Hanns Eisler and His Hollywood Songbook

Hanns Eisler and His Hollywood Songbook

 Hanns Eisler and His Hollywood Songbook: A Survey of the Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien) and the Hölderlin Fragments (Hölderlin­Fragmente) D.M.A. DOCUMENT Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Stanley E. Workman, Jr., B.M., M.M. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2010 D.M.A. Document Committee: Dr. Robin Rice, Advisor Professor Loretta Robinson Dr. C. Patrick Woliver
Copyright by Stanley Edward Workman, Jr. 2010 Abstract Hanns Eisler, (1898‐1962), remains today as one of the most fascinating and controversial composers of the Twentieth‐Century. Schooled in the aesthetic style of the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Eisler made an ideological shift in the trajectory of his musical career in the mid‐1920’s, shifting the emphasis away from ‘art music’ to music for the Worker’s Movement. Enormously versatile, Eisler then found himself working in various genres, from the writing of ‘agitprop’ style ballads and choruses, the Lehrstücke collaborations with friend and colleague Bertolt Brecht, and to the composing of film scores for many documentary and Leftist film producers. When the Worker’s Movement was disbanded with the oncoming of Hitler in 1933, Eisler, now an exile, once again returned to more conventional musical forms such as the Symphony and the Art Song. It is during this exile period in both Europe and the U.S.A. that Eisler composed some of his greatest works, such as the Deutsche Sinfonie, the chamber work Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain, and the Hollywood Songbook (Das Hollywooder Liederbuch), to name just a few. Eisler’s prolific Hollywood film score career was interrupted by the infamous 1947 HUAC hearings, which resulted in deportation. Eventually Eisler settled in the GDR where he composed and taught, but would find some of his compositional aspirations, such as the writing of a new opera, brutally attacked by criticisms of musical elitism. Probably no other composer has suffered more from the effects of the Cold War globally as has Hanns Eisler. Only in the last twenty years have serious efforts been undertaken to reevaluate his work through critical analysis, performance, and discussion. The goal of this document is to introduce Hanns Eisler and his music, presenting him as one of the great continuers of the genre of the Lied in the twentieth‐century. This document begins with a brief biography of Hanns Eisler, and moves to a discussion of the Hollywood Songbook, briefly touching on various songs, then moving to a musical examination of two (of three) closed cycles within the collection: the Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien) and the Hölderlin Fragments (Hölderlin­
Fragmente). Included within are appendices listing works for voice and piano, and a selected Hanns Eisler Vocal Discography. ii Dedication This document is dedicated to Charles P. Varney (1931‐2010) Teacher, Mentor, and Friend. iii Acknowledgments I want to first express my thanks to my committee: to my teacher and advisor, Dr. John Robin Rice for his expert teaching and unfailing support throughout my doctoral studies; to Professor Loretta Robinson for her encouragement and optimism, and to Dr. C. Patrick Woliver for his vigilant guidance and insightful observations. To Dr. Helen Fehervary, a member of my Candidacy Committee, I wish to express my thanks and gratitude for her outstanding teaching, and for introducing me to the music of Hanns Eisler. Without this introduction, this paper would never have been written. Thanks are due to several of my colleagues at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio: to Dr. Carl Hilgarth and Dr. Thomas Piontek for their expert guidance through difficult German texts; to Dr. Nicholas Meriwether for thought‐
provoking conversations on philosophical concepts. I would like to offer special thanks and deepest gratitude to my friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Barnhart for the many hours of thoughtful musical discussion and analysis we have shared on this and many other projects. Finally I wish to acknowledge, with much gratitude, the support of several individuals: to Beverly Cain, former Librarian of the Portsmouth Public Library, and now Librarian for the State of Ohio, for her willingness to serve as my ‘personal librarian’ and provide assistance even up to the eleventh hour; to Amy Clark Barnhart for her expertise in the area of graphic design; to Jon Burton for his assistance, support, advice, and friendship; and to John Huston, Professor of Theatre at Shawnee State University, whose unwavering faith and confidence in my abilities throughout this project has held me to the course. iv Vita June 1978 ..................................................................Portsmouth High School (Ohio) May 1982...................................................................B.M. Voice, Kent State University December 1987 ......................................................M.M. Voice, University of Memphis 1988 to 1992 ...........................................................Indiana University, Post‐Graduate Studies in Voice and Opera 1992 to present ......................................................Director of Music‐2nd Presbyterian Church, Portsmouth, Ohio 1997 to 2000 ...........................................................Adjunct Instructor, Shawnee State University 2000 to 2002 ...........................................................Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Music, Kent State University (Choral) 2002 to 2005 ...........................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Music, The Ohio State University 2005 to present ......................................................Adjunct Voice, Piano, Choral Instructor Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, Ohio Fields of Study
Major Field: Music Voice Performance and Choral Conducting v Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................iv Vita................................................................................................................................................v Fields of Study ...........................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................vi Introduction...............................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: A Biography of Hanns Eisler ......................................................................4 Chapter Two: Introduction to The Hollywood Songbook......................................... 16 Chapter Three: Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien)................................................................... 23 I­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” ..................................................................................... 24 Musical Example 1‐ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 7‐9 ......................................................24 Musical Example 2‐ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 10‐12 .................................................25 Musical Example 3‐ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 13‐16 .................................................26 Musical Example 4‐ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 20‐22 .................................................26 II­ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt”........................................................................... 28 Musical Example 5‐ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt” mm. 1‐11 ..........................................29 Musical Example 6‐ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt” mm. 18‐24 .......................................30 III­ “Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen”........................................................................ 31 Musical Example 7‐ “Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen” mm. 17‐20......................................32 IV­ “Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt” ............................................................................................ 33 Musical Example 8‐ “Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt” mm.1‐4..................................................................33 V­ “In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden”.................................................................................. 35 Musical Example 9‐ “In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden” mm. 5‐12 .................................................36 Chapter Four: The Hölderlin Fragments....................................................................... 38 I­ “An Die Hoffnung” ...................................................................................................................... 47 Musical Example 10‐ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 1‐2.......................................................................................47 Musical Example 11‐ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 10‐12 .................................................................................50 Musical Example 12‐ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 19‐21 .................................................................................50 II­ “Andenken”................................................................................................................................. 51 Musical Example 13‐ “Andenken” mm. 1‐3. ..................................................................................................52 Musical Example 14‐ “Andenken” mm. 6‐7. ..................................................................................................52 Musical Example 15‐ “Andenken” mm. 8‐15.................................................................................................53 III­ “Elegie 1943” ............................................................................................................................ 55 Musical Example 16‐ “Elegy 1943” mm. 40‐44............................................................................................57 IV­ “Heimat” ..................................................................................................................................... 58 Musical Example 17‐ “Heimat” mm. 1‐3 .........................................................................................................58 vi Musical Example 18‐ Intermezzo op. 119, no. 1, Johannes Brahms, mm. 1‐3 ...............................59 Musical Example 19‐ “Heimat” mm. 23‐27....................................................................................................60 V­ “An eine Stadt” (Franz Schubert gewidmet) .................................................................... 61 Musical Example 20‐ “An die Stadt” mm. 1‐4. ..............................................................................................63 Musical Example 21‐ “An die Stadt” mm. 30‐40..........................................................................................64 Musical Example 22‐ “An die Stadt” mm. 72‐83..........................................................................................66 VI– “Erinnerung” ............................................................................................................................ 67 Musical Example 23‐ “Erinnerung” mm. 1‐3.................................................................................................68 Musical Example 24‐ “Erinnerung” mm. 28‐30. ..........................................................................................70 Musical Example 25‐ “Heb’ auf dein’ blondes Haupt” Hugo Wolf, mm. 1‐3.....................................70 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 71 APPENDIX A ­ List of Works for Solo Voice and Piano .............................................. 75 APPENDIX B ­ Discography of Vocal Music of Hanns Eisler .................................... 82 vii Introduction Who was Hanns Eisler? A Jewish child from a middle class family, a veteran of World War I, a member of the elite Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, (who named him as one of his three best pupils,) a father and husband, a teacher, a composer with Marxist leanings dedicated to the Worker’s movement, a writer, a friend and collaborator of Brecht, a composer of film music, a composer of a wide variety of genres, including the Lied. All of these facts shed light on the initial question, but fall short of answering it. In Hanns Eisler, we see a composer for whom the biographical, the political, and the aesthetic are tightly interwoven to form the answer to the question raised. The near anonymity of Eisler in the United States, a country in which he lived and worked as an exile of Hitler’s Germany, is due in large part to the composer’s defiant response to the HUAC in 1947, which resulted in his deportation back to Europe where he settled in the GDR until his death. These facts contribute greatly to the reason as to why Eisler’s works are not better known and programmed in the United States and Western Europe. From a musical point of view, his works have been vastly underrated and ignored based on historical and socio‐cultural biases‐ biases which need to be torn down as was the Berlin Wall in 1989. The loss is especially great for those who love the great genre of the Lied, and for singers and pianists as well, who are always in search of new material for 1 concerts and recitals. Art song composition formed a major portion of Eisler’s compositional output, spanning more than forty years. In fact, it formed an inclusio for Eisler’s career, as his first compositions as well as his last, were of art song. A pinnacle in his song composition career came in the collection of songs known as The Hollywood Songbook. Composed during the darkest days of the war, and featuring a diverse group of poets, The Hollywood Songbook stands out as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the art song. To quote baritone Matthias Goerne: Here was an artist comparable, in my opinion, to Brahms. The integrity, the consciousness of the times is so very great in Eisler that I was inspired to combine his songs with those of Schubert.... one might say that Eisler's 'Hollywooder Liederbuch' is the 'Winterreise' of our times. (Eskanazi) This document takes as its trajectory the goal of bringing greater awareness to the composer Hanns Eisler, to introduce his Hollywood Songbook, and to musically analyze two of the three closed cycles within the collection: the Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien) and the Hölderlin Fragments (Hölderlin­Fragmente). On the title page of the original autograph manuscript of the second Hölderlin Fragment, “Andenken”, the inscription reads: 2 Foreword to the Hollywood Songbook: In a society which understands and loves such a songbook, it will be possible to live well without danger. These pieces are written in confidence of this. It is the hope of the author that more understanding and love for Hanns Eisler and his music will be garnered from the presentation of this document. 3 Chapter One: A Biography of Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler was born July 6, 1898 in Leipzig to parents of mixed social background. His father, representative of the intellectual middle class, was Viennese‐born Rudolph Eisler, of Czech‐French Jewish descent. He was a philosopher trained in Leipzig, and the author of numerous studies and extensive works that are today still deemed as standards in their field. His mother, Marie Ida Fischer, a Leipzig native, was the daughter of a butcher whose earlier generations came from the sons of farmers out of southern Germany, thus representing the proletariat class. Hanns was the youngest of three children— his older brother Gerhart born in 1897, and his sister, Elfriede, later known as Ruth Fischer, born in 1895. In 1901, the family relocated from Leipzig to Berlin, where his father worked as a private tutor, and his mother maintained the household. The Eisler’s lived in somewhat modest material conditions, so much that Eisler’s musical training had to be pushed aside at age ten for economic reasons, without a chance of proving itself. In spite of all this, Eisler began to compose at age eleven. Socialism was part of the philosophical outlook of the family, as Eisler’s maternal grandfather was an enthusiastic adherent. The children were brought up with a completely informed attitude on the problems of the working class. 4 We were, of course, brought up as a people who stood for the labor movement. This was a family matter, and yet also a higher consciousness. (Schebera, 1981,Page 10) At the encouragement of his brother, Hanns began to work actively with the Socialist high school students in Vienna, feeding a great interest in socialist literature, while developing his prodigious verbal and debating skills, for which he was noted in later years. In 1914, Gerhart and Hanns Eisler were involved in an active school organization of war objectors, whose anti‐war book was confiscated by the police. As a consequence, their home was searched and the Eislers were listed in the police documents as Socialists. Gerhart was sent to the Italian Front as punishment, and Hanns would soon feel the consequence of these police actions. In 1916, he was called to the frontline of a Hungarian regiment of the Austro‐Hungarian army, suffering injuries several times while in combat. From 1917, a period of convalescence, we have his first extant compositions, including numerous songs. He was demobilized from the army in 1918, and began a course of study with Karl Weigl at the New Viennese Conservatory. Finding the course work there less than strict and too conservative for his taste, he auditioned and was accepted tuition free for studies with Arnold Schoenberg. In that elite circle of young composers, he became the third of Schoenberg’s outstanding disciples, the other two of course being Anton Webern and Alban Berg. During this period of time, he found subsistence jobs conducting two workers choirs while serving as a proofreader at Universal Edition. 5 In 1923, at the recommendation of Schoenberg, Eisler’s First Piano Sonata was premiered in Prague by Eduard Steuermann and published not long after by Schoenberg’s publishers. In 1924, at the request of Schoenberg, Eisler composed Palmström, a vocal chamber work based on the texts of Christian Morgenstern, which was to serve as a companion piece to Pierrot Lunaire. It has often been described as Eisler’s first masterpiece, written with ironic gestures and representing his first attempt at serialism. In 1925, Eisler was awarded the Künstlerpreis of Vienna, his first articles were published and he moved to Berlin. 1926 was a year of turbulence for Eisler, during which he became a teacher at the Klindworth‐Scharwenka Conservatory. In March his infamous quarrel and break with Schoenberg began. As early as 1921, and over the next few years, Eisler’s diary entries reveal his great reverence for his teacher, but also his concern over the amount of devotion required by his followers. Philosophically, Eisler had a great problem with the concept of ‘art for art’s sake.’ After their return from the Music Festival of the International Society for New Music in Venice, where his composition was played along with Schoenberg’s, Eisler revealed to Zemlinsky, Schoenberg’s brother‐in‐law, of his aversion to art music, the new twelve‐tone system and to Schoenberg’s petty bourgeois attitudes. After several heated exchanges of letters, a formal separation was complete. After Schoenberg’s death in 1951, Eisler recalled, with regret, this separation: 6 Schoenberg received me into his home. He looked after me, he helped me with my first performances, and he promoted me to his publisher . . . It made him happy when I received the Art Prize of the City of Vienna in 1924. I was 25 years old and Schoenberg had a high opinion of me. I was the third pupil, among hundreds of gifted ones, which he recognized as a master. Now, so he thought, I would sit in the saddle and ride with him, and that my communism was a youthful folly that would soon give way. I did what no one expected: I broke with him. I did this crudely, ungratefully, rebelliously, petulantly, despising his petty bourgeois attitudes, distancing myself in an insulting manner. He behaved magnificently, and with generosity of spirit. The letters, which he wrote to me in those weeks, are magnificent documents of this unique man. (Dümling, 1997, Page 31) From a compositional standpoint, Eisler bade farewell to ‘bourgeois concert lyricism’ in his satirical song‐cycle, Zeitungsausschnitte, op. 11, with texts derived from newspaper clippings, and incorporating both atonal and serial techniques. During this same year, Eisler applied for membership in the German Communist Party. Eisler’s father, Rudolf passed away on December 14, 1926. Eisler later recalled with pride that his father’s book, Dictionary of Philosophical Terms (1899), was studied by Lenin in 1920, adding that he felt as if his father’s pages were in completely good company. Of the French ancestry on his father’s side, he was full of pride. In 1964, Jascha Horenstein, the famous Ukranian‐born conductor and childhood friend of Eisler, recalled: 7 When he referred to Robespierre, Danton or Marat, he would speak in a tone as if they were his cousins. (Schebera, 1981, Page 8) In 1927, Eisler married Charlotte Demant. From this point on, Eisler was preoccupied with Marxist theory, and began to devote more and more time to his socialist activities. He became the music‐critic and columnist for Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), and voiced his views on modern music: The most significant thing about modern music is this: in the years following the war, in nearly all the arts, a number of revolutionary artists have appeared who in their work have drawn genuinely revolutionary conclusions from the social situation. In music this has not happened and is not happening… Among musicians the only thing to spread has been a slushily petty‐bourgeois attitude or else worldly‐wise nihilism... An art which loses its sense of community thereby loses itself. (Betz, Page 66) Eisler also joined the Berlin Agitprop group Das Rote Sprachrohr (The Red Mouthpiece) as its composer, pianist, and conductor. For this group, Eisler composed incidental music, songs and militant ballads. This year also marked his first foray into film music, composing for Walter Ruttmann’s film Opus III. 1928 witnessed the birth of his son, George Eisler, who became a recognized painter. That year also marked the commencement of Eisler’s work at the Marxist School for Workers in Berlin. In 1929, Eisler’s mother passed away. Eisler admired her greatly and in later interviews recalled: 8 She knew all about poverty, she also knew about war, and her influence was enormous. She, too, was tremendously intelligent. (Schebera, 1981, Page 10) 1930 heralded the beginning of a working partnership and close friendship with Bertolt Brecht. Brecht, though not necessarily content to work with just one composer, greatly admired and respected Eisler. Many of Brecht’s poems took on their final form only after discussion with Eisler. Regarding Eisler’s musical setting of his poems, he writes: For me his setting was what performance would be for a play: the test. He reads with enormous exactitude. (Willet, 1973, Page 249) Over the next few years leading up to 1933, they would collaborate on such monumental projects such as the Lehrstück Die Massnahme, the music for Die Mutter, and music for the film Kuhle Wampe, which also involved Ernst Ottwalt and Slaton Dudow. During this same time period Eisler made several trips to the Soviet Union and in 1932 was chosen as a committee member for the International Music Bureau. Film music composed during this period included Victor Trivas’ Niemandsland and Joris Ivens’ Die Jugend hat das Wort. (Eisler would later arrange this film music into orchestral suites.) It should be noted that during this period Eisler also steadily produced music for chorus, solo voice, piano and orchestra, including Kleine Sinfonie. 9 1933 was a pivotal year in the life of Eisler. While performing in Vienna, the Nazis raided his apartment in Berlin, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Eisler wisely chose not to return to Berlin, retreating to such diverse locales as Czechoslovakia, Paris and London, and completing music for Ivens’ film Nouvelle Terre and Trivas’ Dans les Rues. After 1934 Eisler was found in various locales throughout world— visiting Brecht in Denmark, working often in Paris and London on film and concert projects, all the while composing and working on various projects such as Brecht’s stage play Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe. In June 1935 Eisler organized the first Worker’s Music and Song Olympiad in Strasbourg, and was named the president of the International Music Bureau. Later in the year he taught a composition course and lectured for the New School for Social Research in New York and participated, with Brecht in rehearsals for the New York performances of Die Mutter in November. During 1936 Eisler lived primarily in London, supervising a film version of I Pagliacci, while 1937 brought Eisler to Spain, Paris, Denmark and Prague where he collaborated with Ernst Bloch on an article regarding political art. Eisler married Lou Jolesch, and he also completed his Lenin Requiem in this year. In 1938 Eisler moved to the United States, assuming the post of lecturer at the New School for Social Research, but due to problems with immigration laws, Eisler was forced to accept a position as guest professor at the State Conservatory in Mexico City during most of the following year. 10 1940 brought Eisler back to the United States where for the following two years he was supported by a commission from Oxford University Press for a book on film music, and was subsequently awarded a stipend from the Rockefeller Foundation for the Film Music Project. In 1942 Eisler moved to Hollywood, renewed his collaboration with Brecht, and began work on the Hollywood Songbook (Hollywooder Liederbuch). He also reconciled with his teacher Arnold Schoenberg and even found himself at times in the position to help his teacher financially. He accepted a teaching post at University of Southern California, and began co‐authoring the book Composing for the Films with Theodor W. Adorno. 1943 witnessed a continuation of the Hollywood Songbook, as well as Eisler’s commencement of work on film scores in Hollywood, the first being Fritz Lang’s Hangmen Also Die, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Eisler completed work on his book Composing for the Films in 1944 and composed the music for Clifford Odet’s film None But the Lonely Heart, for which he was again nominated for an Academy Award. Over the next three years, Eisler would be preoccupied with projects with Brecht: Furcht and Elend des Dritten Reiches (1945), Leben des Galilei and Die Geschichte der Simone Machard (1946), as well as film projects for Hollywood, including Mankiewicz’s Spanish Main (1944‐45), Machate’s Jealousy (1945), Chirman’s Deadline at Dawn (1946), Sirk’s A Scandal in Paris (1946), Dmytrik’s So Well Remembered (1947), and Renoir’s Woman on the Beach (1947). 11 During the spring of 1947, Eisler received a summons to appear before the House Committee on Un‐American Activities. Eisler’s sister, now known as Ruth Fischer, ousted from the Communist Party as early as 1926, had made numerous denunciations regarding her brothers. Among the many outrageous things she wrote in a series of articles in the Hearst Press, was the assertion that Gerhart and Hanns had brought Communism to Hollywood. Richard Nixon announced that the Committee suspected communist propaganda in films, remarking further that the case of Hanns Eisler is perhaps the most important to have come before the Committee. A sub‐committee of the HUAC was sent to Hollywood to conduct an investigation into Hanns Eisler and collect facts. The results of the first interrogation, which took place at the beginning of May, were not considered sufficient and a public interrogation in Washington was announced. The second hearing took place in September with the result that since his application for the Communist Party had never been completed, it could not be demonstrated that he was a member. The tone of the hearings was often sardonic, and Eisler at one point was dubbed by the Committee’s lead witness as the “Karl Marx of Communism in the field of music,” to which Eisler dryly replied, “I would be flattered.” Since there was not sufficient evidence of a punishable offense, and acquittal would mean loss of face for the committee, a compromise was reached that consisted of a ‘technical deportation’, with a voluntary exit visa to any country issuing a passport, with the exception of countries bordering the United States. 12 The deportation took place in March of 1948, much to the protest of friends and colleagues, the most effective being Charlie Chaplin and Thomas Mann. A protest resolution signed by more than twenty French artists was issued to the American Embassy in Paris. Among those who signed were: Matisse, Cocteau, Aragon, Eluard, and Picasso. Four weeks before Eisler’s departure, a spirited protest in the form of a Farewell Concert of the composer’s music was organized by a group of prominent American composers: Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Randall Thompson. The concert had a great success and impact on the audience and critics who, up until then, had relegated Eisler to the second‐tier status of a Hollywood film composer. The following is an excerpt from the review of the concert by Virgil Thomson, composer and critic, which appeared in the March 11, 1948 edition of the New York Herald Tribune: The impressiveness (of his work) is due less to any profound originality, as in the case of his master, Arnold Schönberg, or in that of his sometime model, the German‐language works of Kurt Weill, than to his graceful and to his delicate taste. Eisler's music, whether the style of it is chromatic and emotional, diatonic and formalist, or strictly atonal in the dodecaphonic manner, always has charm. It has charm because the tunes are pretty, the textures bright and light, the expressive intentions thoroughly straightforward and clear. Eisler is that rare specimen, a German composer without weight. He uses no heaviness, makes no insistence. Alone among the works played last night, his Violin Sonata 13 indulged, in its final movement, in climactic expansion and frank virtuosity. Everything else was gossamer, elf‐like. Also, his rhythm was invariably alive; and this is perhaps his rarest virtue among German composers of our century, so notably lacking in metrical variety and rhythmic ease. It is a matter of regret to this reviewer that the American theater is to lose a workman so gifted, so skillful, so imaginative. Let us hope that, pending revision of his case that might permit him to return to this country, his musical works may come to us regularly from Europe, where professional engagements galore, it would seem, await him. Eisler returned to Europe by way of Czechoslovakia, the country that issued an entry visa to him. He then participated in the Second International Congress of Composers and Music Critics in Prague. In 1949 Eisler moved to Berlin and set the Becher poem “Auferstanden aus Ruinen”, which became the national anthem of the GDR. He was appointed to the Academy of Arts, began teaching composition, and was made professor at the Hochschule für Musik, which later was renamed in honor of him. Over the next few years Eisler planned a new Faust opera, publishing his libretto in 1952. This set off a wide‐ranging debate which revolved around the means, methods and opportunities whereby literature and art could figure in Germany’s social revolution. After three intense debates in which the work was savagely attacked and opposed, Eisler, accused of musical elitism, found himself so disheartened that he couldn’t summon up the strength to compose the music for the 14 opera, retreating to Vienna for some time. It was during this time period that his wife, Lou Jolesch left him to marry an Austrian intellectual. It was not too long before Eisler was involved again with many projects, and in 1957 the first performances of the Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg were given in Warsaw, a project that extended back to 1943. Eisler traveled to the Soviet Union in the summer, as well as completing the music for the play Sturm by Wladimir Bill‐
Belozerkowski, which was arranged into the Sturm­Suite for orchestra. During 1958, Eisler married Stephanie Peschl, and the first performance of the Lenin­Requiem took place in Berlin in November. In the following year, one of Eisler’s greatest dreams – to see his Deutsche Sinfonie performed in Germany‐ was achieved in a performance in Berlin on April 24, 1959, more than twenty years after its composition. Shortly after, Eisler began work on the Tucholsky Lieder at the request of his beloved colleague, Ernst Busch. In 1960 Eisler suffered his first heart attack. Over the next few years he was involved with premieres of Schweyk in Milan, Ascona, Venice, Florence, Paris and Lyons, as well as visiting London in 1961 for the first English performance of the Deutsche Sinfonie. Shortly before his death in 1962, Eisler completed his Ernste Gesänge (Serious Songs), four songs for baritone and string orchestra. With obvious reference to Brahms, Eisler reflects on his own life in an elegiac cycle that balances between the themes of hope and regret, with the interweaving of autobiographical and social elements. Hanns Eisler died on September 6, 1962 in Berlin at the age of sixty‐four 15 Chapter Two: Introduction to The Hollywood Songbook The Hollywood Songbook (or Das Hollywooder Liederbuch) of Hanns Eisler stands out as arguably one of the most extraordinarily moving and yet relatively unknown song collections of the past century. More than a hundred years earlier, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann broke through personal and artistic crises to produce monumentally expressive outpourings of song. Unable to suppress his own anxieties about the situation in war‐ravaged Europe and the sharp contrast with his life as an exile in Hollywood, Eisler uses the same medium to vent his feelings of despair and helplessness. (Parsons, Page 297) Though there is no authoritative compilation in the composer’s hand, and some question exists as to the original scope and exact chronology of the collection, there are thirty‐eight extant compositions, which Eisler initially inscribed with the words “Hollywooder Liederbuchlein”. This inscription was later crossed out by Eisler, most likely after his deportation from the United States in an attempt to eradicate references to America and Hollywood from his works. A further nine songs can be included based on contextual evidence such as their dating and the type of paper used, bringing the total number of songs to forty‐seven, as is reflected in the most recent edition published in 2008 by Breitkopf and Hartel. In 1958 Eisler, in Fragen sie mehr über Brecht: Hanns Eisler im Gespräch, explained to Bunge how he composed at least one song every day alongside his 16 other work, which included orchestral music and film scores. Eisler’s first few weeks in Hollywood were difficult, faced with oppressive heat, meager finances, and an endless number of meetings and phone calls. He described this period of his life as an awful dream, in which the only good thing was his new “Little Hollywood Songbook.” Eisler would play the songs in gatherings with friends, such as Brecht, Clifford Odets, and Thomas Mann, where he received unfailingly positive reactions. Theodor W. Adorno, his co‐author for Composing for the Films, was so taken by the songs that he begged Eisler to let him write the foreword if published. Publication however was not in the immediate future, and only towards the beginning of 1948 did a modest selection of sixteen songs appear in a hectographed edition under the misleading title The Hollywood Elegies (Die Hollywood­Elegien). Later, in subsequent partial editions brought forth by the composer in the GDR, the original collection was dissolved, and the songs were spread out over three volumes of his collected works. Manfred Grabs produced the first complete edition of all forty‐seven songs in Volume I of the projected sixteen volume Complete Works of Hanns Eisler in 1976. Though reference to the songs as part of a collection called The Hollywood Songbook was somewhat marginalized, it was the first edition to present all of the existing songs in the series. The most recent edition, published in 2008, is comprised of a corrected reprint of Grab’s musical text, with issues of chronology undertaken based on recent research. 17 Throughout the collection Eisler achieves a marvelous synthesis of his past compositional experience in a range of diverse styles. His experience as a member of the elite and sophisticated Second Viennese School of Schoenberg (characteristic motivically developed passages, complex structures and pan‐tonality) is present alongside elements of militant socialist workers songs written for the masses with their directly appealing tunefulness and unencumbered rhythmic élan. These elements are further infused with a direct dramaturgical sensibility, garnered from the music written for the theatrical works of Brecht and for films. All of these elements contribute to Eisler’s musical fusion of different types of songs, representing aspects of both high and low art, into a new whole. In addition, Eisler incorporates numerous stylistic references pasted together, as in collage, ranging from Schubert to classical jazz. Before moving further into the textual and musical considerations of the Hollywood Songbook, and the two cycles that will be discussed, it is important to note several aspects about the composer and the type of singer he preferred to interpret his songs. Eisler describes himself as a composer who is interested in music to describe the lives of people, leaving sunrises and sunsets for the romantics. He states as well that he prefers ‘thinking’ over ‘feeling’ as a composer. (Stamm) The vocal range of the songs in the collection lie comfortably in the range of mezzo‐soprano, dramatic tenor, or baritone with the pitch range spanning nearly two octaves, starting from a below middle c. Though this may seem a wide compass, the songs lie for the most part within the comfort and declamatory ease of the 18 middle octave, moving to the extreme parts of the range for greater characterization of the text and musical climax. In the famous dialogues with Hans Bunge, when directly asked who actually sings his songs ‘well’, Eisler replied that “whoever knows how to avoid sentimentality, bombast, pathos, and all kinds of stupidity, to recite the text well but nevertheless to sing it, will sing my songs well.” He goes further to state that a singer should have a good voice, great musicality, and the ability to sing his songs ‘controversially’ but not emotively. It is well to remember that the singing style of the first half of the twentieth century often involved a more extroverted, super‐
imposed ‘schmaltzy’ interpretation. Eisler requires that his singers use more intellect and intuition, and at times less voice. The difficulty in dealing with the actual notes and rhythms of the songs in the Hollywood Songbook is an important consideration. Though not all of the same level of difficulty, singers accustomed to relying solely on their ear and memorization to learn music will find difficulty with many of Eisler’s settings, as there is a distinctly different use of tonality throughout them. Though not completely atonal, the music is for the most part not based on conventional tonal relationships regarding harmony. The type of analysis shown in this document can greatly aid in the learning process of these songs, as the various elements of the compositional techniques must be understood. Despite the title Hollywood Songbook, the songs are in form and content predominantly associated with the homeland contrasted with exile in Hollywood. Eisler derives inspiration for his collection from a diverse group of poets, including 19 twenty‐eight poems by Brecht, the five Mörike‐Anakreon texts, the six Hölderlin texts, two texts by French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623‐
1662), one poem each by Goethe, Eichendorff, Rimbaud and Berthold Viertel, words from the Old Testament of the Bible, and one poem by the composer himself. The songs are of course primarily in German, but there are four composed in English, and one in French. The texts of the first sixteen songs of the Hollywood Songbook are derived from a compilation of Brecht poems made by Margarete Steffin, now known as the Steffin Collection. Written while Brecht was in Finnish exile, the collection is named for Margarete Steffin (1908‐1941) who was a close friend of both Brecht and Eisler. She unfortunately died of tuberculosis in a Moscow hospital while en route to America with the Brecht clan from Finland. Of the texts included in the Steffin Collection, several can be pointed out for their uniqueness. One such song is An den kleinen Radioapparat (To a portable radio), known first as Auf den kleinen Apparat, which has a literal origin in the journal entries of Brecht: Recently, since the news has become so bad, I am even considering switching off the radio in the morning. The little box sits next to the bed, my final act in the evening is to turn it off, my first act in the morning is to turn it on. (Willet, 1973, Page 57) It is song of praise for the little radio, carefully transported throughout the exile, and bringing information about the political situation back home. The only worry is that one day it might stop working. Eisler’s setting is delicately wistful, 20 belying the dark undertones of the story, and vocally and harmonically more reminiscent of a French chanson of Gounod or Massenet. Über den Selbstmord (On Suicide) is a song that deals with the danger that exists during the winter months for people, who having faced so much misery, view suicide as the only option, flinging their heavy lives away. This song has several interesting references to Schubert. In the text, as we arrive to the phrase “Und die ganze Winterzeit” there is a direct reference to the first phrase of Winterreise (‘Fremd bin ich eingezogen’,) while the slow tempo and the extremes in dynamics point to Der Doppelgänger. (Dümling, 1998) The Anacreon Fragments (Anakreontische­Fragmente) is a set of five songs that form yet another closed cycle within the collection. Eisler remarked to Bunge: Now Anacreon is well known as a poet who described the pleasures of everyday life. Curiously from those wonderful adaptations by Mörike I selected Anacreon poems which had nothing at all to do with that. I also partly adapted them myself. That pleased Brecht immensely. (Bunge, Page 66) Composed in April 1943, the five Anacreon Fragments deal with the themes of war, political reversals, the indignity of ageing, but most importantly, the despair of the exile longing for the homeland. Compositionally, they are cast in the same mould as the Hölderlin Fragments, but with less use of montage and references to compositions of the past. Hollywood Elegy No. 7 is inappropriately titled due to the publication of sixteen songs from the Hollywood Songbook in 1948 under the title The Hollywood Elegies. The poem of the song deals with an actual event that occurred in 1947 when 21 the actor Peter Lorre was for arrested for drug possession in New York. Brecht’s poem, Der Sumpf (The Swamp) deals with the slow sinking of his friend into drug abuse as he seeks to deal with the impact of the war and exile on his state of mind. Eisler himself wrote the text of Nightmare, which was originally titled The Hearing (A Nightmare). Composed in 1947, the song is Eisler’s reaction to the hearings by the HUAC. It features jarring musical passages that convey the caustic atmosphere of the hearings, and takes on the style of a dialogue in various sections. 22 Chapter Three: Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien) Precisely which texts and compositions may be counted as the Hollywood Elegies, and which may not cannot be determined. Several songs bear the title Elegy, and this is also further complicated by the publication of a collection of Eisler songs in 1948 under the title Hollywood Elegies. Many of these pieces fall into the collection of the Hollywood Songbook, but bear no real connection to the original Fünf Elegien of 1942. Again, in conversations with Hans Bunge, Eisler recounted the genesis of these pieces: In that gloomy eternal spring of Hollywood I said to Brecht, shortly after we had come together again . . . This is the classic place in which one should write elegies . . . We are not absolved in Hollywood. We must simply go along with describing it . . . ‘It’ was the dreadful idyll of that landscape which of itself had arisen more from the ideas of land speculators. . . . If the water there was shut off there for three days, the jackals would be back and so would the desert sands . . . So in that strange, whitewashed idyll it was necessary to express oneself concisely. (Bunge, Page 19) Of the four poems which Brecht collected under the title Hollywood­Elegien, Eisler set only “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” as the first of the Fünf Elegien as they would later be titled. The other poems can be found in the Brecht Archive, but without an original reference to the title Hollywood­Elegien. 23 I­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen Underneath the green pepper trees, daily Gehen die Musiker auf den Strich, zwei und zwei The composers are on the beat, two by two Mit den Schreibern. Bach With the writers. Bach Hat ein Strichquartett in Täschen. Has a street quartet in his pocket. Dante schwenkt Dante wriggles Den dürren Hintern. His shriveled arsehole. As the introduction begins, one is aware that something very much out of the ordinary has been set into motion. “These are macabre songs, which with laconic quality and concision burst open an entire topic.” (Betz, Page 189) The piano introduces divergent chromatic streams in shifting registers against a motivically patterned accompaniment figuration, (Musical Example 1), the overall texture written as if it were being played by a string quartet in the tightly knit style of Webern. Musical Example 1­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 7‐9 24 As the voice enters in bar 10, (Musical Example 2), echoing the opening motivic material of the introduction, the piano begins a series of startling minor ninths that seem to mimic the cry of street vendors, as the artists hock their wares in the market. Musical Example 2­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 10‐12 On the word ‘Musiker’ (the musicians) in bar 13, (Musical Example No. 3), the upper voice strikes up a soaring melody against the motoristic accompaniment in the left hand, which eventually concentrates itself into a truncated unit based on the opening motive. 25 Musical Example 3­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 13‐16 At the word ‘Bach’ in bar 20, (Musical Example 4), we have a sudden change from contrapuntal texture to homophonic accompaniment. The atmosphere becomes almost reverential as the B‐A‐C‐H motive is introduced against it in both the vocal line and the bass line, in parallel thirds. Musical Example 4­ “Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen” mm. 20‐22 26 A driving chordal pattern commences as the singer delivers the cheeky ‘Dante’ text, followed by the opening motive again rising upward, leading to another series of minor ninths in an accelerated passage against pointed syncopated chords. Brecht here is making a comparison between Dante and Bach to himself and Eisler, though it could also be representative of the numerous great expatriate artists living in southern California at the time. Brecht cleverly changes one letter in the word ‘Streichquartett’ (string quartet) to ‘Strichquartett’ (street quartet), and Eisler, as mentioned earlier, misses no chance to illustrate the absurdity of this. The final line of the poem sarcastically refers to the sense of ‘prostitution’ these artists felt during their exile in order to survive. 27 II­ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt” Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt This town is named after the angels Und man begegnet allenthalben Engeln And one meets angels everywhere. Sie riechen nach Öl und tragen goldene Pessare They smell of oil, and wear golden pessaries Und mit blauen Ringen um die Augen And with blue rings round their eyes Füttern sie allmorgendlich die Schreiber Feed the writers every morning In ihren Schwimmpfühlen. In their swimming pools. The second elegy of the set provides contrast to the first in many ways. The objective approach to interpretation, normally favored by Eisler, is eschewed by Eisler’s directive in the score: to be executed with morose sentimentality. The opening vocal line, (Musical Example 5), begins with a descending major triad, which soon gives way to a series of descending half‐steps, reflected in the accompaniment as well. The chromatic ‘sinking’ establishes the feeling of a mystical descent into fantasy world. 28 Musical Example 5­ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt” mm. 1‐11 Then, in bar 4, as the piano commences in a tempo sehr zurückhalten (very held back), an ascending languorous melody set against a palpable throbbing rhythm creates an environment of heightened sensuality, as thick chordal textures combine with the usage of chromatic harmony worthy of Tristan and Parsifal in their meanderings. Melodic sequencing provides the forward impetus of the song, as the singer spins out melody and text, (Musical Example No. 6), that luxuriates in its decadence. All of this is dissolved in the last bar, as the piano provides a ‘stinger’ trill at the end, as if recoiling in disgust. 29 Musical Example 6­ “Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt” mm. 18‐24 Brecht is speaking now of the sinful ‘angels’ and ‘writers’ one meets in Hollywood even today. The angels, who in the pursuit of their ambitions, give of their body and soul to the writers, directors, and agents who supposedly can help them achieve their goals. 30 III­ “Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen” Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen Every morning, to start earning my bread Gehe ich auf den Markt, I visit the market Wo Lügen verkauft werden. Where lies are bought and sold. Hoffnungsvoll Full of hope I take my place there with the other sellers. Reihe ich mich ein zwischen die Verkäufer. The third elegy begins with a motive set forth in the vocal line that will be used canonically in the three‐part texture of the piano accompaniment. This use of canon is not strictly adhered to, and the independent voices move toward counter‐
melodic relationships to the motive. Bars 6 through 8 feature sequential use of motives from the vocal line, countered against another sequentially developed motive, eventually underpinned with accented syncopations in the bass. This passage, with its complicated low register circling, musically illustrates the confusion and frustration felt by the writer, as he views his situation. He takes his place alongside the others, as the rising accented chords bolster his hopeful resolve. The piano plays out a postlude in bars 12 through 20, is squarely in the tradition of the Lieder of Robert Schumann, particularly in the song cycle Dichterliebe, where the piano part often continues on well after the singer has finished the poem, thus heightening the emotional impact and creating a psychological resolution to the song. In this case, Eisler masterfully interweaves the previous musical material into a contrapuntal three‐voice texture, (Musical Example No. 7), reminiscent of a Schumann canon. The fact that he buries it in a register that is so low and thick that 31 this skillful counterpoint is obscured suggests an allegory to Eisler’s wasted abilities in the drudgery of the Hollywood cultural environment. Musical Example 7­ “Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen” mm. 17‐20 Written while working on the screenplay for Fritz Lang’s anti‐film Hangmen Also Die, the text of this third installment is very telling of the situation faced by the exiles. Brecht actually struggled in Hollywood to find enough work, many in Hollywood found his personality and artistic demands more than they could or wanted to take. Conversely, Eisler had more than he could handle at time, but hated most of it because of its commercial aims. (Eisler’s income was enough that he was able to help out both Brecht and Schoenberg during this period of time.) 32 IV­ “Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt” Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt, This city has taught me Paradies und Hölle können eine Stadt sein That Paradise and Hell are one city. Für die Mittellosen Ist das Paradies die Hölle. For the unsuccessful Paradise itself serves as Hell. From the start of the fourth elegy, we are faced with ambiguity in relation to tonality‐ tonal, yet not tonal‐ and ambiguity in the chords of the accompaniment, as they move from major to minor tonality. Musical Example 8­ “Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt” mm.1‐4 The melody, (Musical Example No. 8), with all its ‘bluesiness’, is built on a cellular construction of four pitches rising to the word “Hell” which is associated with the interval of a descending minor 6th. There is also evidence of palindromic technique in bars 8 and 9. Further ambiguity can be derived from the irregularity of the measure lengths affecting the hierarchy of beats brought about by meter 33 changes. After a period of increased harmonic rhythm, the song dies out as the accompaniment descends in parallel thirds, a very typical cadence in jazz structures. Brecht’s impetus for this fourth elegy is a poem “Peter Bell the Third” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792‐1822), who describes his home in London as Hell. So the existence of the exiles in Los Angeles, with its never changing seasons, could be likened to a Hell within a Paradise. The metaphor can also be drawn to Hollywood as the representation of Capitalism. If you are successful, then it is a paradise. For those who are not, it is Hell. Eisler’s use of tonal/atonal ambivalence, and the alternating use of the major and minor tonalities perfectly represent this duality of Paradise and Hell in one setting. The composer emphasizes this gloomy message in a setting that combines the simplicity of Schubert’s “Der Leiermann”, with the atmosphere of the blues. 34 V­ “In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden” In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden In the hills one finds gold, An der Küste findet man Öl On the coast one finds oil, Größere Vermögen Greater fortunes Bringen die Träume vom Glück Are delivered from dreams of happiness Die man hier auf Zelluloid schreibt. Which one writes on celluloid spools. With no introduction, the vocal line of the fifth elegy begins with a series of rising and descending fifths, the accompaniment consisting of gently moving major seventh chords over a pedal tone. As the voice weaves its way down sequentially, so does the bass line of the accompaniment begin a descent against expanding chordal structures in the right hand, both soon emphasizing the inverse half‐step relationships. On the words ‘Größere Vermögen’ (Greater fortunes) the vocal line expands to the width of a tenth in its expression of the word meaning. 35 Musical Example 9­ “In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden” mm. 5‐12 The vocal line then comes to rest on a sustained G on the word ‘Träume’ (dreams) for more than two bars, (Musical Example No. 9), forming a suspension over a gently pulsing half‐diminished chord in the accompaniment, creating the effect of a lullaby. (This passage is reminiscent of the same compositional gesture for the very same word in the Wagner song “Traume” from the Wesendonck Lieder.) As the vocal line moves forward to the word ‘Glück’ (happiness), there is a marked descent of both the vocal line and in the parallel major chords of the accompaniment, suggestive of the descent/degradation involved in such dreams. As the voice finishes, the piano repeats the opening melodic material over similar accompaniment gestures, though it is no longer the carefree, transparent harmony 36 as before. Now it is peppered with dissonances and syncopated bass interjections, driving toward a final bar that contains an unmistakable commentary from the composer, with its final bombastic tritone octave punctuations. Brecht’s poem tells of the natural resources (gold and oil) found all around one in California, but the sale of ‘dreams’ by means of the film industry is exposed as something valued more highly there. An interesting parallel can be drawn from Elegy No. 2 in the description of the angels that smell of oil and wear golden pessaries. 37 Chapter Four: The Hölderlin Fragments The Hölderlin Fragments (Hölderlin­Fragmente) represents the third of the three closed cycles within the collection, the other being the Anakeron Fragmente (Anacreon Fragments). In the Hölderlin cycle Eisler forms a distinctly sharp entity through the unifying basis of the texts. The six songs are listed here with the date of completions: I An die Hoffnung (To Hope ) II Andenken April 20, 1943 (Remembrance) June 3, 1943 III Elegie 1943 (Elegy 1943) June 10, 1943 IV Die Heimat (Home) June 21, 1943 V An Eine Stadt (To a City) June 22 1943 VI Erinnerung (Memory) August 2, 1943 The poet Friederich Hölderlin (1770‐1843) was the classical poet most frequently set by Eisler, with a total of eleven texts altogether. Eisler felt an affinity toward Hölderlin, viewing him as a ‘Jacobin’ in opposition to the prevailing conservative nationalistic view. For Hölderlin there was no home, neither in nor outside of Germany. The People’s Front found a new assimilation of the elegiac poet in their uniting together all the opponents of the Nazi regime. Albrecht Dümling elaborates: 38 At that time Hölderlin was discovered as the supreme classical poet for the new socialist culture. Under the banner of the anti‐fascist united front of the middle class and communists, the unification of cultural heritage and socialism of Hölderlin and Marx, already insisted on in 1921 by Thomas Mann, was realized. (Dümling, Page 102‐103) Eisler shared many parallels with Hölderlin: the pain of homelessness during his exile from his native land, further intensified revulsion of, and revolt against the times that he lived in. Eisler was also a stranger in Germany, and in Hollywood a fugitive. Hölderlin’s search for Utopia resulted in a wistfully retrospective look at Greece, much as Eisler’s quest led him to remembrance of his native Germany with a hopeful look forward to the future. Eisler composed his Hölderlin songs at Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles taking critical aim simultaneously at both the contemporary Germany of Hitler, alongside the contemporary Hollywood of the 1940’s. Due to his film work, he was financially better off than most artists driven out by the Nazis, but he was filled with sadness and fury at the loss of his homeland, and irritation at the new one. In a later interview with Hans Bunge in 1961, Eisler recalls: I was sitting in Hollywood. Financially I was well off. But it rankled me that these poor Germans are and were such bastards. (Bunge, Page 291) Eisler called these Hölderlin songs Fragments, and indeed, they are fragmented elaborations of the text, a technique that Eisler has employed 39 throughout this collection, and in his songs in general. In his music, Eisler maintains a certain detachment, avoiding at all costs pathos and anything that is hymn‐like : If I identify myself completely with the text, empathize with it, hover behind it, well, that’s dreadful. A composer has to view the text in a way full of contradictions. The tragic element is interpreted by me cheerfully . . . (Bunge, Page 288) If ever I am praised for anything, it will be for resisting the text. (Bunge Page 288) Eisler aims at a mediation of history and reality in such a manner that the art of the past is newly evaluated in the light of present experience. It is thereby selectively repurposed to meet the actual urgent tasks and goals of his music. The spirit of this concept was explored in his sketches with Ernst Bloch in 1938, Die Kunst zu Erben (Inheriting Art), in the sub‐title confronting ‘schematic and productive inheritance.’ In the Hölderlin Fragments, Eisler’s abbreviates with frequency and unusually insightful skill. The following demonstrates the aspects of the original poems in relation to the editings by Eisler: 40 Hölderlin Eisler I An die Hoffnung (To Hope) ‐ 1801 5 verses Verses 1 & 2 II Andenken (Remembrance) ‐ 1807 5 verses Verses 1 & 2 (shortened) III Der Frieden (Peace) ‐ 1800 14 verses Elegie 1943 (Elegy 1943) Verses 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 IV Die Heimat (Home) ‐ 1800 2 verses 2 lines of verse 2 shortened V Heidelberg ‐ 1800 8 verses An Eine Stadt (To a City) 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 ( 5 & 8 shortened) VI Gesang des Deutschen (Song of the Germans) 1799 15 verses Erinnerung (Memory) 1, 2, 4, 6 In his textual incisions, the tendency overall involves the following: Omitted or severely restricted are depictions of detail, duplicated expressions, thoughts developed too far, allegories, mythical images or descriptions of nature and landscape, in so far as they do not belong directly to the theme of the poem. Anything atmospheric in the text is also repressed because this the music contributes independently. (Grabs, Wir, so gut es gelang, Page 50) Eisler also provides a further layer of reinterpretation in his alteration of some titles. “Der Frieden” becomes “Elegy 1943”, the year of composition given precisely to relate the horrific slaughter of the poem directly to World War Two. 41 “Heidelberg” becomes generalized in the substitution of the word ‘city’, though it is possible that here Eisler may be referring to his own home town of Vienna. The change of title in Hölderlin Fragment No. 6 makes the greatest impact in terms of changing the interpretation. Albrecht Dümling states that during the war, along with “Der Tod fürs Vaterland”, the poem “Gesang des Deutschens” was widely quoted from and set to music as early as 1914, a practice that continued throughout the Nazi period. Hölderlin’s enlightened cosmopolitan patriotism, aimed not at foreign countries, but against structures of authority in his own country, and promoted the realization of the ideals of the French Revolution. Eisler takes up these aims, making it clear that he was not concerned with contemporary Germany, the Germany of Hitler, but with one past and destroyed, with Germans not as agents, but as sacrifices. This unusual perspective clearly also referred to the subordinate position of those in exile in the commercial world of Hollywood. Overall, Eisler’s reworking of the text creates precisely the laconic idiom that Brecht was striving for at this time, valuing brevity and terseness in the construction of poetry for the avoidance of a false richness of tone. Between February and May of 1943, while Brecht was in New York, Eisler began setting texts by other writers, including the classic poems of Anacreon and Hölderlin. Upon his return, Brecht reacted with surprise and skepticism at first, but later commented to Eisler: It is really quite fascinating how you take the plaster off Hölderlin! You select some lines, set them to music and somehow it fits. (Bunge, Page 287) 42 Brecht noted later in his work journal: Eisler has written two marvelous cycles for his Little Hollywood Songbook, Anacreon poems and Hölderlin poems. Here we can glimpse a possibility of achieving a chorus in a drama, since from now on the settings are wholly gestic. (Willet, 1973, Page 280) Eisler himself emphasized that this quotation and montage technique should be understood as an artistic one. Eisler rejected the heavily atmospheric reception of poetry in the tradition of the art song, choosing instead to compose subject‐
matter and ideas, whose musical validity he personally guaranteed, and thus could feel confident in the truth of every single word. (Wilkening) What Eisler’s presentation of the text does, and this to the objection of Brecht, involves a destruction of the metrical structure of the Hölderlin poems. Hölderlin, in all but the second poem, employs ancient strophic forms‐ Alcaic for 1, 3, 4, and 6; Asclepiadean for No. 5. For example, Eisler’s abbreviation in No. 5 of the fourth stanza (Hölderlin’s fifth) is done in such a way that the regularity of the Asclepiadean verse form is abandoned: 43 Hölderlin: Eisler: H: E: H: E: H: E: Quellen hattest du, ihm, hattest dem Flüchtigen (You had given him spring water, water to the fugitive) Du hast dem Flüchtigen kühlenden Schatten geschenkt, (You gave the fugitive cooling shade) Eisler’s treatment Kühle Schatten geschenkt, und die Gestade sah (Given him cool shade, and the shores all gazed) Und die Gestade sahen (And the shores all gazed) All’ ihm nach, und es bebte (After him and there quivered) Ihm alle nach, und es tönte (After him and there resounded) Aus den Wellen ihr lieblich Bild. (Out of the waves her fair image) Aus den Wellen das liebliche Bild. (Out of the waves the fair image) of the text ultimately guarantees optimal comprehensibility of the language; by musical means a counterpoint is added to the text in which the intentions of the text are preserved at a level of musical speech. (Hufschmidt, Page 220) Brecht, despite his praise for what he describes as Eisler’s ‘gestic’ settings, remained skeptical about the eradication of the metrical structure: Modern music converts texts into prose even when they are poetry, and then lyricizes the prose. The lyricizing is at the same time psychologizing. The rhythm is loosened, and for the epic theatre this totally unusable. (Willet, 1973, Page 334) 44 In his criticizing of the ‘prosaicizing’ tendency of modern music, Brecht agrees with Goethe, who in a letter to Schiller in 1797, criticized a corresponding tendency of Romantic literature: All poetry should be treated rhythmically! That is my conviction, and the fact that people could gradually introduce a poetic prose only shows that they were completely losing sight of the difference between poetry and prose. (Heister, Page 217) In proceeding to a musical discussion of the Hölderlin Fragments, it is important to note that, while the complexity of the intellectual and compositional procedures widened the traditionally narrow scope of the art song with piano accompaniment in the 20th century, the classic model of the Schubert song, (melody dominating at a comfortable pitch and insuring an intelligible declamation), remains in Eisler’s setting. Maintaining these external boundaries allows for an inner richness as well as the involvement of each individual song in a cyclical grouping. In terms of coherence and perspective, individual songs will be too weak to stand alone; only in the cycle can they make their point; and in addition the individual unit can be given further significance by the context of the passage into which it is further incorporated. [Betz, 166‐167] Eisler’s exile had cut him off from his public, the organized Worker’s Movement, thus offering him the opportunity to rethink material, and genres, forgotten or shelved during his withdrawal from music of the bourgeois. Considering this as well, Brecht noted: 45 The need to be easily intelligible and directly comprehensible could diminish during the exile period, but of course it was retained and was a necessary aspect of the ‘breadth and variety of a realistic way of writing’. (Heister, Page 217) What is remarkable about Eisler and the entire collection of his settings is his endeavor to reconcile certain seemingly irreconcilable polarities, whether it be light music versus high art music, traditional versus modern styles, a revolutionary stance versus an easy‐going one, and even, the unrefined versus elegance. George Knepler proposes the formula: ‘the familiar in unfamiliar surroundings.’ (Grabs, 1983, Page 378) Heister, in his informative article “Hollywood and Home” writes: For Eisler it is always a question of articulating musically a wealth of ideas; of shaping them precisely and multi‐
dimensionally in order to give them sense – and this, whenever possible, and in the smallest detail, from the perspective of ‘Change the World; it needs it!’ (Heister, Page 218) 46 I­ “An Die Hoffnung” O Hoffnung! Holde gütiggeschäftige! Die du das Haus der Trauernden nicht verschmähst, O hope! Dear one, kind and concerned! You who do not spurn the house of the mourner Und gerne dienend zwischen den Sterblichen waltest: And gladly serve among mortals: Wo bist du? Wo bist du? Where are you? Where are you? Wenig lebt ich. Doch atmet I have already lived. Yet my evening Kalt mein Abend schon. Und stille, den Schatten gleich, Already breathes coldly. And softly, like shadows, Bin ich schon hier. Und schon gesanglos I am already here. And already without a song, Schlummert das schauedernde Herz. My shuddering heart is sleeping. From the outset the central theme of this cycle of songs is presented—
namely that Hope is the source of all further possibilities, even when pushed to the background by setbacks. The singer invokes the first word ‘O Hoffnung’ in a musical motive, (Musical Example 10), that will be recurrent throughout the entire cycle. This motive is related to the B‐A‐C‐H theme, mentioned in the first of the Five Elegies (Fünf Elegien), a theme that carries significance in relation to the worker’s movement. Musical Example 10­ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 1‐2 47 Eisler explains in the introduction of his 1934 composition Präludium und Fuge über B­A­C­H : This motto was adopted not to honor J. S. Bach, who doesn’t need to be honored in this way, but to relate to the bourgeois mysticism of the workaday musician who often understands no more of Bach than the letters of his name. (Eisler, Introduction to Präludium und Fuge über B­A­C­H) In the Hölderlin Fragments, this motive acts as a mediator between the classical heritage and the avant‐garde. The minor second (together with its inversion the major seventh) is a signal for atonality, but this is mediated in relation to the built‐in tonal elements of the minor second stated in the initial phrase, which combines five major triads with leaps of a sixth. The motive throughout has primary association with the descending minor sevenths and minor seconds, the latter which has historically served to symbolize sighing and longing. (Heister, Page 220) In bars 1 through 4, we can see Eisler running through the chromatic compass in a melody built on self‐similar gestures and sequence in the vocal line. Underpinning this in the accompaniment is a canonic series of the ‘Hope’ motive, which also independently works its way through the tonal compass. These opening bars show the influence upon Eisler of Webern’s tutelage in terms of their twelve‐
tone organization, and, though not formally serial, provide evidence of a commitment to running the chromatic compass in as short a space as possible. The meaning derived from this use of chromaticism, which pushes the tonality to the point of collapse, can be likened to a structure that is no longer able to support itself. There are no hierarchical relationships between the notes ‐ only contradictory ones 48 ‐ and like the bombed‐out buildings of war‐ravaged Europe, composers analogously sought to find new standards of beauty as they rebuilt from the rubble. In bar 7 and 8, the vocal line presents the question ‘Wo bist du?’ (Where are you?) in a melodic gesture outlining a dominant seventh chord with a descending minor seventh, over a cascading triplet‐series of falling and rising chromatically winding minor sevenths. From the perspective of the major‐minor tonal system’s concept of departure and return, minor sevenths represent the dominant seventh chord, a chord that seeks for resolution to the tonic – to find a home. In bars 9 through 18, starting from the initial chord in the accompaniment, Eisler begins using major and minor thirds as melodic elements in combination with the minor second. The use of thirds suggests mediant relationships that move further toward tonal centers around triads. In bar 10 we find the initial use of a melodic fragment, (Musical Example 11), which alternates between the descending major and rising minor third. This melodic fragment will form a more extended motive of ‘hope and remembrance’ and providing a unifying and cyclical element. (Heister, Page 223‐226) 49 Musical Example 11­ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 10‐12 Slightly anticipating the completion of the poem by the singer, the piano reintroduces the ‘Hope’ motive, canonically in augmentation and diminution, and incorporating figurations found throughout the song. Again, it winds through the chromatic compass, (Musical Example No. 12), almost as if to ‘clear the tonal palate’ in preparation for the next installment. Musical Example 12­ “An die Hoffnung” mm. 19‐21 50 II­ “Andenken” Der Nordost weht The North‐East wind blows, Der liebster unter den Winden My favorite among the winds Mir, weil er gute Fahrt verheißet. Because he promises a fair voyage. Geh aber nun, grüße Go now, bring greetings Die schöne Garonne und die Gärten von Bordeaux, To the lovely Garonne and the gardens of Bordeaux, Dort, wo am scharfen Ufer Where on the jagged shore Hingehet der Steg und in den Strom The path runs out, and the brook Tief fällt der Bach, darüber aber Drops down into the streams, and Hinschauet ein edel Paar A noble pair of oaks and silver poplars Look out above it all. Von Eichen und Silberpappeln. An Feiertagen gehn die braunen Fraun daselbst That is where on holidays brown women walk Auf seidnen Boden, On silken ground Zur Märzenzeit, wenn gleich ist Tag und Nacht, In March, when day and night are equal, Und über langsamen Stegen, And above the sleepy paths, Von goldenen Träumen schwer Heavy with golden dreams Einwiegende Lüfte ziehn. Waft gently rocking breezes. The singer’s opening line is unaccompanied and starts on B flat, as it does in the first poem. The vocal line rises and falls, as the piano plays a figuration associated with the wind, built out of the opening vocal motive (Musical Example 13). Again, Eisler quickly fills out the chromatic compass, covering all twelve tones within the span of three bars circling back to B flat. 51 Musical Example 13­ “Andenken” mm. 1‐3. In bar six, we hear the pitches of the opening theme of No. 6 – O heilige Herz, (Musical Example 14), transplanting its meaning before we even hear it in context, and wrapped up sequentially in the wind motive. Musical Example 14­ “Andenken” mm. 6‐7. At the end of bar seven, the ‘wind’ continues falling in a series of falling thirds, in an accelerando aided by shorter note values. By again running through the chromatic compass at this point, Eisler ‘brings down the curtain’ before the next scene. 52 The next section, bars 9 through 15, grows calm through the steady pattern of the piano figuration, and the regular shape of the vocal line (Musical Example 15). This is the same theme (‘hope and remembrance’) which we have encountered in Fragment No. 1, (a falling/rising major‐minor third relationship), now used sequentially and growing out of its cellular construction. Musical Example 15­ “Andenken” mm. 8‐15. In bar 16 the vocal line begins rocking back and forth between semitones in a sequential pattern, creating an example of word painting as the voice rises abruptly at the words ‘tief fällt’ (deeply falls) and then returns, lowered further by a semitone. The chordal right hand accompaniment in this section provides a counterpoint to the vocal line as it descends by lamenting half steps, against a 53 syncopated, almost jazzy pattern in the left hand that visually contributes to the image of a bridge (steg). The vocal line begins a more sustained passage over the next ten bars, as the accompaniment takes up the oscillating semitone figure, alternating at times between the right and left hand, and moving generally in a chromatic descent to the next section, almost as if we were being carried there by a gentle wind. The image of ‘brown women’ arrives in bar 30, a seductively contoured melody over, at first, a series of major seventh chords, eventually dissolving into mildly dissonant. chords The accompaniment creates an aural image of ease and repose, gently rocking back and forth, as it lulls us into ‘golden dreams’ while the piano postlude blissfully twice recalls the opening vocal line of this section‐ “geh’n die braunen Frauen daselbst...” 54 III­ “Elegie 1943” Wie wenn die alten Wasser, in anderen Zorn, As though the ancient waters, transformed In schrecklichern verwandelt wieder kämen, into another fiercer rage, returned, So gärt’ und wieder wuchs und wogte von Jahr zu Jahr Thus boiled and grew and raged from year to year Die unerhörte Schlacht, daß weit hüllt The outrageous battle, so that far and wide In Dunkel und Blässe das Haupt der Menschen. Men’s heads were wrapped in darkness and pallor. Wer brachte den Fluch? Von heut Who brought this curse? It is not Ist er nicht und nicht von gestern. Today’s, nor yesterday’s. Und die zuerst das Maß verloren And they who first overstepped the bounds, Unsre Väter wußten es nicht. Our fathers, knew it not. For too long mortals trod Sich gern aufs Haupt, den Nachbar fürchtend. Gleefully upon others head, fearing their neighbors Und unstet, irren und wirren, dem Chaos gleich, Unsteadily, like chaos, desires roam and meander Dem gärenden Geschlecht die Wünsche nach Following the race in ferment Und wild ist unverzagt und kalt And life is made wild and fearful Von Sorgen das Leben. And cold with care. Zu lang, zu lang schon treten die Sterblichen The third Hölderlin Fragment provides stark contrast to the preceding in its grimness. Beginning in the accompaniment with a semitone motive based on the B‐
A‐C‐H theme, and set polyphonically in three different rhythms, the voice enters, echoing this opening motive on the words ‘Wie wenn die alten Wasser’ (as though the ancient waters), amidst all of these ancient polyphonic devices. The melody moves to a repetitious descending chromatic cell with a tritone leap downward on the words ‘anderen Zorn, in schrecklichern’ (another rage, more abominable). In a sophisticated, yet subtle use of text painting, the opening motive returns, now 55 slightly altered, on the word ‘verwandelt wieder kämen’ (transformed returned). In bar 4, the bass line begins a lamenting ground bass (based on a permutation of B‐A‐
C‐H), centered around rising and descending half steps that continues until a new section commences in bar 18. The vocal line returns in bar 12 with a melodic motive based on an ascending third, a motive that has already been heard in the accompaniment as early as bar 4, almost wailingly describing the slow growth of the horrible rage over the years. This section reaches its climax on the words ‘unerhörte Schlacht’ (outrageous battle) which is marked with accents on the first word. In bar 18, the melody becomes engaged in a descending semitone pattern, the accompaniment parallels the voice, and the mood becomes solemn as everything drops downward in consideration of the text – ‘In Dunkel und Blässe das Haupt der Menschen. (Men’s heads were wrapped in darkness and pallor). The Hope motive, the minor second, has become so interwoven that it almost seems buried, but it figures prominently on the word ‘Menschen’ (men) in bar 21, and ‘Leben’ (lives) in bar 50, as well as in the series of questions in bars 26 through 28. An almost funereal treading rhythm is initiated in the bar 34 of the accompaniment in response to the text, as the poem considers the ‘gleeful trodding on mortal’s head’. A masterful point of reference occurs in bars 40 through 42, (Musical Example No. 16) at the point of the text describing the roaming and meandering of (sexual) desires, Eisler refers to the final line from the second of the Five Hollywood Elegies, (Musical Example No. 6) in which the sexual decadence of the angels of Hollywood is described. 56 Musical Example 16­ “Elegy 1943” mm. 40‐44. The final 14 bars consist of Schumannesque postlude, the piano reviving all the thematic elements of the song, eventually winding its way downward to a cadence in F, the suspended B flat sinking chromatically to A flat to form the minor triad. 57 IV­ “Heimat” Froh kehrt der Schiffer heim and die hellen Strome Happy does the sailor return to the bright streams Von Fernen Inseln, wo er geerntet hat. From far off islands, where he has reaped‐ Wohl möchte ich gern zu Heimat wieder, I too would like to return to my homeland again. Ach was hab’ich , wie Leid, geerntet. Oh, how I have woefully reaped. Ihr holden Ufer, die ihr mich auferzogt, Your lovely shores, which have raised me Ach gebt ihr mir, ihr Wälder meiner Kindheit, Oh grant me, you forests of my childhood, Wann ich wiederkehre, die Ruhe noch einmal wieder. When I return, peace once more again. “Heimat” is organized into three sections. The first section (also three parts: a b a') represents the happy homecoming of the sailor. The voice begins a chain of thirds extending the interval of an 11th, rising by thirds to semitone phrase closure. This opening melodic gesture of “Heimat”, (Musical Example 17), is in no small way reminiscent of Johannes Brahms Intermezzo Op. 119, No. 1, (Musical Example 18), with its almost Schoenberg‐like meanderings Musical Example 17­ “Heimat” mm. 1‐3 58 Musical Example 18­ Intermezzo op. 119, no. 1, Johannes Brahms, mm. 1‐3 The chain of thirds is imitated in the right hand of the accompaniment, echoing the vocal gesture as the bass descends. In the third part of this section “Wohl möchte ich...” the vocal line follows the same opening pattern, this time followed by both right and left hand imitative entries. The second section (bars 10 ‐14) begins a section of lament, as the vocal line emphasizes melodic cells based on rising whole steps, and then descending fifths. This melody is pointed against a pulsating chordal accompaniment, punctuated by sustained descending intervals in the right hand. The piano finishes out this section with a phrase reminiscent of the first section, but now seemingly full of regret, as the left hand dissolves into a dominant 7th chord of the next section. The third section begins with a rising minor sixth in the melody, against a gentle patterning in the left hand. The singer spins out a wistful melodic line used sequentially, coming to a sudden halt in bar 21, as he falls into a hopeful dream of peace, with the parallel chords of the accompaniment sinking down. A delay of the final word of the song, (Musical Example 19), creates a sense of longing and 59 expectation. This reverie is brought to an abrupt end, as Eisler repeats the chain of descending thirds against a seventh chord (spanning the chromatic compass) and literally ‘brings down the curtain’ on the scene. Musical Example 19­ “Heimat” mm. 23‐27. Fritz Hennenberg interprets the ending as a kind of alienation realized harmonically: The arpeggio is marked out by means of a faster tempo and a diminuendo dying away. The harmony of the song precludes any precise analysis because of persistent fluctuations; but the types of chord favored are familiar from functional harmony. The final dissonance is in fact a gentle spreading out of thirds; at the same it stands out in a telling way because of a substantially higher level of dissonance. The ending is meant to alienate so that the listener finds the whole poem alienating and thereby discovers concealed contemporary relevance. (Hennenberg, 1971, Page 201) 60 V­ “An eine Stadt” (Franz Schubert gewidmet) Lange lieb ich dich schon, mochte dich, mir zur Lust, All my love was for you; let me then follow my heart, Mutter nennen, und dir schenken ein kunstloses Lied, Call you mother, and address you in uncontrived song— Du, der Vaterlandsstädte You, among all of our cities Most sweetly of those I saw. Wie der Vogel des Walds über die Gipfel fliegt, Like a bird from the woods soaring about the hills Schwingt sich über den Strom, wo er vorbei dir glänzt Swings over the elegant bridge vault o’er the glistening stream Leicht und kräftig die Brücke, Ländlichschönste, so viel ich sah. So strongly resounding Die von Wagen und Menschen tönt With the rumble of carts and men. Da ich vorüberging, fesselt’ der Zauber auch mich, I was just wandering by, gripped by the magical view, Und herein in die Berge And deep into the mountains Mir die reizende Ferne schien. All was bathed in that delicate light. Du hast dem Flüchtigen kühlenden Schatten geschenkt, You gave the fugitive pause from the heat in your shade Und die Gestade sahen ihm alle nach, And all your shores were watching him as he passed Und es tönte aus den Wellen das lieblich Bild. While from the swirling waters echoed the beautiful scene. Sträucher blühten herab, bis wo im heiteren Tal, Shrubs were spilling their blooms down to the torrent below An den Hügel gelehnt, oder dem Ufer hold, Where against the hillside or by the river’s edge, Deine fröhliche Gassen unter duftenden Gärten ruh. Still your welcoming lanes with their scent‐laden gardens doze. The fifth song of the set is dedicated to Franz Schubert, and the references here are numerous. As previously mentioned, Eisler takes the original Hölderlin title, “Heidelberg”, and changes it to “An eine Stadt” (To a City), which in effect generalizes any specificity of the original. Some writers believe that Eisler may perhaps be referring to his hometown of Vienna, a city shared by both Schubert and himself. Further references are most clearly drawn from the immortal Schubert – Heine setting of “Die Stadt” from Schwanengesang, in which the singer analogously views the city “am ferne horizonte” (on the distant horizon) and later in the song 61 laments “jene Stelle, Wo ich das Liebste verlor” (that place, where I lost what was dearest to me). Composed in the last year of Schubert’s life, the song is a painful reminder of both Schubert and Eisler’s loss. Eisler’s setting begins with no introduction, with the voice and piano together. This contrasts with the unaccompanied entrances of the previous songs, with the exception of “Elegy 1943”, which began with a three‐bar inroduction. Beginning on a B flat major seventh chord which was anticipated by the final note F in the preceding song, forming a dominant‐tonic relationship between the two songs. As the singer begins, the theme that has come to represent both the image of home, and the resolution of ‘hope and remembrance’, is presented in a developed four‐bar phrase. This theme, (Musical Example No. 20), has appeared in nearly all of the songs in various forms, except in the darkness of No. 3, in various forms. It was heard in “An die Hoffnung” as a brief motive at the words “doch atmet kalt” in bar 10, in a more developed form in “Andenken” at the words “Geh’ aber nun” in bar 9, and in a concealed fragment outlining the phrase “Ihr holden Ufer”, bar 16 of song No. 4. Now in No. 5, this melody serves a refrain as Eisler structures this song formally as a rondo—A B A C A. 62 Musical Example 20­ “An die Stadt” mm. 1‐4. Within this design, the vocal refrain is followed by a restatement of the refrain for piano alone, each time with slight variants. Eisler provides new harmonic twists to the melody, with the second phrase focused on a series ascending‐
descending fourths and fifths used sequentially, while the third presents a sequential ascending‐descending triplet figuration outlining seventh chord harmonies, both phrases sounding as if they had dropped right out of a popular song idiom. This section finds Eisler blending the modern genre of a Weimar‐style cabaret song within the context of a formal song structure, presenting the familiar in the unfamiliar. The second section, beginning at bar 22, signals a sudden change, with descending dissonances that move in an oblique figuration, rhythmically driving as they depict the flight of the bird. As the texture thickens, the musical picture created blends into the image of the sounds of wagons and men, brilliantly depicted in bars 37 and 38 (Musical Example No. 21). The melody in this section emphasizes the 63 contours of the bird in flight, becoming more declamatory as the text describes the sound of wagons and men. Musical Example 21­ “An die Stadt” mm. 30‐40 The return of the refrain occurs without any preparation, as if the horses and wagons suddenly come to a halt. The piano part takes on the texture of its ‘solo’ refrain, as the first two musical phrases of the opening are repeated, again in the style of popular music. The piano refrain is now more of an expressive rendering of the second phrase in this section. 64 The next episode again emphasizes a combination of visual and aural associations, with the melodic contours in this first phrase forming a chain of descending thirds. In bar 54 the melody begins a sequential pattern of rising sixths in a gesture that ‘reaches’ to recall the memory of the beautiful scene evoked. The piano provides then a beautiful touch of word painting, as it musically echoes the last line of the poem “the swirling waters echoed the beautiful scene”. This section of music is indebted to Schubert for its regularity of melodic and rhythmic flow, but the tonal language belongs the advanced chromatic usage found in the songs of Hugo Wolf. The final refrain is a nearly exact repetition of the first, with one major difference. At the point of cadence, Eisler creates a surprise effect, borrowing one he has used already in No. 4, (Musical Example No. 22), creating a delayed cadence on the word “ruhn”, elevating its status as a keyword in the concluding phrase. The piano now plays its concluding refrain, which includes more variations in its harmonic relationships, and comes to a restful cadence in the last bar on a B flat minor chord. However, with the sudden interjection of a completely unrelated and jarring D flat minor chord (marked sffz), this melancholy ‘winding down’ is suddenly scattered like a house of cards. 65 Musical Example 22­ “An die Stadt” mm. 72‐83. 66 VI– “Erinnerung” O heilig Herz der Völker, o Vaterland! O holy heart of a people, o fatherland! Allduldend, gleich der schweigenden Mutter Erd, Long suffering, like the silent mother earth Und allverkannt, wenn schon aus deiner Misunderstood, even though from your Tiefe die Fremden ihr Bestes haben! Depths strangers have gleaned their best. They reaped thoughts and spirits from you, Sie pflücken gern die Traube, doch höhnen sie They were happy to pick the grape and they scorn Dich, ungestalte Rebe! daß du You, shapeless vine, till you Tottered to the ground and wildly roamed. Sie ernten den Gedanken, den Geist von dir, Schwankend den Boden und wild umirrest. Doch magst du manches Schöne nicht bergen mir, But some beauteous things you cannot hide from me. Oft stand ich überschauend das holde Grün, Oft stood I gazing over the gentle gree,, Den weiten Garten hoch in deinen The expansive gardens high in the Sky into the gleaming mountains and saw you. Und an den Ufern sah ich die Städte blühn, And along the shores I saw the cities bloom, Lüften auf hellem Gebirg und sah dich. Die Edlen, wo der Fleiß in der Werkstatt schweigt, Noble ones, where industry keeps silent the workplace. Die Wissenschaft, wo deine Sonne Knowledge, whose sun so Milde dem Künstler zum Ernste leuchtet. Mild enlightens the artist to be earnest. In later years, Eisler said of this song: There is a shameless nationalism in it – because in fact, during my emigration years, I would at times remember Germany – not sentimentally, but through the eyes of Hölderlin, who – as you know – was an early Jacobin. (Bunge, Page 288) 67 The idea appealed to me at a moment of deepest humiliation for the German people, which unfortunately I belong to, like you. I can’t withdraw from it . . . I wanted to be able to say: “You bastards! But at least I composed something for you . . .” (Bunge, Page 292) Hölderlin Fragment No. 6 begins with unaccompanied voice on B flat (Fragments No. 1 and 2 also begin this way) in a melodic fragment of descending thirds, a motive already anticipated in Fragment No. 3 (Musical Example No. 14). This motive is imitated now in the left hand of the accompaniment, which extends to the semitone motive representing ‘home’ briefly suggested in the bass line (Musical Example 23). Musical Example 23­ “Erinnerung” mm. 1‐3. 68 In bar 4, the piano begins an oscillating figure that soon adds to itself, forming seventh chords. These chords, with their subtle chromatic alterations, gently suggest the pain of unpleasant memories expressed in the text. The voice further communicates and reinforces this imagery with its fragmented melody and parlando effects. The next section features an octave leap upbeat lead‐in to a sequential melodic figure that is more ‘cantabile’ in quality. As the voice and piano unify, the level of dissonance decreases, and the tonality emerges more clearly, as if coming out from behind the clouds. The mood is still melancholy, but not hopeless, as the melody outlines the interval of a fifth and then descends the octave. After assorted seventh chord harmonies the piano arrives at an E flat dominant 7th chord on the 2nd beat of bar 26, the end of the 2nd section. The sudden transposition from the world of E flat to the new tonal realm of F major is wondrous. This is not the calculated modulation one might expect in a standard pop song or conventional film score, but a subtle lift upward of a transforming nature. This modulation gives a tonal resolution to the cycle, from the opening notes of ‘O Hoffnung,’ a descending B flat to C (an implied dominant seventh chord) to a gloriously bright F major. The voice sets forth a beautiful melody based on the ‘hope and remembrance’ theme (Musical Example 24), which has served as a unifying element throughout the cycle. In both melodic and harmonic gesture, this melody is strikingly similar to that of the famous Wolf song “Heb’ auf dein’ Blondes Haupt” from the Italienisches Liederbuch (Musical Example 25). 69 Musical Example 24­ “Erinnerung” mm. 28‐30. Musical Example 25­ “Heb’ auf dein’ blondes Haupt” Hugo Wolf, mm. 1‐3 The resolution of ‘Hope’ weaves in out of passages through sequence and variation, exploring adventuresome chromatic extensions and chordal possibilities in the key area of F major. As the song draws to its close, the place of fulfillment is called by name: “a place where knowledge, with its sun so mild, enlightens the artist to be earnest.” Certainly a place where Hanns Eisler could call home. 70 Bibliography Adams, Jeffery, ed. Mörike’s Muses: Critical Essays on Eduard Mörike. Camden House: Columbia, SC, 1990. Albert, Claudia. Das schwierige Handwerk des Hoffens: Hanns Eislers Hollywooder Liederbuch. J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlug und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH: Stuttgart, 1991. Albright, Daniel, ed. Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago/London, 2004 Anderson, Warren and Thomas J. Mathiesen. “Anacreon.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Editor, Stanley Sadie. 2nd edition. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001. Behr, Shulamith; Fanning, David and Douglas Jarman, ed. Expressionism Reassessed. Manchester University Press: Manchester & New York 1991. Bentley, Eric., ed. The Brecht­Eisler Song Book. Oak Publication: New York, 1967. Betz, Albrecht. Hanns Eisler: Political Musician. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, Great Britain, 1982. Blake, David. Hanns Eisler: A Miscellany. Harwood Academic Publishers: Luxembourg, 1958. Bohlman, Andrea F. & Philip V. Bohlman. “(Un) Covering Hanns Eisler’s Hollywood Songbook.” Danish Yearbook of Musicology. Aarhus University Press: Denmark, 2008. Böker‐Heil, Norbert, et al. “Lied.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Editor, Stanley Sadie. 2nd edition. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001. Budds, Michael J., ed. Jazz & the Germans: Essays on the Influence of “Hot” American Idioms on 20th­Century Music. Pendragon Press: Hillsdale, New York, 2002. Caro, Adrian Del. Hölderlin: The Poetics of Being. Wayne State University Press:
Detroit, Michigan, 1991. Committee on Un‐American Activities. Hearings Regarding Hanns Eisler. United States Government Printing Office: Washington, 1947. 71 Crawford, Dorothy Lamb. A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler’s Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California. Yale University Press: New Haven & London, 2009. Culleton, Claire A. and Karen Leick, ed. Modernism on File: Writers, Artists, and the FBI, 1920­1950. Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2008. Deutschen Akademie Der Künste, ed. Sinn und Form: Hanns Eisler Sonderheft. Rütten & Loenig: Berlin, 1964. Dümling, Albrecht. “Expelled into Paradise – On the Hollywood Songbook of Hanns Eisler.” Matthias Goerne, baritone and Eric Schneider, piano. Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook. Compact Disc. London‐Decca: London, 1998. Notes with sound recording. Dümling, Albrecht. Friedrich Hölderlin‐ vertont von H. Eisler, P. Hindemith, Max Reger. Lied und Lyrik. Munich,1981 Dümling, Albrecht. “Hanns Eisler und Arnold Schönberg. Hanns Eisler der Zeitgenosse: Positionen─Perspektiven, Materialien zu den Eisler­Festen 1994/95. Ed. Günter Mayer. Deutscher Verlag für Musik: Leipzig, 1997. Eisler, Hanns. Hollywooder Liederbuch. Deutscher Verlag für Musik: Leipzig, 2008. Eskanazi, Melanie. “Matthias Goerne in Conversation.” Seen & Heard (A part of Musicweb,) February 2002. <http://www.musicwebinternational.com/SandH/2002/Feb02/Goerne_interview.htm> Fischbach, Franck, ed. Hanns Eisler: Le musician et la politique. Peter Lang SA: New York, 1999. Fischer‐Dieskau, Dietrich, baritone & Reimann, Aribert, piano. Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Song­Book Lieder of the Exile. Compact Disc. Teldec: Berlin, 1987. The Forgotten Village. Director, Herbert Kline & Alexander Hammid. Writer, John Steinbeck. Videocassette. Pan‐ American Films Inc. 1941. Gisela May: Every Song Tells a Story. A Film by Carrie de Swann. Prix Meilleure Vie d’Artiste, Festival International du Film d’Art: Paris, 1998 Goerne, Matthias, baritone & Eric Schneider, piano. Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook. Compact Disc. London‐Decca: London, 1998. Gorbman, Claudia. “Hanns Eisler in Hollywood.” Screen 32.3 (1991): 272‐285. Grabs, Manfred, ed. Hanns Eisler: A Rebel in Music. Kahn & Averill: London, 1999. Grabs, Manfred, ed. Wer war Hanns Eisler? Verlag das europäische Buch: Berlin, 1983. 72 Grabs, Manfred. “Wir, so gut es gelang, haben das Unsre getan.” Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft XV/1‐2: Berlin, 1973. Hamburger, Paul. “Marxist Musicians.” Index on Censorship 12.8 (1983): 27‐30. Hangmen Also Die. Director, Fritz Lang. Producer, Fritz Lang & Arnold Pressburger. Writer, Bertolt Brecht. Videocassette. United Artists, 1943. Hennenberg, Fritz. Zur Dialektik des Schliessens in Liedern von Hanns Eisler. Sammelbände zur Musikgeschichte der DDR, Vol. 2. Berlin, 1971 Hennenberg, Fritz. Hanns Eisler. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig. 1986. Heinemann, Michael & Hinrichsen, Hans‐Jachim, ed. Öffentliche Einsamkeit: Das deutshsprachige Lied und seine Komponisten im frühen 20. Jahrhundert: Verlag Dohr Köln, 2009. Heister, Hans‐Werner. “Hollywood and Home.” Hanns Eisler: A Miscellany. Ed. David Blake. Harwood Academic Publishers: Luxembourg, 1958. Pages 203‐249. Hermlin, Stephan. Hanns Eisler Fragen Sie mehr über Brecht Gespräche mit Hans Bunge. Deutchen Verlags für Music: Leipzig, 1975. Hoff, Nick. Friederich Hölderlin – Odes and Elegies. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 2008. Holzmair, Wolfgang, baritone & Peter Stamm, piano. Hanns Eisler: Das Hollywooder Liederbuch. Compact Disc. Koch Classics 1996. Hufschmidt, Wolfgang. Willst zu meinen Liedern deine Leler drehn?. Verlag GmbH: Dortmund, 1986. Janik, Elizabeth. Recomposing German Music: Politics and Musical Tradition in Cold War Berlin. Brill: Leiden & Boston, 2005. Kater, Michael H. The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich. Oxford University Press: Oxford & New York, 1997. Kaufman, Robert. Reading Shelley’s Interventionist Poetry, 1819‐1820./ Kaufman, "Intervention & Commitment Forever! Shelley in 1819, Shelley in Brecht, Shelley in Adorno, Shelley in Benjamin" Romantic Circles Praxis Series. Series editor: Orrin Wang. <http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/interventionist/kaufman/kaufman.html> Knepler, Georg. Geschichte als Weg zum Musikverstandnis. Reclam Verlag: Leipzig., 1997 Nadar, Thomas Raymond. The Music of Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau in the Dramatic Works of Bertolt Brecht. Xerox University Microfilms: Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1974. 73 Night and Fog. Directed, Alain Resnais. Producer, Anatole Dauman. Writer, Jean Cayrol. Videocassette. Arogs Films, 1955. None But the Lonely Heart. Director, Clifford Odets. Producer, David Hempstead. Writer, Clifford Odets & Richard Llewellyn (novel). Videocassette. RKO Pictures, 1944. Norris, Christopher. Platonism, Music and the Listener’s Share. Continuum International Publishing Group: London & New York, 2006. Parsons, James, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Lied. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 2004. The Reichsorchester: The Berlin Philharmonic and the Third Reich. A Film by Enrique Sánchez Lansch. Arthaus Musik GmbH, 2007 Schebera, Jürgen and Schrader, Bärber. The “ Golden” Twenties: Art and Literature in the Weimar Republic. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 1988. Schebera, Jürgen. Hanns Eisler: Eine Bildbiographie. Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, DDR: Berlin, 1981. Schebera, Jürgen. Hanns Eisler: Eine Biographie in Texten, Bildern und Dokumenten. Schott Musik International: Mainz, 1998. Stamm, Peter. “Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Songbook.” Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone & Peter Stamm, piano. Hanns Eisler: Das Hollywooder Liederbuch. Liner Notes to a Compact Disc. Koch Classics 1996 Troelsgärd, Christian. “Hanns Eisler.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. 2nd ed. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001. Wilkening, Martin. “Lieder of the Exile.” Fischer‐Dieskau, Dietrich, baritone & Reimann, Aribert, piano. Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Song­Book Lieder of the Exile. Compact Disc. Teldec: Berlin, 1987. Notes with sound recording. Willett, John. Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety, 1917­1933. Da Capo Press: New York, 1996. Willet, John and Ralph Mannheim. Bertolt Brecht Journals 1934­1955. Routledge: New York, 1973 Willett, John. The Weimar Years: A Culture Cut Short. Abbeville Press Publishers: New York, 1984. Youens, Susan. “Eduard Mörike.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. 2nd ed. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2001. Ziolkowski, Theodore. The Classical German Elegy 1795­1950. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey, 1980. 74 APPENDIX A ­ List of Works for Solo Voice and Piano [The following list of songs is freely adapted from the List of Works appendix by David Blake, found in Hanns Eisler: Political Musician by Albrecht Betz. The lack of opus numbers, and inclusion/exclusion of punctuation and composition dates is modeled after the original document. Revisions have been made to follow current scholarship when available.] Opus Title Zwei Lieder 1‐Der müde Soldat 2‐Die rote und die weisse Rose ‘Vielleicht dass ich durch schwere Berge gehe’ Tod Poet (Schi‐King) (Li‐Ta‐Pe) (Mikula) Date before 1923 ‘O nimm mir’ Leise an verschlossene Türe Lass alle Spannung der Freude (Rabindranath) (Tagore) Zwei Kinderlieder 1‐ Mädele bind den Geissbock an 2‐ Kindchen, mein Kindchen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) Immer wieder nahst Du, Melancholie Von der Armut und vom Tode (Rilke) 1‐ ‘Du der weis’ und dessen weites Wissen’ 2‐ ‘Betrachte sie und sieh, was ihnen gleiche’ 3‐ ‘Und ihre Hände sind wie die von Frauen’ 4‐ ‘Sie sind so still, fast gleichen sie den Dingen’ 5‐ ‘Und wenn sie schlafen, sind sie wie an alles’ 6‐ ‘Ihr Mund ist wie der Mund’ 7‐ ‘Und ihre Stimme kommt von ferne’ (Male Chorus)‘ 8‐ ‘Und weh’ 9‐ ‘Und sieh, ihr Leib ist wie ein Bräutigam Drei Lieder 1‐ Ausblick 2‐ Trinklied 3‐ Ständchen Nachtgruss (Kramer) (Eichendorff) (Eichendorff) (Nietzsche) (Fischart) (Falke) Totenopfer Unter Feinden 75 Opus Title Galgenlieder von Morgenstern 1‐ Idylle 2‐ Die beiden Flaschen 3‐ Die beiden Trichter 4‐ Philantropisch 6‐ Die Würfel ‘Auf einer grünen Wiese’ Von der Langeweile ‘Eines Morgens im Blumengarten’ Zwei Lieder 1‐ Herbst 2‐ Wenn Du es so haben willst Ich habe die Ladung gehabt Nach dem Traum ‘Jetzt bleib mir nur’ ‘Wenn der Tag vorbei’ ‘Es war im Mai’ ‘Was ist die Traurigkeit’ ‘Nun ist ein Tag zu Ende’ ‘Dunkler Tropfe’ Tanzlied der Rosetta (‘Leonce und Lena’) Zwei Lieder Nenn ich dich Aufgang oder Untergang Im Frühling Poet Date (Morgenstern) (Tagore) (Trakl) (Tagore) (Tagore) (Tagore) (Tagore) (Morgensterne) (Büchner) (Rilke) (Trakl) Im licht des Sakeflusses Zwei Lieder 1‐ Bitte an den Hund 2‐ Rondell (Geisha song‐trans. by Klabund) (Japanese) (Trakl) 1922 (Claudius) (Claudius) (Japanese‐ trans. Bethge) (Klabund) (Klabund) (Klabund) O könntest du meine Augen sehen Op. 2 Sechs Lieder 1‐ ‘So schlafe nun, du Kleine’ 2‐ An den Tod 3‐ Das Alter 4‐ ‘Erhebt euch, Freunde’ 5‐ ‘Der Mond wird oft noch’ 6‐ ‘Ich habe nie vermeint’ Zeitungsausschnitte 1‐ Mariechen 2‐ Kinderlied aus dem Wedding 3‐ Liebeslied eines Kleinbürgermädchens‐Heiratsannonce 4‐ Kriegslied eines Kindes 5‐ Die Sünde 6‐ Mutter und Vater 7‐ Der Tod 8‐ Liebeslied des Grundbesitzers Heiratsannonce 9‐ Aus einer Romanbeilage‐‘Schweyk’‐ (Hašek) 10‐Frühlingsrede an einen Baum im Hinterhaushof Op.11 76 1925‐1926 Opus Title Lustige Ecke 1­ Noblesse Oblige 2‐ ‘Der kleine Kohn’ Poet Op. 12 Pantomime (Bela Balázs) Kumpellied Roter Matrosensong (Grau) Couplet vom Zeitfreiwilligen Zeitungssohn Auch ein Schumacher (Brecht) ‘Was möchtst du nicht’ (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) Wir sind das rote Sprachrohr Mit der IFA marscheirt (Slang) Ein Rotarmistenlied Lenin ist eingeschreint Seargent Waurich Date 1925‐26 1928 Kästner O Fallada, da du hangest‐ Ein Pferd beklagt sich Brecht 1932 Vier Wiegenlieder fur Arbeitsmütter 1‐ ‘Als ich dich in meinem Leib trug’ 2‐ ‘Als ich dich gegar’ 3‐ ‘Ich hab’ dich ausgetragen’ 4‐ ‘Mein Sohn, was immer auch’ Brecht 1932‐33 Op. 33 Und es sind die finstern Zeiten Brecht Kälbermarsch (used in Schweyk) Brecht 1932‐33 Ballade von den Osegger Witwen Brecht 1934 Hammer und Sichel Brecht 1934 Hunter Zwei Songs 1‐ Bucket Song 2‐ Mother Bloor Der Pflaumenbaum Brecht Der Räuber und sein Knecht Brecht 1935 Deutsches Lied 1937 ‘Marie weine nicht’ Brecht 1937 Spanisches Liedchen 1937 Brecht 1937 Das Lied vom 7.Januar‐ Spanien Lied (voice & accordion) Ludwig Renn 1937 Wie könnten wir je vergessen Spanish Song Wir sind der Freiheit Soldaten Stern Deutsches Krieglied Brecht Zwei Elegien Brecht 1 ‘In die Städte kam ich’ 2 An die Überlebenden ‘Ihr, die auftauchen werdet’ 1
1937 77 Opus Title Zwei Lieder nach alten deutschen Texten 1‐ ‘Es geht eine dunkle Wolk’ herein’ 2‐ ‘Ich weiss ein Blümelein blaue’ Poet Old German Der Zweck der Musik Latin Proverb Lied einer deutschen Mutter Brecht Lieder aus Svendborger Gedichte VI Brecht 1939 1‐ Spruch 1939 ‘In den finsteren Zeiten wird da noch gesungen werden’ 2‐ Über die Dauer des Exils a. ‘Schlage keinen Nagel in der Wand’ b. ‘Sieh den Nage in der Wand’ 3‐ Zufluchtsstätte 4‐ Elegie 1939 ‘Wirklich, ich lebe in finsteren Zeiten’ Shakespeare Sonett Nr. 66 Shakespeare Gruss an die Mark Brandenburg Robert Gilbert An den Schlaf Mörike Winterspruch Brecht Lieder aus Steffinische Sammlung Brecht 1942 1‐ Der Sohn ‘Wenn sie nachts lag und dachte’ ‘Mein junger Sohn fragt mich’ 2‐ In den Weiden 3‐ An den kleinen Radio apparat 4‐ Frühling 5‐ Speisekammer 1942 6‐ Auf der Flucht ‘Da ich die Bücher’ 7‐ Über den Selbstmord 8‐ Die Flucht 9‐ Gedenktafel für 4000 Soldaten, die im Krieg gegen Norwegen versenkt wurden 10‐ Epitaph auf einen in der Flandernschlacht Gefallen 11‐ Spruch 12‐ Panzerschlacht 13‐ Ostersonntag 14‐ Der Kirschdieb 15‐ Hotelzimmer 1942 Fünf Elegien (Hollywood‐Elegien) 1‐ ‘Unter den grünen Pfferbäumen’ 2‐ ‘Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt’ 3‐ ‘Jeden Morgen mein Brot zu verdienen’ 4‐ ‘Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt’ 5‐ ‘In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden’ Date 1939 1942 Brecht 1942 Die letzte Elegie ‘ Über die vier Städte kreisen’ Brecht 1942 Die Maske des Bösen Brecht 1942 Zwei Lieder 1‐ Despite these miseries Blaise Pascal 2‐ The Only Thing Winterspruch Brecht 1942 L’automne californien (Kalifornischer Herbst) Viertel 1943
1
78 Opus Title Poet Date Fünf Anakreontische Fragmente Mörike 1943 1‐ Geselligkeit betreffend 2‐ ‘Dir auch wurde Sehnsucht nach der Heimat tödliche’ 3‐ Die Unwürde des Alterns 4‐ Später Triumph 5‐ In der Frühe Erinnerung an Eichendorff und Schumann Eichendorff 1943 Hölderlin­Fragmente Hölderlin 1943 1‐ An die Hoffnung 2‐ Andenken 3‐ Elegie 1943 4‐ Die Heimat 5‐ An eine Stadt 6‐ Erinnerung Der Mensch The Bible 1943 Vom Sprengen des Gartens Brecht 1943 Die Heimkehr Brecht 1943 Die Landschaft des Exils Brecht 1943 ‘Und ich werde nicht mehr sehen’ Brecht ‘In Sturmesnacht, in dunkler Nacht’ Brecht Rimbaud Gedicht Rimbaud Der Schatzgräber Goethe 1944‐45 Die Mutter ‘Wenn sie nachts lag’ Brecht Das Deutsche Miserere (used in Schweyk) Brecht Lobe des Weines Brecht Ardens sed virens Printemps allemand Karl Kraus Die Butteräuber von Halberstadt adapted by Brecht Eisenbahn Nightmare Eisler 1947 Hollywood‐Elegie Nr. 7 Brecht 1947 Neue Deutsche Volkslieder Becher 1950 1‐ Die alten Weisen 2‐ Volkes eigen 3‐ Die Welt verändern wir 4‐ Wenn Arbeiter und Bauern 5‐ Im Frühling 6‐ Lied von der blauen Fahne 7‐ Heimatslied 8‐ Das ferne Lied 9‐ Strasse frei! 10‐ Hymne auf die UdSSR 11‐ Lenin ‘Er rührte and den Schlaf der Welt’ 12‐Deutschland 13‐ Gesang vom Lernen 14‐ Das Wunderland 15‐ Zeit zum Wandern 16‐ Wir reichen euch die Hand 17‐ Weihnachtslied 1950 18‐ Kinderlied zu Weihnachten 79 Opus Title Du Sohn der Arbeiterschaft Poet Becher Date From Dr. Faustus 1‐ Der Mensch 2‐ Faustus Verzweiflung Eisler 1952 Lied fur Bukarest Hermlin 1953 Genesung Becher 1954 Von der Freundlichkeit der Welt Brecht 1954 Die haltbare Graugans Brecht 1955 Chanson Allemande Viertel 1955 Die Götter Xenophanes 1955 Im Blumengarten Brecht 1955 L’automne prussien (Die Buckow‐Kantate) Eisler 1955 Wie der Wind weht Brecht 1955 Wiener Lied Brecht 1955 Und endlich Peter Altenberg 1955 Horatios Monolog Shakespeare 1956 Von Wolkenstreifen leicht befangen Goethe 1956 Verfehlte Liebe Heine 1956 Legende von der Entstehung des Buches Taoteking Brecht 1956 Des Friedens Soldaten Herzfelde 1956 Weihnachtslied 1918 Tucholsky Ohne Kapitalisten geht es besser Kuba 1957 Zwei Chanson 1‐ Lied vom guten Kern 2‐ Über die Elbe Erich Brehm 1957 Ballade vom Kreuzzug Kuba 1957 Steht auf! Hermlin 1958 Rezitativ und Fue zum 60.Geburtstag von J. R. Becher Becher 1958 Um meine Weisheit unbekümmert Hölderlin 1959 Motto‐ Auf einen chinesischen Theewurzellöwen Brecht 1959 Die Wasser fuhren zu Tale Kinderlied Hermlin 1961 Bleib gesund mir, Krakau Gebirtig 1961 Lieder nach Texten von Kurt Tucholsky 1‐ Feldfruchter 2‐ In Weissensee 3‐ ‘Wenn die Igel in der Abenstunde’ 4‐ EinkäufeImmer raus mit der Mutter . . . ! 5‐ Olle Kameelen 6‐ ‘Der schlimmste Feind’ 7‐ Sehnsucht nach der Sehnsucht Tucholsky 80 1959‐61 Opus Title Lieder nach Texten von Kurt Tucholsky (continued) 8‐ Das Lied vom Kompromiss 9‐ Die freie Wirtschaft 10‐ Rückkehr zur Natur 11‐ Nach der Schlacht 12‐ Rosen auf den Weg gestreut 13‐ Revolutions‐Rückblick 14‐ Die UnentwegtenSommerlied 15‐ Marburger Studentlied 16 Die weinenden Hohenzollern 17‐ Mutterns Hände 18‐ Heute zwischen gestern und morgen 19‐ Der Priem 20‐ Merkt ihr nischt? 21‐ Ruhe und Ordnung 22‐ Vor acht Jahren 23‐ Die Mäule auf 24‐ Das alte Vertiko 25‐ Frohe Erwartung 26‐ Einingkeit und Recht und Freiheit 27‐ Der Smokingmann 28‐ Ideal und Wirklichkeit 29‐ Zuckerbrot und Peitsche 30‐ Couplet für die Bier‐Abteliung 31‐ Gebet für die Gefangenen 32‐ Deutsches Lied 33‐ Weihnachten 34‐ Sozialdemokratischer Parteitag 35‐ Der Graben 36‐ An den deutschen Mond Die Nachfolgerin 81 Poet Tucholsky Date 1959‐61 APPENDIX B ­ Discography of Vocal Music of Hanns Eisler [The following appendix is hardly exhaustive, but contains information regarding recordings currently available, as well as those that are currently out‐of print, but where copies may be found new and used in listings by independent sellers.] Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook: Matthias Goerne, baritone; Eric Schneider, piano; London Decca. Amazon.com: From London's Entartete Musik (Degenerate Music) series of composers suppressed in Nazi Germany, Goerne's Grammy‐nominated performance is a masterful interpretation of Hanns Eisler's concert lieder set to poetry by Bertolt Brecht, Goethe, and others. These songs confirm Eisler's reputation as perhaps the greatest 20th‐
century composer in the German lieder tradition. Matthias Goerne's incomparably velvety, variable, expressive voice and riveting inward concentration give the tragedy of the uprooted exile's loneliness a shattering emotional impact, and pianist Eric Schneider is superb‐ Edith Eisler . Hanns Eisler: Hollywooder Liederbuch Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone; Peter Stamm, piano; Koch Schwann 313222. Eislermusic.com: Along with Goerne's, one of the two outstanding interpretations of Eisler's "Hollywood Songbook" released for the composer's centenary in 1998. Only used copies appear to be available through Amazon.com, and the Amazon sites in the UK and Germany have dropped the recording completely. Hollywood Song­Book: Lieder of the Exile­ Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau, baritone; Aribert Reimann, piano; Teldec 4509‐97459‐2. Teldec (now a subsidiary of Warner) has discontinued the original release of Eisler's "Hollywooder Liederbuch" by Fischer‐Dieskau, though used copies are available at premium prices. It has been re‐released by Apex/Warner Classics, ASIN: B00005OBR4, under the title Eiser: Lieder. Hanns Eisler: Lieder Michaela Kaune, soprano; Dietrich Henschel, bariton; Axel Bauni, piano Orfeo 479.981. Eislermusic.com: This is a recent recording that explores Eisler's early atonal and twelve‐tone vocal repertory, as well as the wartime lieder composed during his exile in southern California. Included are Eisler’s very early Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs) written directly after World War I, before he studied under Schönberg, plus the transitional Zeitungsauschnitte (Newspaper Clippings), Lustige Ecke, and the six Hölderlin Fragments. Hölderlin Gesänge/Hölderlin Songs Mitsuko Shirai, mezzosoprano; Hartmut Höll, piano; Capriccio 10 534. This recent recording focuses on songs set to Hölderlin poetry by Eisler, Britten, Ullman, Komma, Reutter, Fröhlich, Cornelius, Jarnach, Hauer, Pfitzner and Fortner. This is an excellent album showing how the 19th‐century Hölderlin inspired some of the great 20th‐century composers. 82 Irmgard Arnold sings Eisler: Irmgard Arnold, soprano; Andre Asriel and Volker Rohde, piano. Berlin Classics 0093372BC. Opera singer Irmgard Arnold, born in Munich in 1919, was discovered by Eisler as ideal interpreter for his music in 1951, after he heard her in a production of La Vie Parisienne. This was the beginning of collaboration that would extend until Eisler’s death. Hanns Eisler: Lieder und Kantaten im Exil: Berlin Classics 0092292BC. A two‐disc set of Songs and Cantatas featuring soprano, Roswitha Trexler, and Jutta Czapski, piano. Hanns Eisler: Dokumente Berlin Classics 0090582BC. A 4‐disc set dating from the ‘50’s that presents a portrait of Hanns Eisler in words and music, featuring Gisela May, Irmgard Arnold, Hans Bunge, Andre Asriel, Nathan Notowicz and Gunther Leib. Der Brecht und Ich: Hanns Eisler in Gesprächern und Liedern. Berlin Classics 0017962 BC.
On this album, the composer Hanns Eisler reports in 25 short episodes about his cooperation with Brecht. Artist like Ernst Busch, Gisela May, Ekkehard Schall, Sonja Kehler and Eisler himself are interpreting songs of Brecht and Eisler. Eislermaterial Heiner Goebbels, Ensemble Modern; ECM Records 1779. Eislermusic.com: Versatile German composer Heiner Goebbels conceived this tribute to Eisler, combining some of his most famous chamber music and songs with jazz‐inspired improvisations and audio collages. The songs, mostly to texts by Brecht, are expressively interpreted by actor Josef Bierbichler. The recording is based on a "staged performance" that has introduced a new generation of music lovers to Eisler's music. Unquiet Peace: The Lied Between the Wars Cyndia Sieden, William Sharp, Steven Blier Koch 3‐7086‐2 H1. Eislermusic.com: This is an unusual collection of music by composers of many different styles who composed lieder before, during and after the Weimar era: Eisler, Weill, Strauss, Zemlinksy, and others. Juxtaposed are the late‐Romantic and pro‐Nazi Strauss on the same album with the anti‐Romantic and anti‐Nazi Eisler, providing an interesting choice. Brecht­Songs: Gisela May ­ Berlin Classics BC 2165­2. Beginning with her first performances for the Berliner Ensemble in postwar East Berlin, Gisela May became one of the best‐known interpreters of the theater music written for Brecht by Eisler, Weill and Dessau. Eisler "discovered" her at a performance at the Berlin Ensemble in 1957, the year of Brecht's death, and guided her through the first five years of her singing career. This CD includes Song of the Invigorating Effects of Money; O Falladah, There You Are Hanging!; Song of the Moldau; Song of the Little Wind; And What Did the Soldier's Wife Get?; Ballad of the Woman and the Soldiers; Song of the German Mother Don’t Be Afraid­ Eastside Sinfonietta; Catasonic Records B00009ZYBA. Amazon.com: You ought to be able to smell and feel it, not just hear and see it. Otherwise you haven't stuck your nose far enough into the world of Bertolt Brecht, Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill and their circle of musical/dramatic accomplices. The musicians of the Eastside Sinfonietta help you do that by breathing and jostling the music. Recognizing a natural Brechtian in singer Weba Garretson, the organizers of the Brecht Centennial asked her to participate, and she digs into her own post‐punk, street‐art back yard roots. Listening to this album, you will perhaps feel that the music of Weimar Germany can seem very modern, and enduringly truthful. 83 Songs of Hanns Eisler Eric Bentley, Folkways Records: ASIN B00242VSCG. Amazon.com: Eric Bentley was the first American artist to reintroduce Eisler to the U.S. public after the composer's forced departure in 1948. In 1964 he recorded this disk of Eisler's songs and published the "Brecht‐Eisler Songbook." Supply and Demand: Songs by Brecht/Weill and Eisler Dagmar Krause Blueprint BOS1. Eislermusic.com: Dagmar Krause's unusual interpretations of Weill/Eisler provide a good opportunity to compare the contrastings styles of the two most important composers for Brecht. Included are selections in German and in English translation. This item has been discontinued by the manufacturer, though used copies are still available on Amazon. Tank Battles Dagmar Krause Blueprint BP 138. Eislermusic.com: In Krause's second album of political songs, she concentrates solely on Eisler's Weimar and exile periods. This collection includes a rare recording of Und Endlich Stirbt ("And desire finally dies") based on a poem by Peter Altenburg. Though discontinued by the manufacturer, used copies are available at a premium price. Bertolt Brecht by Sylvia Anders Sylvia Anders, soprano; Justus Noll and Jazz Friends Myto 982.H016. Eislermusic.com: Sylvia Anders interprets Brecht songs with music by Brecht, Eisler, Weill, Dessau. This recording includes Eisler's Das Deutsche Miserere, Song of a German Mother, Abortion is Illegal—although sarcastic renditions of Solidaritätslied and Einheitsfrontlied might be considered by some listeners as distractions from an otherwise excellent performance. Sylvia Anders Sings Hanns Eisler Sylvia Anders, soprano; Justus Noll and Jazz Friends; Myto 982.H016. Eislermusic.com: Sylvia Anders interprets the Brecht/Eisler repertory, including the several of the same songs recorded in her Bertolt Brecht album, but also including a generous selection from the Hollywood Songbook. There’s Nothing Quite Like Money: Sylvia Anders, Soprano; The Stephen Roane Quartet; D. Justus Noll, piano. Labor Records‐ B00005LKA5. Amazon.com: The seventeen individual songs on this album classify as agitprop; they are political, anti‐Nazi, proworker, pacifist, but their stirring sentiments and clear‐eyed melodic and rhythmic appeal make them art songs as well. Best are "The German Miserere," "There's Nothing Quite Like Money" (with its biting refrain, "Money is our aphrodisiac"), "Song of a German Mother," "Easter Sunday," and the rousing "Solidarity Song," which was written in the Thirties and still has resonance today. Also included are the Seven Hollywood Elegies, bitter, nasty miniatures about the corrupt "paradise" of southern California. German cabaret artist Sylvia Anders has a classically trained voice, which she uses like a surgeon's scalpel to dissect Brecht's lyrics. ‐‐
Stephany von Buchau, High Notes. Labor Records is pleased to announce the re‐release of an album of songs by Hanns Eisler & Bertolt Brecht, "There's Nothing Quite Like Money." Sung in English by Sylvia Anders, a German actress and musical comedy star, the recording documents one of the most brilliant (and overlooked) musical and personal collaborations of the twentieth century: that of EISLER & BRECHT. Goethe Lieder Christiane Oelz, soprano; Eric Schneider, piano; Berlin Classics. This is a collection of Goethe songs by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Webern, Eisler, and Zemlinsky. 84 Urban Cabaret Maria Tegzes, soprano; Geoffrey Burleson, piano Neuma 450‐83. Rare recording of Schönberg's tonal Brettl‐Lieder (composed early in the century, before he invented the twelve‐tone method, for performance in the legendary Berlin cabaret Überbrettl, Overboard). Eisler/Brecht selections include a meditative interpretation of "Change the World: It Needs It." Also contains a recent composition by Edward Harsh on the uses of language. [The following begins a list of recordings by the legendary singer and Eisler/Brecht collaborator Ernst Busch. Many of these recordings are out of print, but may be found in independent marketplaces. Amazon.com now features an “Ernst Busch Store” which lists over 21 of his recordings. Interested parties may follow the url to the amazon site: <amazon.com/ErnstBusch/e/B000APISN6/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1275320455&sr=1‐2‐ent> Hanns Eisler: Historic Recordings Ernst Busch, Kate Kühl, Chor und Orchester des Berliner Ensembles, etc.; Berlin Classics 0092302BC. Amazon.com; A collection of recordings of Brecht/Eisler political songs from the Weimar years, sung by Ernst Busch, along with an early 50s recording by the Berliner Ensemble of the songs from Brecht's Die Mutter. Merkt Ihr Nischt: Busch singt Tucholsky/Eisler Ernst Busch‐ BarbaRossa Eislermusic.com: In the late 1950s, Ernst Busch asked Eisler to write new music for several poems by Kurt Tucholsky—the Weimar‐era journalist and satirist who, with Carl von Ossietzky, edited the muckraking journal Die Weltbühne. Following the Nazi seizure of power, von Ossietzky was arrested but Tucholsky escaped to Sweden, where he fell into despair and committed suicide. Ossietzky died of tuberculosis as a result of mistreatment. Tucholsky's poems are trenchant commentaries on the Weimar political system and the rise of fascism in the late 1920s and early 30s.
Bertolt Brecht Vol. 17 (Songs, Lieder und Gedichte) Ernst Busch . Eislermusic.com: This CD offers probably the best available recording of the Brecht/Eisler Solidaritätslied (Solidarity Song.) This recording was made by Ernst Busch in the late 1960s, when his voice was still strong and modern recording techniques show off Eisler's jazz‐band orchestration of this militant hit from the Roaring Twenties. Ernst Busch I: Lieder der Arbeiterklasse Ernst Busch; Pläne 88642. Eislermusic.com: Ernst Busch was, along with Helene Weigel, one of the best‐known singer/actors who popularized Brecht's political plays in the early 30s. His powerful, "metallic" voice was a perfect instrument for outdoor rallies and large performance halls in a time when amplification was generally unavailable. Busch spent the last years of the war in a Nazi prison and, following his release, resumed his singing and acting career in East Germany. The songs on this CD are a fair representation of his repertory, including two of Eisler's most striking Kampflieder from the final crisis years of the Weimar Republic: The Secret Deployment and Der rote Wedding—both are agitprop choruses written to extremely
aggressive texts by the Communist poet Erich Weinert Ernst Busch II: Tucholsky, Eisler, Wedekind Ernst Busch; Pläne 88770. Eislermusic.com: This includes additional songs from Eisler's Tucholsky Lieder: Revolutions Rückblick, Ja Damals, Rosen auf den Weg gestreut, and others. 85 Der rote Orpheus Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01328‐2. Eislermusic.com: Original recordings from the 1930s of Busch singing Brecht/Eisler and other popular working‐class songs. Recorded in Berlin before Hitler's rise to power, and in the Soviet Union after Busch's flight from Germany. Der Barrikaden Tauber Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01303‐2. Eislermusic.com: More recordings with Busch singing Eisler and other popular songs in the last years of the Weimar Republic and the early years of exile. Wie könnten wir je vergessen Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01384‐2. Vol. I of Barbarossa's reissue of the classic "Lied der Zeit" series of East German recordings from 1946 to 1953 of Busch singing a broad repertory of revolutionary songs, including classics of the Spanish Civil War and new songs reflecting the tensions of the Cold War. Composers include Kurt Weill, Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Dessau, Louis Fürnberg. Eisler is represented on each of these recordings. On this CD: Solidaritätslied, Einheitfrontslied, Brüder seid bereit (music for the 1929 Kominternlied with new lyrics), Lied der Bergarbeiter, Lob eines Revolutionärs. Fort mit den Trümmern Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01385‐2. Eislermusic.com: Vol. II of Lied der Zeit. Eisler selections include Wir Reichen euch die Hand; Ami, go home; Wenn die Soldaten; Den daran, Marlene; In allen Sprachen; Unserm Wilhelm Pieck. Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01386‐2. Eislermusic.com: Vol. III of Lied der Zeit. Eisler selections include Gruß an die Mark Brandenburg, Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe. Du mußt die Führung Übernehmen Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01387‐2. Eislermusic.com: Vol. IV of Lied der Zeit. Eisler selections include nine songs from the Brecht/Eisler play Die Mutter and six of Eisler's post‐war Neue Deutsche Volkslieder with texts by Johannes Becher. Eure Träume gehen durch mein Lied Ernst Busch Barbarossa EdBa 01388‐2. Eislermusic.com: Vol. V of Lied der Zeit. Eisler selections include Kessel‐Song; Über das Seefahren; Ballade von den Säckeschmeißern; Ballade vom Soldaten; Ballade von der Wöhltätigkeit; Dank Euch, ihr Sowjetsoldaten; Marie, weine nicht; Im Sturmes Nacht; Die alten Weisen; Spartakus 1919; Mein Sohn, was immer auch aus dir werde; Deutsche Weihnacht. 86