- Joyce DiDonato sings…
It was last November when I had put up a post about Joyce DiDonato. And I listened to her again early this morning, as she sang the music of Richard Strauss with the New York Philharmonic.
The text for Strauss’ song “Morgen” was written by Strauss’ contemporary poet, John Henry Mackay.
This is one of Strauss’ Four Lieder, a wedding present to his wife Pauline. Initially, he set the accompaniment for piano alone, and for piano with violin. It was not until three years later, in 1897, that Strauss arranged the accompaniment for orchestra, still with the violin solo, which is its feature. It remains one of Strauss’ best-known and most widely recorded works.
And here is a translation of this poem, which is as close as possible to the original German, but adapted to flow with the music in English:
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the way which I shall follow
She will again unite us lucky ones
As all around us the earth breathes in the sun
Slowly, silently, we will climb down
To the wide beach and the blue waves
In silence, we will look in each other’s eyes
And the mute stillness of happiness will sink upon us
Now here is the rehearsal of this music, being prepared in Ireland for a concert by the New York Philharmonic:
Ms. DiDonato sings in her warm, lovely voice, and she receives outstanding support from the conductor, and from the Philharmonic’s acting concertmaster, Sheryl Staples.
And here is a performance extract of Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” by Diana Damrau as Sophie and Joyce DiDonato as Octavian:
Tags: Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano, Richard Strauss, “Morgen”
