Seven Songs op. 1

Full title Seven Songs for baritone and piano op. 1 / Sieben Gesänge für eine tiefe Männerstimme und Klavier op. 1
Date composed 1903
Details 1. Hiob XIV (from the Bible, Job XIV); vocal range: Bb–eb'
2. Der Einsamste / The Loneliest Man (Friedrich Nietzsche; translated into English by Louise Haesller); vocal range: c#–f#'
3. Der Tag klingt ab / The Day Recedes (Nietzsche; translated into English by Louise Haesller); vocal range: c#–eb'
4. Fragen / Questions (Heinrich Heine; translated into English by Louise Haesller); vocal range: A–f'
5. Wanderers Nachtlied / Wanderer's Song of Night (Goethe; translated into English by Vally Weigl); vocal range: c–d'
6. Ein Gleiches / A Likeness (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; translated into English by Vally Weigl); vocal range: c–d' (alternate version with vocal range: C#–d')
7. Schmied Schmerz / Smith Grief (Otto Julius Bierbaum; later translated into English by Vally Weigl); vocal range: B–f'

Composed 1903–1904. See also Three Songs for mezzo-soprano or baritone (revised versions of nos. 2, 3, and 7).
Dedication in published score: Meinem Vater.
Performance duration: ca. 20 min.
Manuscript sources NYPL JOB 73-99, holograph score (26 pages) of all but No. 6 and with a completion date at the end of four songs: for Hiob, 25./X. 1903; for Der Einsamste and Der Tag klingt ab (originally intended as a separate work to be titled Zwei Gedichte von F. Nietzsche für eine tiefe Männerstimme), 23./IX. 1903; for Fragen, 11./IX. 1904; for Wanderers Nachtlied (here titled Wanderers Nachtstück), 10./X. 1904; and for Schmied Schmerz, 12./IX. 1903.
Publication details Universal Edition, 1912: U.E. 3586. No. 7, Schmied Schmerz, was published separately as a musical supplement in Der Merker: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Musik und Theater 1, no. 6 (25 December 1909). Today publisher of record is ACA.
Availabiity Performance score available from ACA and KWF.
Recordings Michael Kutner and Stephane Ginsburg (2-CD set: KWF991001, 1999; available from KWF).
No. 7, Schmied Schmerz: William Warfield and David Garvey (LP: Orion ORS 81407; 1973).
No. 1, Hiob XIV, and No. 3, Der Tag klingt ab: Christopher Norton-Welsh and Charles Spencer (LP: Preiser Records 120653; 1980).
Listen

Seven Songs op. 1: no. 2, Der Einsamste / The Loneliest Man
Michael Kutner and Bárkányi Éva

Seven Songs op. 1: no. 7, Schmied Schmerz / Smith Grief
Michael Kutner and Bárkányi Éva
Performances (click icon to expand or collapse list)
20 January 1905*** Vienna, Der Bösendorfer Saal, Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler: Konrad v. Zawilowski, baritone; Karl Weigl, piano (nos. 3, 5, 6, and 7)***. Also on program: Hugo Daffner, Drei Gesänge; Oskar Noë, Drei Gesänge; Adalbert v. Goldschmidt, Das Totenhemdchen; Erich J. Wolff, Vier Gesänge; Robert Gound, Fünf Gesänge.
12 January 1925 Vienna, Konzerthaus, Mozart-Saal: Maria Bartsch-Jonas, soprano; Wilhelm Grosz, piano (no. 7).
8 November 1934 Vienna, Musikverein, Kleiner Saal, Liederabend Elsa Weigl-Pazeller: Elsa Pazeller, soprano; Otto Janowitz, piano (nos. 1 and 2).
8 November 1934 Vienna, Kleiner Musikvereinsaal: Elsa Weigl-Pazeller, soprano; Karl Weig, piano (nos. 2 and 3). Also on program: songs by Walter Klein, Walter Bricht, Hugo Kauder, Hugo Wolf.
21 April 1937 Brno, radio concert and broadcast: Gerda Redlich, alto; unidentified, piano. Also on program: Erich Zeisl, Passacaglia für großes Orchester; and works by Friedrich Wildgans and Julius Bittner.
19 May 1938 Vienna, private musicale, home of Frau Reik-Bodanzky: Belasco, baritone; Karl Weigl, piano.
31 January 1951 New York:William Gephart, baritone; Ludwig Lennel, piano (nos. 2, 3, and 7).
1 November 1959 New York, Brooklyn Museum and simultaneous WNYC radio broadcast, Karl Weigl Memorial Program (Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of His Death): David Manning, baritone; Vally Weigl, piano.
1 November 1959 New York, Brooklyn Museum and simultaneous WNYC radio broadcast, Karl Weigl Memorial Program (Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of His Death): David Manning, baritone; Vally Weigl, piano (nos. 2, 3, and 7).
24 September 1961 New York, Brooklyn Museum Concerts, Karl Weigl Memorial Concert: Eugene Green, baritone; Richard Woitach, piano (4 nos.).
21 June 1964 New York, WNYC radio broadcast, National Association for American Composers and Conductors, Chamber Music Time: Karl Weigl Memorial Program: Georgia Davis, contralto; Vally Weigl, piano.
29 January 1966 New York, WNYC radio broadcast, The Brooklyn Museum Concert Series, Karl Weigl Memorial Program: Arthur Thompson, baritone; Vally Weigl, piano (Nos. 2, 3, and 7).
9 February 1966 New York, Austrian Forum: Arthur Thompson, baritone; Vally Weigl, piano (nos. 2, 3, and 7). Also on program: Otto Jokl, songs. Gustav Mahler, songs.
11 September 1966 New York, Brooklyn Museum Concerts and simultaneous WNYC radio broadcast, Karl Weigl Memorial Program: Arthur Thompson, baritone; Vally Weigl, piano.
19 October 1974 New York, Donnell Library, Austrian Institute and Bruckner Society of America, Mahler—Weigl Program: Edmund Le Roy and Vally Weigl (nos. 2, 3, and 7).
3 October 1981 New York, Carnegie Recital Hall, Mahler-Weigl Anniversary Program: Bruce Fifer, baritone; Nadia Rosenberg, piano.
2 December 1989 Chicago, University of Chicago, Goodspeed Recital Hall, Viennese Crosscurrents, Karl Weigl, Neo- Romanticism, and the Modernist Movement, concert 2: Love Song and Seven Songs op. 1 (Bruce Tammen and Kit Bridges); Five Songs from Phantasus op. 9 (Elsa Charlston and Kit Bridges); Five Duets for soprano and baritone nos. 1 and 3 (Elsa Charlston, Bruce Tammen, Kit Bridges). Also on program: Berg, Seven Early Songs; songs by Wolf, Mahler, and Korngold.
5 October 1999 Budapest, Benczúr Ház, The Music of Karl Weigl Memorial Concerts, concert 2: Seven Songs op. 1 (Michael Kutner and Bárkányi Eva); Five Songs op. 10 nos. 2 and 3 and Six Songs for mezzo-soprano no. 5 (Evelyn Chih-Yih Chan and Bárkányi Eva); Viola Sonata (Garth Knox and Stephan Ginsburgh); Five Songs for soprano and string quartet (Evelyn Chih-Yih Chan and Akadémia Quartet [Környei Zsófia, Bodó Antónia, Móré László, Maróth Bálint]).

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