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Ruhe, meine Seele!
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox musical composition
| name =
| type = Lied
| composer = Richard Strauss
| image = File:Perrault Leon Jean Basile Meditation 1893.jpg
| image_upright = 0.7
| alt =
| caption = Meditation by Perrault, 1893.
| translation = Rest, my soul
| catalogue = TrV 170
| opus = 27, No. 1
| dedication = Pauline de Ahna, composer's wife.
| text = Poem by Karl Henckell
| language = German
| key =
| composed = May 17, 1894, Weimar.Trenner, Franz (2003) 'Richard Strauss Chronik', Verlag Dr Richard Strauss, Wien, , p. 116.
| scoring = Voice and piano
}}
"'", Op. 27, No. 1, is the first in a set of four songs composed by Richard Strauss in 1894. It was originally for voice and piano, and not orchestrated by Strauss until 1948, after he had completed one of his 'Four Last Songs', "".This is discussed in the essay "' and the '" by Timothy L. Jackson, in 'Richard Strauss and his World' by Bryan Randolph Gilliam. Strauss orchestrated "" just after completing "" but before completing the other of the 'Four Last Songs': "", "" and "September". The author suggests that the five songs form a unified song cycle, with reasons for "" to be performed as a prelude to "". The words are from a poem "" (Rest, my soul) written by the poet Karl Henckell.
History
Strauss composed the song in May 1894, and that September he gave it as a wedding present to his wife the soprano Pauline de Ahna.
Related songs
Timothy L. Jackson has noted that Strauss had composed the song "Ruhe, meine Seele!" for piano and voice in 1894 but did not orchestrate it until 1948, just after he had completed "Im Abendrot" and before he composed the other three of his 'Four Last Songs'. Jackson suggests that the addition of "Ruhe, meine Seele!" to the 'Four Last Songs' forms a five-song unified song cycle, if "Ruhe, meine Seele!" is performed as a prelude to "Im Abendrot", to which it bears motivic similarity.Jackson, Timothy L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YYLKhf7-SE4C&pg=PA90 "'Ruhe, meine Seele!' and the 'Letzte Orchesterlieder'"]. In: Gilliam, Bryan Randolph (ed). [https://books.google.com/books?id=YYLKhf7-SE4C 'Richard Strauss and His World']. Princeton University Press, 1992. pp. 90137.
Instrumentation and accompaniment
The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 timpani, celesta, harp and the orchestral string section.'Richard Strauss Lieder, Complete Edition Vol. IV', London, 1965, Boosey & Hawkes
The accompaniment has sombre and ambiguous harmonies, with contrasting calm and tempestuous episodes, but ends peacefully in the home key of C major.
Lyrics
Opus 27
The other songs of Opus 27 are:
* Op. 27 No. 2 "Ccilie" (Wenn du es wtest)
* Op. 27 No. 3 "Heimliche Aufforderung" (Auf, hebe die funkelnde Schale)
* Op. 27 No. 4 "Morgen!" (Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen)
Recordings
Richard Strauss recorded it twice with himself accompanying on the piano. In 1919 with the baritone Heinrich Schlusnus and again in 1944, with the baritone Alfred Poell.*Getz, Christine (1991), The Lieder of Richard Strauss, chapter 10 in Mark-Daniel Schmid, 'Richard Strauss Companion', Praeger Publishers, Westfield CT, 2003, , page 376.
References and notes
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