Frauenliebe und Leben - part 8

Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan is the last song of Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben. For those who have been listening along with rapt attention, thank you and bravo! For those who haven't, there may be hope for you yet.

Is it morbid that this is quite possibly my favorite song of the cycle? Maybe. I do savor the raw pain of the piece, but I think what really gets me is the piano's conclusion at the end - a quote of Seit ich ihn gesehen that makes this work TRULY a cycle. Like life. I love music.

Frauenliebe und Leben - part 7

An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust captures the blinding giddiness, tongue-tied breathlessness and well-meant presumptuousness of early motherhood with startling accuracy. So this is what we sound like! Schumann sets this text as honestly as a man is able, which is all we can really ask.

Frauenliebe und Leben - parts 5 and 6

I dislike almost everything about this next song, Helft mir ihr Schwestern. If the rest of the cycle weren't so beautiful, I wouldn't bother. In fact, I might just cut this one if and when I perform the set. I don't know if it's me being . . . a tomboy? A feminist? Proud? All I know is that I puke a little in my mouth when I sing it - and that's so not good for my voice. Let my bow to my master and Lord? My eyes are rolling out of their sockets.

This next piece, however, is one of the sweetest, most poignant and vulnerable songs in the cycle, and it's hard to sing without weeping - also not good for the voice. Sigh. The occupational hazards of being emotionally involved to your work. Süsser Freund, or "Sweet Friend," captures the sweet and sudden shyness that penetrates an intimate relationship when change, both magnificent and scary, is on the horizon. This beautiful confession is my second favorite of the cycle.

Frauenliebe und Leben - part 4

One of my favorite songs from this cycle, Du Ring an meinem Finger is sweetly simple and unadorned. I've always wanted to sing this at a wedding, but most people prefer "My Heart Will Go On" or "From this Moment On." (I just threw up in my mouth a little.) Also, Barbara Bonney's voice is so floaty and lovely that I can't help but sigh when I hear her. Most sopranos spend a lifetime striving for this kind of gentle ease, which you'll also hear in the 6th song, Süsser Freund.

Frauenliebe und Leben - part 3

Ich kanns nicht fassen, nicht glauben is text heavy (meaning a lot of words for a short amount of music), as I think we all are when first falling in love. It makes the piece a bear to memorize, but the translation helps. I struggle with the music in this one. Maybe I'm not "getting" it, because it doesn't seem to match the text. It sounds too frantic . . . too stressed and afraid. Or maybe the music does match the text, but not the subtext that I have in my mind when singing it, which is "I can't believe he loves me, but I'm happy that he does."

Frauenliebe und Leben - part 2

Er, der Herrlichste von allen has not always been my favorite song of the cycle (there's one I dislike a little more than this one, coming later). When you read the lyrics you'll see why. My initial heated and feminist reaction was "man, this poet was full of himself. 'He, the most glorious of all?' 'Noble star and glory?' My character is singing to a god, not a man."

And why shouldn't she? Men are always singing the praises of women, goddesses divine that they are. Why is it sexist for a woman to reciprocate? I still roll my eyes a little whenever I sing this song, and that shames me because I know I wouldn't if it were being sung about me. There's nothing shameful in voicing one's affection. I usually find myself weeping by the end of the blissful, bitter romance that is Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin, and I'd like to think I can elicit the same emotions in my performance of Frauenliebe und Leben. I have to bridle my pride, and I'm ok with that. In fact, I adore it. It's ever so thrilling to be changed by the music, rather than demand it be changed.

Frauenliebe und Leben - part 1

Frauenliebe und Leben or "A Woman's Love and Life" by Robert Schumann is my latest summer project. This song cycle is dear to my heart, and I've been too scared to learn it because of its lower range. Fears be damned though, I'm learning it now. I have a woman's life and love to sing for now - maybe that'll compensate for not having a woman's voice.

What I love most about this song cycle is that the poetry is written from a woman's perspective. Most German lieder is written in a man's voice, even though it is transposed for women as well. It gets tedious trying to empathize with my character when I'm singing about the sorrows of my lovely maiden losing her virginity to a tricky fisherman. Though the text of Frauenliebe und Leben was written by a man, Adelbert von Chamisso, he does at least write about something a woman can relate to - falling in love, wedding day jitters, the sudden shyness that creeps in when telling your husband you're pregnant, motherhood, loss . . . it's just a beautiful, bittersweet story, and I've been wanting to tell it for a long, long time.

I'm going to try and post a song from the cycle every week or so, depending on the kind of software my parents have on their computer. This is the first song, Seit ich ihn gesehen, or "Since I saw him," sung by the lovely Barbara Bonney. I'll probably be talking about the cycle a lot in passing, so I wanted you to have a point of reference. I hope you enjoy the simple sweetness and humble honesty that is Robert Schumann.