Lieb Liebchen / Bersa

Composer: Bersa, Blagoje
Dates: 1873-1934
Song title: Lieb Liebchen
Opus, no., etc.: op.66
Music collection title: -
Imprint(s): -
Source(s) for score: facsimile of manuscript in: Vokalne skladbe -- Zagreb: Drustvo hrvatskih skladatelja, 1973 (Izabrana djela : studijsko izdange ; 1) (OCLC #5235097, #5865628 (Izabrana djela)); not listed in Metzner
1st line of poem: Lieb Liebchen, leg's Händchen aufs Herze (Go to text and translation)
Source of poem: Buch der Lieder: Junge Leiden: Lieder, Nr.4
Date of composition: -
Nationality of composer: Croatian
Language(s) of text: German
Tempo marking: Andante
Key: B minor
Time signature: 6/8, 3/8
No. of measures: 24
Approximate duration: 1 min. 15 sec.
Form: Modified strophic (AA')
Vocal range: c to g' [c' to g"]; appropriate for tenor or soprano with solid low c
Vocal tessitura: quite wide-ranging throughout, leaning toward upper middle tessitura (b' to d') (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: mostly in dotted-eighth-, sixteenth-, eighth-note or quarter-, eighth-note patterns, with a couple of quicker patterns at the end
Vocal intervals: mostly by step and skips of a third or fourth
Vocal comments: keeping support engaged through wide-ranging phrases is most challenging technical aspect: most begin in the middle register, descend to the low and then end in the high register
Textual variants, etc.: -
Instrumental part(s): medium difficulty; usually five- to seven-voice texture; top notes of right hand often doubles voice; left hand often has pedal points or repeating simple chordal patterns
Summary: A pleasing and effective, almost waltz-like setting with appropriate and subtle text-painting. The ubiquitous accented dotted rhythm (undoubtedly the "carpenter/heart") is kept from monotony by tempo changes, ritardandos and fermatas, as well as the occasional break into slightly different patterns. Among the other settings reviewed, several make use of this rhythmic pattern, but only Alwin's "hammers" away at it as obsessively. Late 19th-century harmonic language; extensive use of various chromatically altered sixth chords, often with added sevenths and ninths. (Go to analysis)