Thursday, January 8, 2009

In stiller Nacht with Brahms



image source: "The happy family"- Adolf Eberle (1843-1914), Josef Mensing Gallery, Ham-Rhynem, West Germany
I recently discovered a 2-CD set of Brahms Deutsche Volkslieder- a collection of German folk songs restructured by Brahms with vocals and piano. Most of the songs are about tormented love and love gone wrong. The last song, in stiller nacht, is my favorite, such a lilting voice! And as Brahms put it, "...let my best song be put last, but let the last be shown as my best."
I love operatic style singing in foreign language, a great way without structure to understand and perhaps learn foreign languages!
However, when this album is played for too long in an obsessive manner it can resemble Hitler's birthday party (as my husband cries out- Ach der lieber! and Gott in himmel!) SO enjoy in short doses!

1 comment:

annechovie said...

I love this illustration!! To me it is reminiscient of Richard Scarry's "Huckles". Hope you are having a good week!