Brahms - Excerpt from "Nänie" (Op. 82)

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897):
NÄNIE (excerpt)

Nänie (the German form of Latin nenia, meaning "a funeral song") is a composition for SATB chorus and orchestra, op. 82 by Johannes Brahms, which sets to music the poem Nänie by Friedrich Schiller. Brahms composed the piece in 1881, in memory of his deceased friend Anselm Feuerbach. Nänie is a lamentation on the inevitability of death; the first sentence "Auch das Schöne muß sterben", translates to "Even Beauty must die".

The score in this video is from the first edition of 1881 (C. F. Peters, Leipzig). It has been scanned by the Brahms-Institut in Lübeck and can be found here: http://imslp.org/wiki/

Auch das Schöne muß sterben! Das Menschen und Götter bezwinget,
Nicht die eherne Brust rührt es des stygischen Zeus.
Einmal nur erweichte die Liebe den Schattenbeherrscher,
Und an der Schwelle noch, streng, rief er zurück sein Geschenk.
Nicht stillt Aphrodite dem schöne Knaben die Wunde,
die in den zierlichen Leib grausam der Eber geritzt.
Nicht erretet den göttlichen Held die unsterbliche Mutter,
Wann er, am skäischen Tor fallend, sein Schicksal erfüllt.
Aber sie steigt aus dem Meer mit allen Töchtern des Nereus,
Und die Klage hebt an um den verherrlichten Sohn.
(...)

(Friedrich Schiller)

Even Beauty must die! What gods and humanity conquers,
Moves not the armored breast of the Stygian Zeus.
Only once did love come to soften the Lord of the Shadows,
And at the threshold at last, sternly he took back his gift.
Nor can Aphrodite assuage the wounds of the youngster,
That in his delicate form the boar had savagely torn.
Nor can rescue the hero divine his undying mother,
When, at the Scaean gate now falling, his fate he fulfills.
But she ascends from the sea with all the daughters of Nereus,
And she raises a plaint here for her glorified son.
(...)

The Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique
Directed by John Eliot Gardiner

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Johannes
• Brahms
• Nänie
• Monteverdi
• Choir
• Orchestre
• Révolutionaire
• Romantique
• John
• Eliot
• Gardiner
• score
• stigekalder

[fishswordfish]

nice idea, having the notes as a video! thank you

[4080475]

Being able to see the score while listening to the music adds so much to my understanding: thanks for posting. This is just what i was looking for.

[janeladney]

Having the score play along is wonderful - very helpful!

[meg5381]

Thank you so very much! It would be wonderful to have the rest of the score and the music. I am singing this this summer along with Schicksalslied.

[vibrohm]

thanks soo much for this!!!!