Heine-Lieder : Berg und Burgen = Hill and castle / Silvestri

Composer: Silvestri, Constantin
Dates: 1913-1969
Song title: Berg und Burgen = Hill and castle
Opus, no., etc.: op.1, Nr.7
Music collection title: Cycle of eight songs to poems by Heinrich Heine, for high voice and piano
Imprint(s): New York: G. Schirmer, c1944
Source(s) for score: Cleveland Public Library (OCLC #22339090); also held by Library of Congress and British Library
1st line of poem: Berg' und Burgen schaun herunter (Go to text and translation)
Source of poem: Buch der Lieder: Junge Leiden: Lieder, Nr.7
Date of composition: -
Nationality of composer: -
Language(s) of text: German, English (English version by Charles G. Leland (revised)
Tempo marking: Molto rubato (half note = 72-100)
Key: E major
Time signature: Cut time
No. of measures: 66
Approximate duration: 2 min., 15 sec.
Form: Modified strophic
Vocal range: f-sharp to g-sharp' [f-sharp' to g-sharp"]
Vocal tessitura: medium (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: Almost entirely quarter notes
Vocal intervals: First two strophes mostly move by skips of third to sixth; last two strophes have more stepwise motion
Vocal comments: Other than a few initially tricky intervals and accidentals, this is a very simple and easily mastered song. The greatest technical challenge is to execute the higher notes (all approached by skip, usually of a fifth or sixth) within the context of the line and without "punching."
Textual variants, etc.: Third stanza, 4th line "Todes Nacht" instead of "Tod und Nacht"
Instrumental part(s): marked dolce e leggero;a rather thick texture (4-6 voices) at a rather brisk tempo; lots of wide skips in nearly continuous legato quarter-note motion over a slow-moving bass line, evocative of gentle waves on a river; may be difficult to keep as transparent as it should be; some hand crossing in third stanza
Summary: A very pleasant, unassuming mid-20th-century setting in a basically conservative tonal language, but with lots of added sixths, sevenths, ninths, etc., vaguely reminiscent of Broadway show tune accompaniments of the 1940s. Interest is sustained through the four stanzas by slight but continuous variation of the initial harmonic and melodic ideas. In the third stanza, where the poem turns to a darker mood, the music remains outwardly calm, as does the metaphorical river. Only a shift to the dominant and a somewhat more constrained vocal line over pedal B's hint subtly at the "depth of death and night" while piquant chromatic appoggiaturas and repeated left hand crossings to an often dissonant b' or c" may suggest both the river's shimmering surface and twinges of the poet's anguish. In the fourth stanza Silvestri cleverly unifies the song and reflects the poem's duality by keeping the vocal outline and chromaticism of the third stanza while returning to the more idyllic piano part and harmonies of the first and second stanzas. This could be an effective song if the few technical challenges are met and the subtle mood shifts in music and text are given sufficient attention.