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Ruhe, meine Seele!

{{Infobox musical composition

| name = {{nowrap|{{lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}}}}

| 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, {{ISBN|3-901974-01-6}}, p. 116.

| scoring = Voice and piano

}}

"{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}}", 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, "{{Lang|de|Im Abendrot|italic=no}}".This is discussed in the essay "{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}} and the {{Lang|de|Letzte Orchesterlieder}}" by Timothy L. Jackson, in Richard Strauss and his World by Bryan Randolph Gilliam. Strauss orchestrated "{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele|italic=no}}" just after completing "{{Lang|de|Im Abendrot|italic=no}}" but before completing the other of the Four Last Songs: "{{Lang|de|Frühling|italic=no}}", "{{Lang|de|Beim Schlafengehen|italic=no}}" and "September". The author suggests that the five songs form a unified song cycle, with reasons for "{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}}" to be performed as a prelude to "{{Lang|de|Im Abendrot|italic=no}}". The words are from a poem "{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}}" (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. 90–137.

Instrumentation and accompaniment

The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B{{Music|flat}}, 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

{{Lang|de|Ruhe, meine Seele!|italic=no}} [http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/arent_dichtercharaktere_1885?p=306 "Ruhe, meine Seele!"], in Moderne Dichter-Charaktere, p. 288, Leipzig 1885

!Rest thee, my SoulEnglish Lyrics by John Bernhoff, Richard Strauss, Lieder Album (Universal edition 1343-9), Band 2 Number 8. 1904, Leipzig Jos.Aibl Verlag G.M.B.H.

{{Lang|de|Nicht ein Lüftchen

Regt sich leise,

Sanft entschlummert

Ruht der Hain;

Durch der Blätter

Dunkle Hülle

Stiehlt sich lichter

Sonnenschein.

Ruhe, ruhe,

Meine Seele,

Deine Stürme

Gingen wild,

Hast getobt und

Hast gezittert,

Wie die Brandung,

Wenn sie schwillt.

Diese Zeiten

Sind gewaltig,

Bringen Herz

Und Hirn in Not –

Ruhe, ruhe,

Meine Seele,

Und vergiß,

Und vergiß,

Was dich bedroht!|italic=no}}

|Not a breath of wind

is stirring,

Hill and Dale

are wrapped in slumber;

Golden through the

sheltering foliage

Summer's Midday

sunbeams peep.

Rest thee, rest thee

troubled spirit,

Thou hast suffered

laboured, toiled,

Thou hast fought

and thou has trembled,

like the stormbeat,

ocean wild.

These times

are momentous,

head and heart

must trouble bear –

Rest thee, rest thee

troubled spirit

and forget

all thy sufferings

will soon be over!

Opus 27

The other songs of Opus 27 are:

  • Op. 27 No. 2 "Cäcilie" (Wenn du es wüßtest)
  • 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, {{ISBN|0-313-27901-2}}, page 376.

References and notes

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMSLP2|work=4 Lieder, Op.27 (Strauss, Richard)|cname=4 Lieder, Op. 27}}
  • [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=7829 The LiederNet Archive: "Rest my soul"], English translation by Emily Ezust

Orchestral accompaniment

Piano accompaniment

{{Richard Strauss|state=collapsed}}

{{Portal bar|Classical music}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Songs by Richard Strauss

Category:Music dedicated to family or friends

Category:1894 songs

Category:Compositions in C major

Category:Orchestral songs