Songs for Higher Voice and Orchestra

If for Beethoven the song genre was often a field for experimentation, for Richard Strauss it became one of the central pillars of his creative output. He composed more than 200 songs - from his earliest childhood attempts at the age of six to the late vocal cycle Four Last Songs, written at eighty four. His muse, critic, and devoted interpreter was his wife, the renowned soprano Pauline de Ahna. The song “Morgen!” (“Tomorrow!”) was written on 21 May 1894. It forms part of the cycle Four Songs, Op. 27, which Strauss presented to Pauline as a wedding gift on their wedding day. The text is by the Scottish German anarchist poet John Henry Mackay. Originally conceived for voice and piano - with an alternative version for violin and piano—Strauss orchestrated the song three years later, adding a solo violin. This luminous vision of quiet, shared happiness received its premiere on 22 May 1897 in Brussels, with Pauline as soloist and the composer conducting. Strauss was just twenty one when he published his first vocal cycle, Eight Songs, Op. 10, set to poems by the Austrian writer Hermann von Gilm from his posthumously published collection Letzte Blätter (Last Leaves). The premiere, which established Strauss as a master of the Lied, took place on 5 March 1886 in Munich, performed by the tenor Heinrich Vogl with the composer at the piano. “Allerseelen” (“All Souls”) is the final song of the cycle. It evokes the Catholic feast of All Souls’ Day, when families traditionally adorn graves with flowers and remember their departed loved ones. The orchestral version was made in 1932 by the German composer and conductor Robert Heger with the official approval of Strauss’s publishers. In 1940 Strauss himself orchestrated the cycle’s opening song, “Zueignung” (“Dedication”) - an ardent hymn of gratitude to a cherished person. This version is dedicated to the celebrated soprano Viorica Ursuleac, who first performed it on 4 July 1940 with the Vienna Philharmonic under Strauss’s baton.