Heine-Lieder : Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen / Bókay

Composer: Bókay, János
Dates: 1858-
Song title: "Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen ..."
Opus, no., etc.: Nr.5
Music collection title: Heine-dalok
Imprint(s): Budapest : Az Athenaeum r.-t. kottanyomása, 1925
Source(s) for score: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NUC #NB0607005) microfilmed
1st line of poem: Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen (Go to text and translation)
Source of poem: Buch der Lieder: Junge Leiden: Lieder, Nr.8
Date of composition: 1903
Nationality of composer: Hungarian
Language(s) of text: German
Tempo marking: Andante lamentoso
Key: C minor
Time signature: 2/4
No. of measures: 30
Approximate duration: 1 min., 15 sec.
Form: through-composed
Vocal range: e to g' [e' to g"]
Vocal tessitura: medium, other than extended high g' in final phrase; indicated for "Baryton (Mezzo Soprano)" but certainly not too low for tenor or soprano (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: mostly eighth note motion other than the broadened final phrase
Vocal intervals: mostly stepwise, a very few thirds and fourths, and a cadential descending octave
Vocal comments: vocally understated, almost a slow parlando, until a dramatic outburst in the third and final phrase; indicated for "Baryton (Mezzo Soprano)" but that final phrase requires a long-held solid high g', and the tessitura is certainly not too low for a tenor or soprano; higher voices would find the optional piano high g' at the end of the second phrase an effective alternative; male singer more appropriate to text
Textual variants, etc.: Heine's last line is repeated
Instrumental part(s): simple four-voice texture in solemn introduction and underneath voice; vocal melody is doubled; dramatic gestures in octaves between vocal phrases; predominantly eighth note motion
Summary: An almost funereal atmosphere is established by the relatively long introduction, complete with plagal cadence, and is sustained by the subdued parlando of the first vocal phrase. This is interrupted by a brief agitato outburst in the piano. The voice resumes and completes its slow recitation of the poet's woes at a higher pitch (literally and emotionally), after which a reprise of the piano's outburst unfolds into a passionate descending melody (fortissimo, con desperazione). This in turn leads back into the last line of the poem, and the full agony of despair is finally unleashed in the voice, as it dramatically rises to and descends from a long-held high g'. A repeat of the introduction's plagal cadence gives the "amen" to this brief but highly effective song. This setting combines the best aspects of Schumann's and Liszt's versions, being both less brief and austere than Schumann, and less chromatic and hyperbolic than Liszt.