Heine-Lieder : Dawn and evening / Bridge

Composer: Bridge, Frank
Dates: 1879-1941
Song title: Dawn and evening
Opus, no., etc.: Nr.1
Music collection title: Four Lyrics
Imprint(s): London: Boosey & Co., 1916
Source(s) for score: Songs with piano accompaniment / Frank Bridge -- London : Boosey & Hawkes, 1979; also: "The Vocalist" Nr.43 (The Vocalist Series, No.130) - London: The Vocalist Co., 1905
Note: Originally composed in Aug. 1903 to a different translation of the same poem as "Rising when the dawn still faint is" (tr. Francis Hueffer); revised Apr. 1905 with new translation by "C.A." as "Dawn and Evening" for publication in the Oct. 1905 issue of The Vocalist; issued again in 1916 as no. 2 of Four Lyrics, with optional orchestral accompaniment
1st line of poem: Morgens steh' ich auf und frage (Go to text and translation)
Source of poem: Buch der Lieder: Junge Leiden: Lieder, Nr.1
Date of composition: 1903
Nationality of composer: English
Language(s) of text: English; "Words by C.A. after Heine"
Tempo marking: Andante moderato
Key: G minor
Time signature: common time
No. of measures: 36
Approximate duration: 1 min. 55 sec.
Form: Strophic, with 2 strophes, corresponding to poem
Vocal range: f-sharp to f-sharp' [f-sharp' to f-sharp"]
Vocal tessitura: slightly high: the highest note (f-sharp') ties with the tonic as the third most used (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: mostly quarter and half notes, both occasionally dotted
Vocal intervals: mostly skips of a third to a sixth
Vocal comments: Not very demanding. Staying in tune with wide skips and little help from piano part may be a problem for some. Most challenging will probably be messa di voce at end of second phrase and pianissimo at beginning of third phrase, both on high f-sharps. Change in dynamics to forte makes these easier in second strophe. Male singer (tenor) more appropriate to text. (Hyperion recording of Bridge's complete songs has baritone singing a full step lower, but I can find no such printed edition)
Textual variants, etc.: -
Instrumental part(s): Piano part relatively simple; moves entirely in 8th-note triplet arpeggios, rising and falling through 3 octaves in each measure. Marked "con Ped. sempre." Probable typo in first piano note of measure 10, should be B-natural, not B-sharp.
Summary: Overall impression of misty foreboding rising to momentary anguish, then falling back into the mists; appropriate to text, but far different from most other settings. Not among Bridge's very best songs, but could be effective in a group with others of his several Heine settings. Impressionistic harmonic vocabulary. (Go to analysis)