This book concentrates on the 242 published songs that Wolfe wrote for voice and piano, though the Ibsen songs for voice and orchestra are also discussed. English translations are provided together with the German texts and the background to the original poems - by Morike, Eichendorff and Goethe, as well as the Italian and Spanish sources from which the songbooks were drawn - are fully explored. Each song is dated, its keys identified and vocal range determined.
"Essential to the composer's method of song-writing was a harmony between musical form and poetic text. Sams takes us right to the heart of that creative method and helps to explain how and why a particular part of the text matches a particular piece of music. He includes a list of the motifs employed by Brahms to help show how the mind of the composer worked when seeking apposite music for the imagery of the poem."--BOOK JACKET.
This book looks at each of Schumann's 246 songs and provides a translation, a commentary and notes on each. What emerges is a carefully documented history of Schumann's songwriting art - sources and original texts are traced and dated, recurring themes are related vividly to the song-writer's life. For this edition, Eric Sams had added an appendix which throws new light on the controversy surrounding Schumann's health.