Johannes Brahms - Alto Rhapsody, Op.53 (autograph manuscript)

Written in 1869 as a wedding present for Julie Schumann, daughter of Robert and Clara Wieck, the Alto Rhapsody has, in its setting of verses from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Harzreise im Winter, an autobiographical and existential meaning, with the portrayal of a misanthropic soul who is urged to find spiritual sustenance and evokes a Father of love and his salvific Music.
After two sections in a severe and dramatic C minor, with the contrast between the two main expressions "Menschenhass" (the hatred of men) and "Fülle der Liebe" (the fullness of love), the work opens up to a radiant C major section where the entrance of the male choir and the moving presence of the contralto confirm the spiritual healing power of the Music on the wanderer's pain.
The first public performance was held on 3 March 1870 in Jena with Pauline Viardot Garcia as soloist and Ernst Naumann conducting the Akademischen Gesangverein of the Jena University.

. . .

Aber abseits wer ist's?
Im Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad;
hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen,
das Gras steht wieder auf,
die Öde verschlingt ihn.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen
dess, dem Balsam zu Gift ward?
Der sich Menschenhaß
aus der Fülle der Liebe trank!
Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter,
zehrt er heimlich auf
seinen eigenen Wert
In ungenügender Selbstsucht.

Ist auf deinem Psalter,
Vater der Liebe, ein Ton
seinem Ohre vernehmlich,
so erquicke sein Herz!
Öffne den umwölkten Blick
über die tausend Quellen
neben dem Durstenden
in der Wüste!

.

But who is that apart?
His path disappears in the bushes;
behind him the branches spring together;
the grass stands up again;
the wasteland engulfs him.

Ah, who heals the pains
of him for whom balsam turned to poison?
Who drank hatred of man
from the abundance of love?
First scorned, now a scorner,
he secretly feeds on
his own merit,
in unsatisfying egotism.

If there is on your psaltery,
Father of love, one note
his ear can hear,
then refresh his heart!
Open his clouded gaze
to the thousand springs
next to him who thirsts
in the wilderness!

.

Ma chi è là in disparte?
Il suo sentiero si perde nella macchia,
gli arbusti si richiudono
dietro di lui,
l'erba ricresce,
la solitudine lo ingoia.

Oh! Chi sanerà il dolore
di colui per il quale il balsamo è divenuto veleno?
Colui che per troppo amore
divenne misantropo.
Prima disprezzato, ora dispregiatore,
logora in segreto
il proprio valore
in uno sterile egoismo.

Se nella tua cetra,
o padre d'amore, c'è una sola nota
che giunga al suo orecchio,
conforta il suo cuore!
Svela a quell'occhio offuscato
le mille sorgenti
sgorganti nel deserto
vicine all'assetato!

. . .

Aafje Heynis, Contralto
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Male Choir "Apollo"
Eduard van Beinum, cond.
rec. February 1958

. . .

photo: Johannes Brahms, 1872

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