Die Nacht (from Vier Notturnos, Op. 22, no. 2)

Many of Eichendorff's poems were published first in his novels, only later to be printed separately in collected volumes of poetry. This poem appeared first in an early sketch of the novel Dichter und ihre Gesellen (Poets and their Companions, 1834). When the poem was published in the 1837 edition of the collected poems, it bore the title ”Nachtblume” (The Night Flower). The poem symbolizes the interconnectedness of the night, the sea, the sailing clouds, and the human heart. It is clear that Brahms knew Herzogenberg's Op. 22. Brahms wrote, in a letter to Elisabeth von Herzogenberg (December 12, 1877), “I will not insult your intelligence by offering to explain the little jest I am sending, and need hardly say that I strongly advocate the exploitation of other people's motifs. ..”¹ Brahms refers hereto the manuscript of his “0 schưne Nacht,” Op. 92, no.1, composed in 1877, which is heavily in debted to Herzogenberg's Op. 22, no.2. Herzogenberg's quietly arpeggiated piano introduction, the key of E major, the slow tempo, and the general import of the poetry were all consciously imitated by Brahms, who wrote his “little jest” only one year after the appearance of Herzogenberg's Notturnos (a further connection is the fact that Brahms originally called his piece a “Notturno”). Herzogenberg's own reaction to Brahms's offering is worth quoting:

My best thanks, by the way, for taking my egg into your cuckoo's nest. History will not be able to say in our case that a pupil has robbed his master. Writers such as Emil Naumann and others will be so flustered, if this sort of thing goes on, as to be reduced to classifying Brahms as the epigone of his most faithful disciples. And it would serve you right.²

Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)

Eichendorff's life was outwardly uneventful. After studying law in Halle and Heidelberg, he spent most of the rest of his life in the Prussian civil service. On the other hand, he developed friendships with the leading figures of the emerging romantic movement in Germany, including Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arrum, Friedrich Schlegel, E.T.A. Hoffman, and Felix Mendelssohn. His poems inspired many song writers, among them Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Franz, Wolf, R. Strauss, and Pfitzner. He is considered today one of Germany's foremost lyric poets of the Romantic period.

Nature imagery dominates most of Eichendorff's poetry; favorite leitmotifs are “homeland,” “moonlight,” “night,” “forest solitude,” “forest murmurs,” “wandering,” and “nightingales.” It is important to recognize, however, that these images are not simple, naive, or predictable, but are, rather, revelations of an inner psychological landscape. All of his poetry is imbued with an unwavering Catholic faith. “God and nature-these two principal elements in Eichendorff's work were formed early in the poet's childhood ...[He] embraced an artistic view that recognized the task of poetry as a religious representation of the eternal, reflected in earthly symbols. ..”³ According to Liselotte M. Davis: “The appeal of Eichendorff's poetry , which has not diminished with time, lies in a. perfect union of content and form, embellished by the musicality of his language. Eichendorff, more than any other poet, was responsible for the discovery that such a musicality existed. That he was aware of its existence can be seen in the often-quoted four-line poem 'Wünschelrute' (Divining Rod):

Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen,
Die da Träumen fort und fort,
Und die Welt flingt an zu singen,
Triffst du nur das Zauberwort.

A song lies slumbering in all things,
Which are dreaming on and on,
And the world begins to sing,
If you but find the magic word.³

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¹Max Kalbeck, ed., Johannes Brahms: The Herzogenberg Correspondence (London, 1909), p. 31.

²Op cit, p. 33.

³Thilo Reinhard, Ed., The Singer's Schumann (New York, 1989), pp 35-36.

⁴Liselotte M. Davis, “Joseph Freiherr von EichelKlorff,” in German Writers in the Age of Goethe 1789-1832, ed. by James Hardin and Christoph Schweitzer, in the series: Dictionary of Literary Biography (Detroit, 1989), Vol. 90, p. 68.

Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900)

Herzogenberg was born in Graz, Austria, and came of a noble family. He began to study law and philosophy in 1861 at the University of Vienna, but in the next year gave up his law studies to become a composition pupil of Felix Otto Dessoff, a professor at the Conservatory. In the same year (1862), Brahms left his birthplace, Hamburg, and came to live in Vienna. Herzogenberg occasionally encountered Brahms at Dessoff's house, and soon devoted himself to the promotion of Brahms': music. Herzogenberg, who in some early compositions followed the lead of Wagner and the New German School, soon felt he was on the wrong path. He embarked upon a daunting course of theoretical study, taking J .S. Bach as his model. For four years, he worked in Graz as a freelance composer, but then moved to Leipzig, where he founded (on January 31, 1875) the Leipzig Bach Society, along with Philipp Spitta and several others. In 1885 he was appointed professor of composition at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik. The death of his wife, Elisabeth, in 1892, was a heavy blow; he consequently buried himself in his work and produced his Totenfeier, Op. 80, a sacred cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra - a worthy monument to her memory. His finest sacred works were composed in these last years of his life: Die Geburt Christi, Op. 90, Die Passion, Op. 93, and the Erntefeier, Op. 104. He died at Wiesbaden on October 9, 1900, having survived Elisabeth by eight, and Brahms by three years.

Herzogenberg garnered a quite undeserved reputation as a dry, pedantic contrapuntist. The blame for the fact that his works never achieved much success during his lifetime may be laid partially a the feet of Johannes Brahms, who, although a close friend, never took Herzogenberg seriously as a composer. On the other hand, Brahms valued enormously the criticism of his own work by Elisabeth, Heinrich's wife. Today Herzogenberg's reputation is being steadily rehabilitated. One is impressed, first of all, by the sheer quantity of music that flowed from his pen. All branches of music, except opera, are represented in his output; his published compositions number to Op. 109. In addition to many concert works with sacred texts, he composed short liturgical works for the Protestant liturgy (although he remained a Catholic throughout his life). He wrote also many secular part songs, with and without accompaniment, for mixed, men's, and women's choirs. He composed three impressive string quartets and interesting piano variations (e.g., a set of variations on a theme of Brahms).

We are now in a position to see that Herzogenberg was independent in his thought, while using a general Brahmsian surface (much as Mozart, even in his greatest works, built upon the foundation of the prevailing style of his period, especially that of Haydn). The Vier Notturnos (1876) show Herzogenberg's art in all its youthful freshness. The music does reflect influences from both Schumann and Brahms, but, upon closer examination, it also reveals the hand of a master composer, a considerable poet in sound. It is not too much to claim, I think, that this Op. 22 choral set is the equal of the best secular part songs by Schumann, Brahms, or Mendelssohn. It is great music by any acknowledged standard.

Richard J. Bloesch
The University of Iowa

The English translations suitable for singing were prepared by Richard Bloesch and Harris Loewen.

The source of this edition is the original publication of the work by Breitkopf in 1876, a copy of which is located in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The autograph manuscript of this work has not been discovered.

Revisions to the original edition: consistent application of vocal slurs to melismatic passages.

recording performed by Riverside City College Chamber Singers
Riverside, California
John Byun, director

Click here to see a sample.

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