Three Songs for contralto and string quartet
| Full title | Three Songs for contralto and string quartet / Drei Gesänge für Altstimme und Streichquartett | |
| Date composed | 1936 | |
| Details |
1. Sommers Tod / Summer's Death (Karl Wagenfeld; English translation by Lydia Perera and Vally Weigl); vocal range: a–g' 2. Liebesode / Ode of Love (Otto Erich Hartleben; English translation by Lydia Perera and Vally Weigl); vocal range: c#'–f#'' 3. Hexenlied / Witches' Song (Ludwig H. C. Hölty; English translation by Lydia Perera and Vally Weigl); vocal range: g–g'' Weigl worked on this song cycle 1935–1936, completing it in January 1936. |
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| Manuscript sources | NYPL JOB 73-152, holograph score (15 pages), with composer's note on title page: Wien, im Jänner 1936; and a completion date at the end of each song: for Sommers Tod, 19./XII. 1936; for Liebesode (here titled Liebesquelle), KW / 5./I. 1936; and for Hexenlied, 11./I. 1936 / KW. See also NYPL JPB 99-7 no. 14, holograph fair copy of score (16 pages), with English title added to the original German title, and English translations of song texts written in underneath the German texts. | |
| Availabiity | Score, parts, and piano reduction available from ACA and KWF. | |
| Recordings | Maureen Forrester and Phoenix String Quartet (LP: Serenus SRS 12062). Betty Allen and Iowa String Quartet (LP: CRI 242 SD, 1969). |
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| Listen |
Three Songs for contralto and string quartet: no. 1, Sommers Tod / Summer’s Death |
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Performances (click
icon to expand or collapse list)| 1 September 1987 | Detroit, Michigan, Wayne State University, Community Arts Auditorium, The Karl Weigl Festival, concert 1: Three Songs for contralto and string quartet (Hilda Harris and New World String Quartet [Curtis Macomber, Vahn Armstrong, Robert Dan, Ross Harbaugh]), Viola Sonata (Paul Silverthorne and Doris Richards), Five Duets for soprano and tenor (Ernestine Nimmona, George Shirley, and Doris Richards), Two Pieces for cello and piano (Marcy Chanteaux and Doris Richards), and Five Songs for soprano and string quartet (Ernestine Nimmona and New World String Quartet). |
| 8 September 1987 | New York, Merkin Hall, The Karl Weigl Concerts, The Unbroken Tradition—Karl Weigl in Vienna and in Exile, concert I, All Weigl Program: Three Songs for contralto and string quartet (Hilda Harris and New World String Quartet [Curtis Macomber, Vahn Armstrong, Robert Dan, Ross Harbaugh]), Viola Sonata (Paul Silverthorne and Doris Richards), Five Songs for soprano and string quartet Lucy Shelton and New World String Quartet), Wild Dance from Two Pieces for cello and piano (Marcy Chanteaux and Doris Richards), and Five Duets for soprano and baritone (Lucy Shelton, George Shirley, and Alan Smith). |
| 15 April 1988 | London, South Bank, Purcell Room, Emigrés-A Mahler Link, A Weekend’s Celebration on the South Bank of the Music of Berthold Goldschmidt and Karl Weigl, concert 1: Three Songs for contralto and string quartet (Annemarie Sand and Hanson String Quartet); Viola Sonata (Tim Boulton and Shelagh Sutherland), Six songs for contralto—Sappho an Apoll, Liebesreime I, Ode an Salene, Encore, Liebesreime II, and Blaue Nacht (Annemarie Sand and Shelagh Sutherland); String Quartet No. 3 (Hanson String Quartet). |
| 17 May 1990 | Vienna, Konzerthaus, Brahmssaal: Margarethe Hintermeirer and the Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). |
