. By all accounts many of his contemporaries found it both moving and effective. Longing for the Saviour and gratitude for His love is fairly uncontroversial in a superficial reading of this poem, but our knowledge of the Novalis story and Sophie’s death reveals the border-line between conventional praise of God as the love-object, and the way in which Novalis brings thoughts of her into the centre of meditations on the Passion.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1997

Other albums featuring this work

Schubert: The Complete Songs
CDS44201/4040CDs Boxed set + book (at a special price) — Download only
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