Day 15 — Beim Schlafengehen (from the Four Last Songs)

We now reach the third of the Four Last Songs, though 'Beim Schlafengehen' was actually the first of the Hesse poems Strauss set. This song prepares us for ‘night’s magic sphere’, beginning, as in ‘Frühling’, rather darkly and then turning, by means of a solo violin melody, to another rapturous outpouring. That melody is taken up by the singer at 'Und die Seele unbewacht will in freien Flügen schweben', extending melismas almost to the point of wordless vocalise, before plunging down the soprano's range at 'Nacht', which is as dark and deep as the poem describes. The final climax shows that death is now welcomed gladly, before the solo horn closes the song.

Click here to hear Jessye Norman's recording with the Gewandhausorchester and Kurt Masur.
The painting is 'Jugend, die von Frauen Bewundert Wird' by Ferdinand Hodler.