SATB Choir, Piano - Level
3
SKU: CA.925600
Composed by Hugo Wolf.
Arranged by Denis Rouger.
Separate edition to the
CD. Lieder, Secular
choral music. Full Score.
Duration 3 minutes. Carus
Verlag #CV 09.256/00.
Published by Carus Verlag
(CA.925600).
ISBN
M-007-24918-2. Key: D
major. German. Text:
Morike,
Eduard.
Hugo Wolf
set a total of 53 songs
by Eduard Morike, all in
the year 1888. The
composer wrote in a
letter: Once you have
heard this song, it can
only inspire one wish -
to die. In the
artistic-metaphysical
milieu of the late 19th
century this was regarded
as the highest ideal,
especially for Hugo Wolf,
who believed in the body
as a wretched piano case
from which the soul can
only break free like
harmonies dying away. And
yet Fussreise (Journey on
Foot) begins as a simple,
happy, elated song of
travel, revolving around
the key of D major over
an ostinato piano rhythm.
Old Adam believes he
senses the bliss of
paradise in this, but he
continues to be caught in
the tension between
earthly suffering and
eternal longing, as the
rest of Hugo Wolf's
setting clearly shows: it
remains a pious hope that
a whole life would be
such a morning journey
bathed in gentle
perspiration. These art
songs were originally
composed not for chamber
choir, but for solo voice
and piano. Denis Rouger
has carefully adapted
them to suit the
requirements and
expressive possibilities
offered by a larger
ensemble, without losing
the any of the qualities
of the original in the
process. Each part in the
choir has a melodic line
drawn from the harmonic
and rhythmic framework.
In the process, the
variety and refinement of
the choral language
combines with an enormous
flexibility in form and
expression, as French
melodies or German art
song demand from a
soloist and pianist. The
songs have been recorded
by the figure humaine
chamber choir on the CD
Kennst du das Land ...
(Carus 83.495).
