Erwartung is one of the songs copied by Louis Weissenborn and published by Carl Reinecke in 1882, and it is a mystery: we do not know when it was composed, for what reason, or who the poet might be. This lament in E minor by a woman whose beloved has gone away is so beautiful that one would like to know more. (Mendelssohn seems to have preferred this key for songs of sorrow, including
Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass?,
Glosse,
Schlafloser Augen Leuchte and
Winterlied, in addition to
Das Waldschloss and the boyars’ death-song.) Each of its three stanzas ends with a hushed plagal cadence in parallel major mode in the piano, perhaps indicative of inner prayers for a happy conclusion to her sorrow or wish-fulfillment fantasies of his return.
from notes by Susan Youens © 2010
