Classical Music | Mezzo-Soprano

Robert Schumann

Er, der Herrlichste von allen, from Frauenliebe und -leben, Op. 42  Play

Liza Forrester Mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Ware Piano

Recorded on 08/11/2010, uploaded on 10/27/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Even once Robert Schumann chose to pursue music over literature, his passions did not initially lie with composition. He first intended to become a concert pianist. However, a damaging injury to his right hand destroyed all hopes of his becoming a great virtuoso and it was at that time he turned his creative energies upon composition. Through 1839, Schumann composed almost exclusively for his own instrument, the piano. Yet, in 1840, his impending marriage to Clara Wieck, the reward of a long and hard fought battle, sparked a tremendous burst of creativity in the form of song. So prolific was this year that it has since become known as Schumann’s Liederjahre, or “Year of Song,” and established his place, along with Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms, as one of the foremost of composers of lieder.

No doubt inspired by the events of that year and his courtship of Clara Wieck is the song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben (A Women’s Love and Life). Based on the poem cycle by the German poet Adelbert von Chamisso written in 1830, it tells the story of a woman's love for her man from their first meeting to beyond his death. Schumann selected eight poems from Chamisso's cycle to set to music. In the cycle’s second song, Er, der Herrlichste von allen (“He, the most glorious of all”), the narrator praises from afar the object of her affection. She speaks of his wondrous qualities and describes him as the bright glorious star in her heaven. Yet, she feels unworthy of him and faces the inner conflict of both hoping he finds a woman worthy of him but also regretful that it is not her.

An accompaniment of repeated chords over a firm and resonate bass, and appearances of fanfare-like melodic figures, gives a stately and regal air to Schumann’s setting while the voice weaves its lyrical and affectionate melody. The woman’s anxiety is brought to the fore as the song’s final stanza concludes in the distant key of A major. Schumann then repeats the first stanza, not only to heighten the poetic expression of the song but also an artistic means of returning to the tonic key of E-flat major. Following this, the piano gives a brief dreamy close to the song.      Joseph DuBose


Steans Music Institute

The Steans Music Institute is the Ravinia Festival's professional studies program for young musicians.