Dvořák - 4 Songs, Op. 2/B. 124 (Transcribed for Cello and Piano)
Like Love Songs, Op. 83, this song cycle began as part of Cypresses, Dvořák’s 18-song cycle from 1865. The dedicatee of Cypresses was critical of Dvořák’s unidiomatic treatment of the text, and Dvořák later returned to the Read more
Like Love Songs, Op. 83, this song cycle began as part of Cypresses, Dvořák’s 18-song cycle from 1865. The dedicatee of Cypresses was critical of Dvořák’s unidiomatic treatment of the text, and Dvořák later returned to the material, recomposing and reshaping many of the songs into separate cycles.
The present cycle of four songs was erroneously assigned Op. 2, the same opus number as Dvořák’s First String Quartet. The revision of these songs took place around 1882. Songs Nos. 1, 2, and 4 remain closely related to their Cypresses counterparts. The second song, “Oh, It Was a Lovely, Golden Dream,” is especially magical, with added-second harmonies and left-hand counterpoint creating the musical image of a dream.
The third song, “My Heart Often Broods in Pain,” was completely recomposed into a work of otherworldly beauty, marked by an almost constant heartbeat-like pulse. This new version of the song is melodically and harmonically related to “Song to the Moon” from Dvořák’s 1900 opera Rusalka.
Contents:
You Ardent Songs, Go Forth Through the Night (Vy vroucí písně spějte) Oh, It Was a Lovely, Golden Dream (Ó byl to krásný zlatý sen) My Heart Often Broods in Pain (Mé srdce často v bolesti) On the Mountains Quiet (Na horách ticho)
ASTA level: 2.5