Czech Chamber Music Society • Jiří Rajniš

No one will ever count how many verses and songs have been dedicated to love, the most beautiful but also the most complicated of human emotions. In the program tonight, it appears in many variations – as a secret desire, a passionate confession, as love which is tender, cruel, and playful, up to the pain of parting due to a breakup based on misunderstanding, or passing away.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) was born in Brno. His father, Julius Korngold, the son of a Brno merchant, became a renowned Viennese music critic and instilled artistic ambition in his son. Through his son, Julius Korngold achieved the goal he himself had failed to reach. He acted as his son’s advisor and patron, but unfortunately his care also earned Erich Wolfgang the label of a child of privilege, which he found difficult to shake off. Under the pseudonym Paul Schott, Korngold’s father also contributed to his son’s great success as co-librettist of his opera Die tote Stadt (The Dead City), which premiered simultaneously in Hamburg and Cologne in December 1920 and was an unquestionable triumph in Vienna in 1921 with 84 performances. That same year, it was staged in New York, reportedly as the first opera by a German-speaking composer in the United States after the First World War, and the following year it appeared at the Neues deutsches Theater in Prague. 

In 1934, director Max Reinhardt invited Korngold to collaborate on his film A Midsummer Night’s Dream which was made in Hollywood, and over the next three years Korngold wrote scores for other films as well. Upon the looming threat of the Second World War, he used his contacts in Hollywood and relocated his family to the United States. There he composed soundtracks for about 20 films and is recognized as the founder of orchestral film music.

Korngold wrote songs from the age of 12, creating nine song cycles or series with opus numbers over the years 1911–1953. One of the first poets he chose to set to music was Joseph von Eichendorff. The resulting songs “Aussicht” (Outlook) and “Das Mädchen” (The Maiden) were among those which the 13-year-old Erich Wolfgang dedicated to his father on his 50th birthday. He entitled them “So Gott und Papa will” (If God and Dad Allow) and assigned them Op. 5. His father’s reaction is not known, but the songs certainly testify to the inventiveness of the future composer. His early songs include “Die Geniale” (also after Eichendorff); they were published as late as 2006 by the Mainz-based publisher Schott. Korngold set to music William Shakespeare’s verses in two cycles: Four Shakespeare Songs, Op. 31 (1941), preceded by Songs of the Clown, Op. 29 (1937) including the song “My Mistressʼ Eyes”. Both cycles undoubtedly echo Korngold’s work on the above-mentioned film A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) composed Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert (Five Songs after Poems by Friedrich Rückert) after Friedrich Rückert in 1901/1902. He did so almost simultaneously with setting to music other poems by Rückert, namely the song cycle Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children). Mahler’s fascination with Rückert’s poetry thus gave rise to two of the most beautiful song cycles in world literature. Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) is considered the founder of German Oriental studies (he translated part of the Koran into German, among other works) and his poetry has inspired many other composers. In “Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder” (Do Not Look into My Songs) Mahler seems to be talking to his future wife Alma whom he met in November 1901. He later said that when composing the central song of the cycle, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (I Am Lost to the World), he was thinking of the tombstones of cardinals in Italian churches. Mahler’s identification with escaping the ordinary world is related to his religiosity and his perception of music as a metaphysical message.

Mahler discovered the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn) shortly after his graduation from the Vienna Conservatory. The collection, which became a basis for inspiration for many composers, came into being in connection with the Romantic fascination with folk poetry. Folk songs and poems captivated also Achim von Arnim (1781–1831) and Clemens von Brentano (1778–1842). Together they published a two-volume book in 1806 and 1808 entitled Alte deutsche Lieder (Old German Songs), which included The Youth’s Magic Horn. The songs blend humor and simple wisdom, sadness, ordinary joy in everyday things, and mystical reverie. The dialogue between the prisoner and the girl in “Lied des Verfolgten im Turm” (Song of the Prisoner in the Tower) is an expression of the eternal idea of the untamed human spirit. The reverberations of Mahler’s early musical experiences are often pointed out, such as the marching rhythms and the sounds of trumpets and military drums that he heard from the nearby barracks in the town of his childhood, Iglau (Jihlava). Military echoes are also reflected in his choice of verses – it is no coincidence that he liked, for example, the poem “Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen” (Where the Fair Trumpets Blow) or “Der Schildwache Nachtlied” (The Sentinel’s Nightsong). Mahler also used songs from The Youth’s Magic Horn in his symphonies, including the song “Es sungen drei Engel” (Three Angels Sang a Sweet Air) in his Third Symphony.

The second half of the program consists of songs by Italian composers whose creative legacy is an example of how even a single brilliant idea can bring immortal fame. All of the composers featured contributed to the genre of the Neapolitan song (canzone napoletana), popular in the 19th century. Many became hits, even though the names of their composers remain unknown to most of the public. Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846–1916) was a composition student of the now almost forgotten Saverio Mercadante. Tosti was friends with Enrico Caruso, and it was Caruso who first popularized Tosti’s songs which drew from Neapolitan folk music. Luigi Denza (1846–1922) was also a student of Mercadante; his best known songs include “Funiculì, Funiculà” celebrating the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. “Vieni a me” (Come to Me) is the cry of a longing lover. Another prominent representative of the modern Neapolitan song was Rodolfo Falvo (1873–1937). A lover’s request to arrange contact with his beloved reveals the lyrical side of the composer’s personality. Ernesto de Curtis (1875–1937) attained particular fame with “Torna a Surriento” (Come Back to Sorrento); his love song “Non ti scordar di me” (Don’t Forget Me) enchants with its sincere plea. Only Stanislao Gastaldon (1861–1939) was not from Naples, but from Turin; he composed all kinds of music, including operas. However, his most famous works are his salon songs with piano accompaniment, the most popular of which is “Musica proibita” (Forbidden Music). Cesare Andrea Bixio (1896–1978), a native of Naples, wrote music for more than a hundred films and countless songs. He is a clear example of the above-mentioned popularity of songs that have traveled the world, while obscuring the composer’s identity over time. Bixio composed the song “Mamma” in 1938 for tenor Beniamin Gigli, but it was made famous by the once popular Dutch child star, now 70-year-old Heintje. “Parlami dʼamore, Mariù” (Speak to Me of Love, Mariù) is a song from 1932 for the film Gli uomini, che mascalzoni (What Scoundrels Men Are!), in which it was sung by Vittorio de Sica, then an actor who later became a famous film director. Mariù was the diminutive name of Bixio’s wife Mary. Another native of Naples is Enrico Cannio (1874–1949), a pianist, conductor, and composer. His song “ʼO surdato ʼnnammurato” (A Soldier in Love) is written in the Neapolitan dialect and expresses the sadness of a soldier in the First World War who longs for his wife. It was included in the repertoire of the “Three Tenors” and many other singers.