Heinrich Heine (originally named Harry) was born on December 13, 1797 in Düsseldorf, Germany, of Jewish parents. Though his family preferred that he become a businessman, Heine eventually took a degree in law, and in 1825, in order to make possible a civil service career (closed to Jews at that time), he resentfully converted to Protestantism. Despite this, he never practiced law or held a government position.

Heine’s reputation grew steadily with the publication of his poems in the early 1820’s. Most of these were collected in 1827 into the Buch der Lieder (Book of songs), which has always been his most widely read collection, and the most popular with composers, with nearly 5000 settings made of its 245 poems. It may have been inspired by his youthful and unrequited infatuation with one, or possibly two, of his rich uncle’s daughters. These poems are a concentrated combination of lyrical perfection, Romantic imagery, wry humor and bitter irony. Their seeming sentimental simplicity has been widely imitated, but seldom with any success. Heine had an unsurpassed ability to write lyrics which on the surface are almost trite, but are crafted as word-music of the highest order, where the sound and rhythm enhance the often contradictory underlying emotions. He often revised poems which had already been published, which has led to confusing conflicts between the versions which composers have set and Heine’s final versions.

Heine moved to Paris in 1831, after publication of his Reisebilder (Travel pictures), a whimsical amalgam of fact, fiction, autobiography, social criticism, and literary polemic which was widely imitated. In Paris his political and social concerns found outlet in his prolific critical and satirical prose writings. He became acquainted with many of the most prominent figures of the age, including Karl Marx. Heine’s pro-revolutionary views were unacceptable to the German governments, and by 1835 his voluntary exile in France became an imposed one, and his works were banned throughout Germany. He continued to write poetry as well (New Poems; Germany, a Winter’s Tale; Atta Troll, a Midsummer Night’s Dream), much of it with often satirical elements of social and literary commentary. After 1844 Heine suffered financial reversals and painful physical deterioration from syphilis. He spent the last several years of his life in his "mattress-grave" in a Paris apartment, although his poetic and observational powers never left him. Romanzero, his last volume of poems, is full of heartrending laments and bleak commentaries on the human condition, many of which are now considered among his finest lyrics. He died in Paris on February 17, 1856. (Much of the above biographical information was taken from Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Springfield, MA, 1995)

All of the songs in this concert were composed before 1840, so they are among the first musical settings made of Heine's lieder, including the earliest known one, written by Curschmann in 1825. At the time they were composed, these songs were intended not so much for concert performance as for "house music." Although there was an insatiable demand for published songs by the burgeoning middle class of the Biedermeyer era, many of songs were also circulated in manuscript, and intended to be heard only by the composers’ friends and family. This is true of the songs by Stephen Heller, which were not published until 1975. Heller’s songs are tiny subtle gems showing a deep understanding of Heine’s irony and depth of feeling. Heller was a virtuoso pianist whose pedagogical works are still used today.

Fanny Hensel, the sister of Felix Mendelssohn, was a fine composer in her own right. Since her brother objected to women publishing, she had some of her songs printed under her brother’s name (Verlust is one of those), but the other songs of hers on this program were not published until this decade, and many others remain unpublished. Hensel’s songs are generally strophic, repeating the same music for succeeding stanzas, but show considerable skill and subtlety of word-painting within the constraints of that style. The three settings in English were made at the request of the translator, Mary Alexander, who was a friend of the Mendelssohns’. Her translations were made long before the "official" English versions.

Josephine Lang was the daughter of a famous singer and a student of Mendelssohn’s, and had many of her songs published. Her songs are somewhat more extroverted and in a more passionate, chromatic style than Hensel’s. Felix Mendelssohn’s own inimitable style is apparent in the elfin strains of Neue Liebe and Reiselied, and in the sweet melodies of Gruss and the over-performed but still indispensable Auf Flügeln des Gesanges. Like his sister, Mendelssohn tended to set songs strophically, which can sometimes be problematic when different verses express widely different emotions, but can be quite successful in the hands of a master.

The opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, was a friend of Heine's. In fact, many of the composers on this program were at least acquainted with Heine, including the Mendelssohns, and Stephen Heller, who once wrote to Schumann that Heine "in general seems to be an unpleasant, mysterious person, whose works are much more likable than he is." Meyerbeer’s settings are quite different from the others in this program, but are as successful in conveying Heine’s passion and irony as any. Die Rose juxtaposes and integrates three totally different musical ideas; Hör ich das Liedchen has an obsessively repeated accompanimental figure appropriate to the nature and imagery of the poem; and Komm! has a flirtatiousness which barely conceals its underlying urgency.

The six Heine lieder from Schwanengesang are the only Heine settings by Franz Schubert, arguably the greatest composer of German lieder. Schubert's bicentennial birthday, like Heine's, is being celebrated this year. These songs date from 1828, the year of his death, so they are among the earliest extant Heine settings. They have never been surpassed, however, in their psychological insight and their at times impressionistic tone-painting. This performance changes the published order of the songs to correspond with their original order in Heine’s Die Heimkehr (The Homecoming). This allows for a more dramatic and realistic progression of emotion in the telling of the story of an old, lost love. Starting with the relatively untroubled barcarole of Das Fischermädchen, the recollections gradually gain in emotional intensity as the past becomes more and more real to the poet. A dreamy unreality pervades Am Meer; then come the bizarre mists and dramatic unveiling of his beloved’s town in Die Stadt. The oppressive atmosphere reaches its peak in the obsessive, hallucinatory masterpiece Der Doppelgänger. A portrait of the poet’s beloved comes to "life" in the lyrical Ihr Bild, and the poet finally comes to realize his present wretched state in the epic sorrow of Der Atlas.

There are several poems which have more than one setting featured in this program. It is fascinating to compare such songs, to see which composer is more sensitive to the surface beauties, and who penetrates to the underlying anger and self-mocking irony which permeates so many of the poems. "Du schönes Fischermädchen" has three settings here, by Heller, Meyerbeer and Schubert. "In mein gar zu dunkles Leben" has settings by Heller and Hensel, as does "Was will die einsame Träne," while Hensel and Schubert were both inspired in very different ways by "Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus."

Peter W. Shea is a cataloger at the W.E.B. DuBois Library at UMass/Amherst, and is also a featured tenor soloist in area concerts, especially with the Arcadia Players, whose Amherst performance of Handel’s Messiah will occur this Wednesday evening, across the street in St. Brigid’s Catholic Church. He has sung professionally since 1972 throughout New England and the Hudson Valley. He is currently on sabbatical preparing a performer's guide to solo vocal settings of Heine's poetry. He has planned two other concerts of Heine settings for January 18 (all Schumann, Northampton Unitarian Society, 2 p.m.) and mid-February, featuring, like this one, some of the many less well known works he has discovered in the course of the project, as well as some established favorites. Ever since his days as a voice student of Virginia Schorr and Arthur Koret at Hartt School of Music, Mr. Shea has had a deep love for the German Lied, especially those songs based on Heine's poetry. This project combines his enthusiasm for the music and poetry with his graduate training in musicology and librarianship.

Pianist Monica Jakuc is a professor of music at Smith College. She is a well-known performer in this area and around the country, as both soloist and accompanist. A graduate of Juilliard, she also studied with Leon Fleisher, Konrad Wolff, and Russell Sherman. Inspired by Malcolm Bilson, she started working with early pianos in 1986. Her debut CD of fortepiano sonatas by Marianne von Martinez, Marianna von Auenbrugger and Joseph Haydn is released on Titanic. With noted early music violinist Dana Maiben she has recorded Francesca LeBrun’s Six Sonatas, Op. 1, for Fortepiano with Violin Accompaniment, soon to be released on the Dorian Discovery label. Jakuc and Maiben founded the Florentine Camerata in 1996 to bring chamber music to a wider audience, and to produce a chamber music festival in Florence, Massachusetts. One of the featured performers in last year’s festival was Peter Shea. Jakuc has premiered a number of works by contemporary composers. A champion of the music of women, she has been a featured performer at national conferences on women in music, and a lecture-recitalist at colleges in the Northeast.