Like a good play, this series on Folk music has two subplots:
1. Examine the “Romantic Period”
2. Explore the relationship of Classical Music to Folk Music.
Part one of the second subplot examined Bach's elevating of Lutheran Hymns (July 19th 2022), and Part 2–the classical treatment of folk music in Brazil, and its relationship to the quest to end slavery (August 9th 2022.)
Today, we shall examine the case of Johannes Brahms. Many classical composers drew from folk song settings. Especially notable are Beethoven's Scottish and Irish songs (April 9th 2020 Sept 11th 2020, October 9th 2020, October 30th 2020, Nov 2nd 2020, all from our series: "A Daily Dose of Beethoven”).
BRAHMS AND FOLK MUSIC
Brahms “set” over 200 folk songs. In each case, he kept the original folk song intact, note for note, even when no one was quite sure what the original was. He felt that it was important to make the transition from folk-song to art song as an intelligible process that could be replicated. Some of the primary means of making this transformation for Brahms were:
1. His piano accompaniments. Though they were simple compared to his more advanced settings, they reflected the same brilliance.
2. Changing tempo and the piano accompaniment about half-way through, to make the songs less strophic, and more thorough-composed, as the words often demanded.
Here is one example: Schwesterlein
The poem and song are strophic, They repeat each stanza. In reading the poem, we see that it progresses from innocent to distraught.
Er:
Schwesterlein, Schwesterlein,
Wann geh’n wir nach Haus?
Sie:
Morgen wenn die Hahnen kräh’n,
Woll’n wir nach Hause geh’n,
Brüderlein, Brüderlein,
Dann geh’n wir nach Haus.
Er:
Schwesterlein, Schwesterlein,
Wann geh’n wir nach Haus?
Sie:
Morgen wenn der Tag anbricht,
Eh’ end’t die Freude nicht,
Brüderlein, Brüderlein,
Der fröhliche Braus.
Er:
Schwesterlein, Schwesterlein,
Wohl ist es Zeit.
Sie:
Mein Liebster tanzt mit mir,
Geh’ ich, tanzt er mit ihr,
Brüderlein, Brüderlein,
Lass’ du mich heut’.
Er:
Schwesterlein, Schwesterlein,
Was bist du blass?
Sie:
Das macht der Morgenschein
Auf meinen Wängelein,
Brüderlein, Brüderlein,
Die vom Taue nass.
Er:
Schwesterlein, Schwesterlein,
Du wankest so matt?
Sie:
Suche die Kammertür,
Suche mein Bettlein mir,
Brüderlein, es wird fein
Unterm Rasen sein.
He: Sister, little sister,
When shall we go home?
She:
Tomorrow at cockcrow
We shall go home,
Brother, little brother,
Then we’ll go home.
He:
Sister, little sister,
When shall we go home?
She:
Tomorrow at daybreak,
Before the fun is ended,
Brother, little brother,
The happy revelry.
He:
Sister, little sister,
Now it is time.
She:
My love is dancing with me,
If I go, he’ll dance with her,
Brother, little brother,
Leave me for now.
He:
Sister, little sister,
Why are you so pale?
She:
That is the morning light
Shining on my cheeks,
Brother, little brother,
All wet with the dew.
He:
Sister, little sister,
Why do you stagger so faintly?
She:
Find the bedroom door,
Find me my bed,
Little brother, all will be well
Under the turf.
When sung as a folk song, the strophic element is emphasized and the change is difficult to bring out.
Brahms wrote one piano accompaniment for the first three verses, and another for the last two. He also marked a slower tempo for the last ones. The rest is up to the performers. In this case two great singers took the role of brother and sister. The result is stunning.
In Stiller Nacht is another beautiful German folk song.
In stiller Nacht,
Zur ersten Wacht,
Ein Stimm begann zu klagen,
Der naechtige Wind
Hat suess und lind
Zu mir den Klang getragen;
Von herbem Leid und Traurigkeit
Ist mir das Herz zerflossen,
Die Bluemelein mit Traenen rein
Hab ich sie all begossen.
Der schoene Mond
Will untergahn,
Fuer Leid nicht mehr mag scheinen,
Die Sterne lan
Ihr Funkeln stahn,
Mit mir sie wollen weinen.
Kein Vogelsang,
Kein Freudenklang
Man hoeret in den Lueften,
Die wilden Tier
Trauern auch mit mir
In Steinen und in Klueften.
In silent night, at first watch,
A voice begins to lament.
The night wind has sweetly and gently
Carried the sound to me.
With bitter pain and sorrow
My heart is melted.
With simple tears and flowers
I have watered all of them.
The lovely moon will now set,
For sorrow it doesn’t want to shine,
The stars stop their gleaming,
They want to weep with me.
No birdsong nor joyous sounds
Can be heard in the air.
Even the wild beasts grieve with me
In rocks and ravines.
The melody is near perfect. How can that be improved on?
Brahms set it twice, once in 1864. His mastery of vocal writing created a simple but beautiful 4 part setting. The polyphony magnified the song's beauty.
He set it again in 1864, for soloist with a haunting piano part.
These are folk song settings by Brahms that keep the melody intact. There are instrumental pieces that invoke the idea without quite quoting it. The 18th century philosopher Herder collected folk songs from around the world. One of them was a Scottish song called “Lady Anne Bothwell's lament”. It is a lullaby for her child, after LOrd Bothwell, a war hero, had abandoned them. Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117, No. 1 was inspired by this song. He wrote over it:
“Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft und schön! Mich dauert´s sehr, dich weinen sehn. (Schottisch, aus Herders Volksliedern)”
“Sleep softly my son, sleep soft and beautiful
It it hard for me to see you cry.”
Here is Lady Bothwell's Lament:
and here is Brahms Intermezzo: