Heine-Lieder : Morgens steh ich auf und frage [1st version] / Liszt

Composer: Liszt, Franz
Dates: 1811-1886
Song title: Morgens steh ich auf und frage [1^st version]
Opus, no., etc.: Nr. 4
Music collection title: Sechs Lieder
Imprint(s): Köln: Eck, 1844
Source(s) for score: Einstimmige Lieder und Gesänge, Bd. 1 -- Farnborough, Hans., England: Gregg Press, 1966 (Franz Liszts Musikalische Werke ; VII. 1) (reprint of 1917 ed., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel)
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: First version of two, composed 1843
Nationality of composer: Hungarian
Language(s) of text: German
Tempo marking: Allegretto con grazia
Key: A major
Time signature: 3/4
No. of measures: 40
Approximate duration: 2 min., 30 sec.
Form: Through-composed
Vocal range: c-sharp to g-sharp'; score indicates for tenor
Vocal tessitura: overall slightly high, but very variable (see Vocal comments below) (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: very variable
Vocal intervals: starts out mostly stepwise and in eighth-notes, gradually expands intervals using everything up to diminished 7th
Vocal comments: The first section stays mostly in mid-range, with nothing above an e'. Then the song gradually uses more of the lower range before the final vocal phrase pushes the extremes, first rising to the highest note (g-sharp'), holding it for more than a measure, then descending to the lowest note (c-sharp) before a chromatic cadential figure, which includes skips of a fourth and sixth, ends on the tonic.
Textual variants, etc.: "Der Erbgroßherzogin Sophie von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach gewidmet"
Instrumental part(s): Piano part somewhat difficult, some wide stretches, many accidentals and thick chords moving in eighth notes. Probably most difficult aspect will be coordination with singer.
Summary: Because of its Wolfian tendency to make the most of every word, resulting in many sudden modulations and "pregnant pauses," this is a somewhat rhapsodic, overwrought song, which would be difficult to make into an effective whole for performance. Some might say the setting actually does violence to the poem, with the extensive text repetitions and even word order changes. It does seem to outweigh its text, a perception probably held by Liszt, whose second version, which, though similar thematically, is more subdued and less "extreme." (Go to analysis)