Classical Works:
Traum durch die Dämmerung ("Weite Wiesen im Dämmergrau"), song for voice & piano, Op. 29/1 (TrV 172/1)
- Date: 1895
- Main Performer: Richard Strauss
- Genre: Vocal
- Period: Romantic (1820-1869)
Review
This lyrical song establishes an aura of great repose and tranquility. This is the narrator's state of mind at twilight, a mood that is only momentarily disturbed by the images of the "dream" that occupies the singer's spirit.Setting a German text by Otto Julius Bierbaum, the song's opening is marked sehr ruhig (very peacefully) and pianissimo. The gently rolling, pastorale-like accompaniment pattern of a sixteenth-note triplet followed by an eighth note is stated from the outset and maintained throughout the piece.
The first melodic phrase has an innocent, mildly skipping, almost children's song quality. "Weise Wiesen im Dämmergrau; Die Sonne verglomm, die Sterne ziehn..." (Wide meadows in the gray of twilight, the sun has set, the stars are seen...).
The harmony is slightly disturbed by a chromatic modulation from E major to A flat major that describes an urgency felt by the singer "going forward on my way...." The next measures then resolves back into the peaceful atmosphere with the words "...to the most beautiful woman." The word "schönsten" (most beautiful) is held on a high note sung in an airy, restrained pianissimo.
The harmonies and melody then begin to wander more freely as they head toward C flat major through a chromatic forest: "...weit über Wiesen im Dämmergrau, tief in den Busch von Jasmin" (Far, over the meadows in the gray of twilight, deep into the bushes of jasmine).
An enharmonic change (C flat = B major) brings the tonal center back to the key of E major, and a line like the first melodic phrase introduces the image of proceeding "through the twilight gray of the land of love, I don't hurry, I move without haste."
Another winding chromatic passage expresses a gradually mounting sense of anticipation: "I am drawn by a soft, velvety band through the gray of twilight in love's land...." The second peak note (on "blaues") is reached during the line's conclusion, "...into a blue, gentle light."
Two lines of the text are then combined by the composer for an atmospheric coda on the original rolling pattern: "I don't hurry, I move without haste, through the gray twilight of the land of love in a gentle, blue light." Three pianississimo chords close the work in a quiescent mood. ~ All Music Guide
