5. Schwermut (Melancholy). Text by Karl August Candidus.

Sehr langsam (Very

slowly).
Two-part through-composed form. E-FLAT MINOR, Cut time [2/2] and 4/2 time (Also
E-flat minor in low key edition).

German Text:
Mir ist so weh ums Herz,
Mir ist, als ob ich weinen möchte
Vor Schmerz!
Gedankensatt
Und lebensmatt
Möcht’ ich das Haupt hinlegen
in die Nacht der Nächte!

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Part 1. Introduction. A succession of slow, steady, low, and dark-
hued
octaves and chords is punctuated twice by a funeral march-like idea with a
prominent
dotted rhythm. It is marked sotto voce.
0:22 [m. 6]-- Line 1. The voice enters, echoing the rudimentary melody presented
by the slow chords and octaves in the introduction. It begins softly, and the
piano
accompaniment retreats to the background. It is simply a repetition of the
introduction
music from its second bar, doubling the voice. The voice seems to struggle to leap
upward before plunging back down below its opening pitch on “Herz.”
0:36 [m. 9]--Lines 2-3. The piano now explores new areas, nearly doubling the new
vocal line, but the funeral march idea in dotted rhythm is still heard in every
other
bar. The voice again struggles upward, this time in purely stepwise motion. The
funeral march idea overlaps a bar before the third line, “vor Schmerz,” where the
voice is shifted up one more pitch level before leaping back down on “Schmerz.”
At that point, a gradual increase in volume reaches its climax, but it is
immediately
cut off. The introduction music, again from its second bar, is very slightly
altered
and functions now as a small interlude.
1:17 [m. 17]--Lines 4-5. These two short rhyming lines are set at a lower vocal
pitch than what has gone before. The same repeated note is sung six times before
falling a third for the last two syllables. The process is long and slow, and the
repeated pitch’s notation is changed from G-flat to F-sharp on its third
reiteration.
This change reflects the new harmonization of the funeral march idea. It enters
after the piano has been silent for three long beats, but it is now in B minor.
After the voice drops the third, the funeral march rhythm also drops and is heard
in G minor. Four slow chords bring the music back home to E-flat.
1:51 [m. 24]--Part 2. Line 6. The voice enters again on an upbeat with the last
of the four slow chords. The meter changes here to 4/2, doubling the length of the
bars. The voice descends stepwise as it sings the line, slightly elongating
“hinlegen.”
The accompaniment pattern changes to left hand arpeggios on the strong beats
leading
to right hand chords on the weak ones, all still very slow. The harmony here is
ambiguous, retaining vestiges of the previous G minor before seeming to shift the
home E-flat to major.
2:08 [m. 26]--Line 7. The line begins with a note held over a bar line. The key
shifts briefly to G-flat major, and the voice leaps twice upward before dropping
a step at the end of “Nächte.” The piano pattern remains constant, save for one
right hand chord on a strong beat on the first syllable of “Nächte.”
2:25 [m. 28]--The last line is repeated after a dissonant bass note under the
previous
last syllable of “Nächte.” It again begins with a note held over a bar line. This
time, it rises more steadily by steps. The key again seems to want to shift, to
C-flat, but now “Nächte” descends in two wide, syncopated leaps and reaches a
cadence
at home in E-flat. From “Nacht,” right hand chords are heard on every beat. Under
“Nächte,” the left hand arpeggios slow down from four-note groups to three (notated
as triplets) under highly chromatic chords. The piano still manages to
definitively
establish the home major key.
2:44 [m. 30]--The postlude begins with the cadence. The previous pattern is used,
with right hand chords (still quite chromatic) only heard on weak beats. The left
hand arpeggios now reach very low. For the first bar, they are again four notes,
but they move back to three in the next one. There is then a last, low, quiet
chord
that retains a bit of comfort due to the fact that it is a major chord.
3:24--END OF SONG [32 mm.]

6. In der Gasse (In the Lane). Text by Friedrich Hebbel. Gehend (Moving). Two-
part
through-composed form. D MINOR, 3/4 time (Low key C minor).

German Text:
Ich blicke hinab in die Gasse,
Dort drüben hat sie gewohnt;
Das öde, verlassene Fenster,
Wie hell bescheint’s der Mond.

Es gibt so viel zu beleuchten;

O holde Strahlen des Lichts,
Was webt ihr denn gespenstisch
Um jene Stätte des Nichts!

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza 1. The piano introduction, played in octaves until three
chords
bring it to a close, provides the main motive or element that ties the song
together.
Its winding leaps, initial upbeat, dotted rhythm, and downward trajectory help to
set the quiet, unsettled mood.
0:09 [m. 7]--The first line is the only time the voice directly sings the
introduction
material, and it is in unison with the piano. The second line diverges upward as
the piano extends the introduction material further downward with more harmony.
It moves even more into the bass in a brief interlude.
0:22 [m. 17]--In the third line, the voice meanders around two pitches before
reaching
up to echo the main motive. Under this, the piano plays low chords. The bridge
to the fourth line uses the same pervasive motive. The first statement of the last
line is quite static. The line is repeated and stretched out on the words “hell”
and “bescheint’s.” The piano plays drooping figures over low chords in both
statements.
The voice ends in the related key of F major, and the low bass again plays a
bridge
with the introduction motive.
0:49 [m. 36]--Stanza 2. The introduction begins again, but it is suddenly and
dramatically
loud and animated. The voice enters “early,” and is also very animated, shooting
upward on the first two lines. These move toward B-flat, in a mixture of major and
minor. The dotted rhythm from the introduction continues to persist underneath
this,
now harmonized with colorful chords. As the second line is completed, Brahms
indicates
even more agitation, and an active bass is now heard under the motive.
0:59 [m. 46]--The third line winds steadily downward in a long-short rhythm. The
fourth line again moves powerfully upward. Underneath, the active bass winds
around,
then emerges into ascending arpeggios. Over the course of the two lines, the home
key of D minor is again firmly established. The last word “Nichts,” is a large
climax
over a colorful “diminished seventh” chord.
1:06 [m. 53]--The last line is repeated in long notes. The voice sings the first
of these, “um,” without the piano. The piano enters with the arpeggios under the
second and fourth notes, the voice singing alone again on the third and fifth,
quieting
down. There is then a vocal break as the piano is isolated for another arpeggio
figure. Finally, the piano again breaks as the singer darkly intones “des Nichts!”

1:13 [m. 60]--Entering on “Nichts!” with the main dotted rhythm, the piano strongly
builds to the last chord.
1:30--END OF SONG [65 mm.]

7. Vorüber (Past). Text by Friedrich Hebbel. Sehr langsam (Very slowly). Two-
part
through-composed form. F MAJOR, 4/4 time (Low key D major).

German Text:
Ich legte mich unter den Lindenbaum,
In dem die Nachtigall schlug;
Sie sang mich in den süßesten Traum,
Der währte auch lange genug.

Denn nun ich erwache, nun ist sie fort,

Und welk bedeckt mich das Laub;
Doch leider noch nicht, wie am dunklern Ort,
Verglühte Asche der Staub.

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Stanza 1. The two opening bars establish the accompaniment pattern
for the first verse. The gently arching left hand and the languid right hand
chords
set an exceedingly atmospheric mood. The first two lines are set to three-measure
phrases, and they are separated by a bar. While the end of the first line
introduces
mild dissonance at “Lindenbaum,” this is short-lived. In the left hand, the
arching
lines gradually give way to repeated ascending arpeggios, and the right hand also
gradually becomes more active. The second line comes to a complete and fulfilling
cadence.
0:38 [m. 10]--At the third line, Brahms includes three expressive directions.
First,
that the soft pedal be depressed, second that there should be a slight slowing
(“poco
sostenuto”), and third, molto dolce (very sweetly). The ascending “sie sang” is
sung twice, and as the line continues, it introduces lowered pitches borrowed from
the minor key (the sixth and seventh, though not the crucial third degree of the
scale). The word “süßesten” is set to a very languid descending triplet that
clashes
with the main piano rhythm. The entire third line is then repeated, and Brahms
fulfills
the implications of the lowered pitches, moving through the warm “flat” keys of D-
flat
and G-flat over a now more flowing “süßesten.”
1:09 [m. 17]--The last line gradually comes back toward home. “Der währte” is set
to a downward leap. It is then repeated, and the line is completed over a sudden
and strong crescendo that reaches a climax on “lange.” The harmony moves to C
major,
the “dominant” key, but it has notes borrowed from C minor, and it even retains
vestiges
of the flat keys that suggest the “home” minor key (F minor). Through all of this,
the piano has retained its essential character, with the left hand moving between
the repeated ascents and the arching lines. The piano now has a bridge that
settles
back down and confirms the motion to C major.
1:36 [m. 22]--Stanza 2. The second verse storms in, introducing a completely new
character as the dream ends. The key immediately moves to A minor, which is
relative
to C major. The piano accompaniment rests under the first words, set to a repeated
note. At “erwache,” it enters with agitated groups of six chords over a powerful
bass. They then yield to a more steady syncopation. The music settles somewhat
as the line is completed, and the second line becomes even more steady,
transforming
the syncopation to simple after-beat notes in the right hand. The line is sung
twice,
the second with a bit more intensity, but the entire passage from the beginning of
the verse remains firmly in A minor, despite colorful dissonances.
2:14 [m. 32]--The third line again becomes agitated, and increases in volume. The
piano pattern, with notes after the beats in the right hand, continues. The vocal
line strives higher, and shifts the harmony up a half-step to B-flat, first major,
then minor. Finally, “wie am dunklen Ort” is repeated. This is the most colorful
harmonic moment in a song that is full of them. The motion is to the very remote
G-flat minor.
2:32 [m. 37]--The last line soars upward in a strong arpeggio that is finally back
in the home key of F, but it is firmly and tragically F minor, not major. The
piano
also reaches upward with repeated chords. They are now in triplet rhythm, but they
retain the syncopation. The piano bass imitates the vocal ascent a fifth higher.
This marks a great climax on the word “Asche.” The words “verglühte Asche” are
repeated, but more deliberately, in steady descending notes. After a break, the
line is completed with “der Staub,” which punctuates a dark cadence. The
syncopated
triplets and leaping bass shadow the voice.
2:46 [m. 40]--The cadence merges into a postlude. The triplets abandon the
syncopated
held notes, and despite strongly accented dissonances and continued notes from the
minor key, the F-major chord gradually asserts itself. This is finally confirmed
in the last bar of repeated triplet chords, which are completely that of F major.
They rapidly recede from the powerful vocal close, but the last chord, however
quiet,
still does not seem completely settled.
3:20--END OF SONG [43 mm.]
8. Serenade (Serenade). Text by Adolf Friedrich von Schack. Grazioso. Varied
strophic/Ternary
form (ABA’). A MINOR, 6/8 and 9/8 time (Low key F-sharp minor).
(The title Serenade [a non-German word] is also used for Op. 70, No. 3.)

German Text:
Leise, um dich nicht zu wecken,
Rauscht der Nachtwind, teure Frau!
Leise in das Marmorbecken
Gießt der Brunnen seinen Tau.

Wie das Wasser, niedertropfend,

Kreise neben Kreise zieht,
Also zittert, leise klopfend,
Mir das Herz bei diesem Lied.

Schwingt euch, Töne meiner Zither,

Schwingt euch aufwärts, flügelleicht;
Durch das rebumkränzte Gitter
In der Schönen Kammer schleicht.

»Ist denn, liebliche Dolores«,

Also singt in ihren Traum -
»In der Muschel deines Ohres
Für kein Perlenwörtchen Raum?

[Here two stanzas omitted by Brahms]

O dem Freund nur eine Stunde,

Wo dein Arm ihn heiß umschlingt,
Und der Kuß von deinem Munde
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