Cäcilie (Strauss) - Misplaced Pages

1894 song composed by Richard Strauss

Cäcilie
Lied by Richard Strauss
Lady Lilith by Rossetti (1866).
English	Cecilia or Cecily
Catalogue	TrV 170
Opus	27, No. 2
Text	Poem by Heinrich Hart
Language	German
Composed	September 9, 1894
Dedication	Pauline de Ahna, composer's wife.
Scoring	Voice and piano

"Cäcilie", Op. 27 No. 2, is the second in a set of four songs composed by Richard Strauss in 1894.

The words are from a love poem "Cäcilie" written by Heinrich Hart (1855–1906), a German dramatic critic and journalist who also wrote poetry. It was written for the poet's wife Cäcilie.

German pronunciation: [tsɛːˈtsiː.liːə], or UK English as "Cecilia".

History

Strauss composed the song at Marquartstein on 9 September 1894. , the day before his wedding to the soprano Pauline de Ahna. All four of the Opus 27 songs, including Cäcilie were given as a wedding present to her.

Instrumentation and accompaniment

The song was originally written with piano accompaniment in the key of E major, but later orchestrated in his 'heroic' key of E♭. The instrumentation is: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B♭, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in E♭, 2 trumpets in E♭, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 timpani, harp and the orchestral string section.

The tempo direction is "Sehr lebhaft und drängend".

Strauss, in his rich and lively orchestration, included parts for a solo string player from each section.

The change of key a semitone down from E to E♭ explains why, from bar 34 on the violas are asked to play the note B, a semitone below the lowest note normally possible on the instrument; and at this point Strauss asks half the violas to tune this string down a semitone. For the same reason the full score, bar 39, gives the second flute the note B, a semitone lower than its normal lowest note.

Lyrics

Cäcilie	Cecilia
Wenn du es wüßtest, Was träumen heißt von brennenden Küssen, Von wandern und ruhen mit der Geliebten, Aug in Auge, Und kosend und plaudernd, Wenn du es wüßtest, Du neigtest dein Herz! Wenn du es wüßtest, Was bangen heißt in einsamen Nächten, Umschauert vom Sturm, da niemand tröstet Milden Mundes die kampfmüde Seele, Wenn du es wüßtest, Du kämest zu mir. Wenn du es wüßtest, Was leben heißt, umhaucht von der Gottheit weltschaffendem Atem, Zu schweben empor, lichtgetragen, Zu seligen Höhn, Wenn du es wüßtest, wenn du es wüßtest, Du lebtest mit mir.	If you but knew, sweet, what ‘tis to dream of fond, burning kisses, of wand’ring and resting with the belov’d one; gazing fondly caressing and chatting, could I but tell you, your heart would assent. If you but knew, sweet, the anguish of waking thro' nights long and lonely and rocked by the storm when no-one is near to soothe and comfort the strife weary spirit. Could I but tell you, you’d come, sweet, to me. If you but knew, sweet, what living is, in the creative breath of God, Lord and Maker to hover, upborne on dove-like pinions to regions of light, if you but knew it, could I but tell you, you’d dwell, sweet, with me.

Cäcilie

Cecilia

Wenn du es wüßtest,
Was träumen heißt von brennenden Küssen,
Von wandern und ruhen mit der Geliebten,
Aug in Auge,
Und kosend und plaudernd,
Wenn du es wüßtest,
Du neigtest dein Herz!

Wenn du es wüßtest,
Was bangen heißt in einsamen Nächten,
Umschauert vom Sturm, da niemand tröstet
Milden Mundes die kampfmüde Seele,
Wenn du es wüßtest,
Du kämest zu mir.

Wenn du es wüßtest,
Was leben heißt, umhaucht von der Gottheit
weltschaffendem Atem,
Zu schweben empor, lichtgetragen,
Zu seligen Höhn,
Wenn du es wüßtest, wenn du es wüßtest,
Du lebtest mit mir.

If you but knew, sweet,
what ‘tis to dream of fond, burning kisses,
of wand’ring and resting with the belov’d one;
gazing fondly
caressing and chatting,
could I but tell you,
your heart would assent.

If you but knew, sweet,
the anguish of waking thro' nights long and lonely
and rocked by the storm when no-one is near
to soothe and comfort the strife weary spirit.
Could I but tell you,
you’d come, sweet, to me.

If you but knew, sweet,
what living is, in the creative breath of
God, Lord and Maker
to hover, upborne on dove-like pinions
to regions of light,
if you but knew it, could I but tell you,
you’d dwell, sweet, with me.

Opus 27

The other songs of Strauss' Opus 27:

Op. 27 No. 1 "Ruhe, meine Seele!" (Nicht ein Lüftchen regt sich leise)
Op. 27 No. 3 "Heimliche Aufforderung" (Auf, hebe die funkelnde Schale)
Op. 27 No. 4 "Morgen!" (Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen)

Recordings

There are many recordings of this, one of Strauss's most popular songs. Richard Strauss recorded it in once in 1944, accompanying the Austrian soprano Maria Reining on the piano.

References and notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Cäcilie" Strauss – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Trenner, Franz (2003) Richard Strauss Chronik, Verlag Dr Richard Strauss Gmbh, Wien, ISBN 3-901974-01-6. Page 118.
Richard Strauss Lieder, Complete Edition Vol. IV, London, 1965, Boosey & Hawkes
Full score: "Very lively and urgent".
Note in the full score: "Die Hälfte nach H unstimmen"
Translation by Paul Bernhoff
Hart: "kämst"
Hart: "Höhen"
Richard Strauss accompanies (Vol.2), Preiser PR93262.

External links

v t e Richard Strauss
List of operas List of compositions
Operas	Guntram (1894) Feuersnot (1901) Salome (1905) Elektra (1909) Der Rosenkavalier (1911) Ariadne auf Naxos (1912/16) Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919) Intermezzo (1924) Die ägyptische Helena (1928) Arabella (1933) Die schweigsame Frau (1935) Friedenstag (1938) Daphne (1938) Die Liebe der Danae (1940) Capriccio (1942)
Ballets	Josephslegende (1914) Schlagobers (1924) Verklungene Feste (1940)
Orchestral	Symphony No. 1 (1880) Violin Concerto (1881–82) Horn Concerto No. 1 (1882–83) Symphony No. 2 (1883–84) Burleske (1885–86) Le bourgeois gentilhomme (1911–17) Dance suite from keyboard pieces by François Couperin (1923) Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare (1924) Olympische Hymne (1936) Japanese Festival Music (1940) Divertimento for chamber orchestra after keyboard pieces by Couperin (1941) Horn Concerto No. 2 (1942) Metamorphosen (1945) Oboe Concerto (1945) Duet concertino for clarinet and bassoon (1947)
Tone poems	Aus Italien (1886) Macbeth (1888) Don Juan (1888) Death and Transfiguration (1889) Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895) Also sprach Zarathustra (1896) Don Quixote (1897) Ein Heldenleben (1898) Symphonia Domestica (1903) An Alpine Symphony (1911–15)
Chamber music	Piano Sonata (1881) Cello Sonata in F major (1883) Piano Quartet (1884–1885) Violin Sonata (1888) Enoch Arden (1897)
Lieder	"Zueignung" (1885) "Die Nacht" (1885) "Allerseelen" (1885) "Winternacht" (1886) "Ständchen" (1886) "Ruhe, meine Seele!" (1894) "Cäcilie" (1894) "Heimliche Aufforderung" (1894) "Morgen!" (1894) "Traum durch die Dämmerung" (1895) "Sehnsucht" (1896) "Der Arbeitsmann" (1898) "Befreit" (1898) "Notturno" (1899) "Des Dichters Abendgang" (1900) "Freundliche Vision" (1900) "Frühlingsfeier" (1906) Brentano Lieder (1918) Der Krämerspiegel (1918) Four Last Songs (1948)
Choral	Wandrers Sturmlied (1884) Utan svafvel och fosfor (1889) Taillefer (1903) Die Tageszeiten (1928)
Film adaptations	Der Rosenkavalier (1926 film)
Family and peers	Franz Strauss (father) Pauline de Ahna (wife) Hans von Bülow Hugo von Hofmannsthal Max Reinhardt Stefan Zweig Joseph Gregor
Related articles	Elektra chord Treatise on Instrumentation Modernism Neoclassicism Neo-romanticism
Category Audio

Categories: