Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
22 - Richard Strauss
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
“Zueignung” (op. 10 no. 1)
October 7, 1945: Detroit, Masonic Temple Auditorium
Ford Symphony Orchestra, cond. Dimitri Mitropoulos
October 23, 1950: New York, Rockefeller Center
Bell Telephone Orchestra, cond. Donald Voorhees
WHRA-6036
December 14, 1955: New Orleans, Municipal Auditorium
Frederick Schauwecker, pf.
Premiere Opera 122
March 8, 1958: New York, Carnegie Hall
Frederick Schauwecker, pf.
RCA GD 60520
April 13, 1959: Atlanta, Glenn Memorial Auditorium
Frederick Schauwecker, pf.
Bluebell ABCD 020
The English critic Alan Blyth, writing in Song on Record, dismissed “Zueignung” as a “somewhat paltry piece,” its interpretation requiring “no great insights.” It is true that Richard Strauss set Hermann von Gilm's text (with a tenor voice in mind) when he was just eighteen, but it is impossible to imagine a finer setting of those simple words, with the accompanying triplets lending an undercurrent of youthful buoyancy to the lover's outpouring of gratitude and devotion. Björling captures this buoyancy best in his own most youthful recording (made when he was thirty-four), where he is further inspired by Dimitri Mitropoulos's sweepingly romantic accompaniment. The performance lasts nine seconds longer (1:55) than the disc in which Strauss himself accompanies Heinrich Schlusnus at the piano, but a number of the features found in that disc are also included here, such as the softening of tone and slowing of pace in “und du segnetest den Trank” and the mighty allargando on the climax of “heilig” (here a heart-warming top A).
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- The Bjorling SoundA Recorded Legacy, pp. 231 - 237Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012