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Wenn ich Menschen (1 Corinthians 13 : 1​-​3, 12​-​13)

from Ach, des Knaben Augen by Cliff Ridley Baritone, Danielle Marcinek Piano

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Wenn ich Menschen (1 Corinthians 13 : 1-3, 12-13)
Vier ernste Gesange - Four Serious Songs
by Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) devoted much of his compositional career to Lieder. He had a great distaste for empty display, and in his songs, as in all his works, he avoided emotional indulgence. Brahms sought out texts that create an evocative atmosphere. Although he was attracted to poetry about love and nature, he was also drawn to the subject of death, particularly in his later years.
Vier ernste Gesänge ("Four serious songs") were composed in 1896, just a year before Brahms's death. It was also the last music that he published, and in it one senses a work of conscious farewell. It was also composed the same year that his great love, Clara Schumann, died. Brahms's response to mortality seems to be one of resignation, but also of courage, and this set of songs is imbued with compassion, wisdom and a deep concern for humanity. Brahms chose biblical texts for this set of songs, with the first three describing different aspects of death. The piano prelude in "Ich wandte mich" moves down in octaves, a common Brahms motif for death, but the song ends on a reconciling and accepting major tonality at the last phrase. In "O Tod, o Tod, wie bitter" the bitterness of death for some is contrasted with its comfort for others. The last song, "Wenn ich mit Menschen", takes as its text Saint Paul's stirring sermon on charity (1 Corinthians 13: 1-13) and ends the set on a note of exaltation.

lyrics

8. THOUGH I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
And have not charity,'
I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy,
And understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
And have not charity,
I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
And though I give my body to be burned,
And have not charity,
It profiteth me nothing.
For now we see through a glass,
darkly;
But then face to face.
Now 1 know in part;
But then I shall know,
Even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three;
But the greatest of these is charity.

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from Ach, des Knaben Augen, released June 12, 2013

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Ludwig Recordings Delta, British Columbia

Ludwig Recordings is a Record Label specializing in the music of composer Christopher Ludwig and its artists.
Ludwig Recordings has an especially strong focus on Art Song.

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