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Von ewiger Liebe Op. 43 No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. Medium Voice and Piano. German. Advanced. MCL530b

Von ewiger Liebe is certainly one of the most beautiful songs of Brahms and also one of the most demanding. This bold, emotionally charged composition is initially suitable for mezzo-soprano voices with velvety timbre and runs for about five minutes. The work is written in three contrasting parts. The first, in B minor 'Mässig' (Moderate) sets the context and exposes the story of a young man and his beloved strolling: "Dark, as it is dark beyond the forest and fields. .. "Leaving the village, the young man goes home with her whom he loves ...". In the second part, on the same movement but this time accompanied by a surge of arpeggios on the piano, the young man expresses himself sharply in these words: "If you are humiliated and that it grieves you, If others humiliate me because of me, then love between us break so promptly ... ". The third part is contrasted in B major on a 'Ziemlich langsam' (rather slow). In the latter, the girl replies that their love can not break because it is as solid as iron and steel. She insists then concludes on a strong end, claiming that their love must last forever. The composer illustrates here in music one of the most intense demonstrations of the unshakable strength of love.

The text was mistakenly attributed to the Bohemian poet Josef Wenzig by Brahms himself and published under this name in the first edition. The current assumption is that Brahms would surely have found this text published anonymously in Oskar Wolff's collection 'Hausschatz der Volkspoesie' (1850) in which appear four other poems by Wenzig. "Dunkel, wie Dunkel" is actually a translation by Hoffmann von Fallersleben of a Serbian poem of the author is unknown. It was first published in 1837 (Wendische Lieder aus der Oberlausitz). This publication has been carefully prepared from the original edition published by Rieter-Biedermann in 1868.