FIVE DUETS FOR SOPRANO AND ALTO, OP. 66
Recording: Edith Mathis, soprano; Brigitte Fassbaender, alto; Karl Engel, piano [DG 449 641-2]
Published 1875

This set of duets can be seen as a companion group to the four of Op. 61, published a year earlier, also for soprano and alto.  None of them are dialogue songs except for No. 4, which is the only dialogue duet between Op. 28 and Op. 75.  The set as a whole is characterized by concision and direct expression.  The drama of dialogue is supplanted by a refined use of the duet texture to illustrate aspects of the text.  The two settings of Klaus Groth called Klänge are both very atmospheric.  No. 1 contains an impressively extended canon by inversion.  No. 2 makes symbolic reference to the folksong melody  quoted by Brahms in his second piano sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 2.  No. 3 contains another example of Brahms’s trademark musical illustrations of waves.  It is his only setting of Hermann Hölty (his uncle Ludwig Hölty was one of Brahms’s favorite poets).  The huntsman’s song of No. 4 would perhaps have been more at home in Op. 28, but the alto taking the “male” role lends the duet an appropriate sense of distance.  The characters never sing together and are differentiated by mode and meter.  No. 5 is a strophic setting of a very old folk text.  This text is notable for having been translated into a poetic English version by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Despite its highly repetitive nature, the duet is absolutely delightful when sung in an appropriately “secretive” and “roguish” manner.

Note: Links to English translations of the texts are from Emily Ezust's site at http://www.recmusic.org/lieder.  For the most part, the translations are line-by-line, except where the difference between German and English syntax requires slight alterations to the contents of certain lines.  The German texts (included here) are also visible in the translation links.

ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck.  In No. 5, the second and third verses use the same notation with repeat signs, and so do the fourth and fifth verses.  The complete edition notates all five verses individually without repeat signs.  In this guide, the measure numbers reflect new numbering for all five verses, as in the complete edition.)

1. Klänge I (Sounds, No. 1).  Text by Klaus Groth.  Andante.  Varied strophic form.  G MINOR, 2/4 time.

German Text:
Aus der Erde quellen Blumen,
Aus der Sonne quillt das Licht,
Aus dem Herzen quillt die Liebe,
Und der Schmerz, der es zerbricht.

Und die Blumen müssen welken,
Und dem Lichte folgt die Nacht,
Und der Liebe folgt das Sehnen,
Das das Herz so düster macht.

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Introduction.  It is a quiet bell-like syncopated dotted (long-short) rhythm, where the short note is held and joined to the next long note.  It begins with an upbeat, and the first five rhythm groups are all on the same note.  Harmonies that steadily move down punctuate the beats where the short notes are tied to the long ones.  There is another bar of four groupings where the pitch moves gently up and back down, trailing to three isolated, detached chords ending on the preparatory “dominant” harmony.
0:11 [m. 5]--Stanza (strophe) 1, lines 1-2.  After a pause, the voices enter on a dotted upbeat similar to that of the introduction.  They move together largely in thirds or sixths.  The alto moves downward on the first syllable of “Blumen.”  The second line begins with another dotted upbeat.  On “das Licht,” the soprano makes a dramatic octave leap, and the alto trails downward on “Licht” in another dotted rhythm.  The accompaniment for these lines consists of simple bass notes and chord groups beginning after the downbeat.
0:20 [m. 9]--Stanza 1, lines 3-4.  These lines are sung more strongly, with the soprano beginning in her high register.  The accompaniment is more flowing, but the right hand still begins its groups off the downbeat in line 3.  The soprano holds and decorates “Liebe” while the alto sings longer notes in slow syncopation.    There is a smaller decoration and light syncopation on the following “und der.”  The word “Schmerz” is given emphasis through another hold and decoration, this time clashing with the piano harmony, which now includes bass octaves.  The word “es” in the next bar is treated similarly.  The verse ends on a half-cadence.
0:37 [m.15]--Reprise of introduction.  The piano had trailed the preceding half-cadence by anticipating the introduction with three syncopated dotted groups leaping to the first notes of the introduction from an octave below, with the left hand playing the same pitch in three different octaves.  After this lead-in, the introduction is reprised as at the beginning.
0:46 [m. 19]--Stanza (strophe) 2, lines 1-2.  The soprano sings the same line she did in stanza 1, but the alto’s line is completely different.  It is a strict canon, or imitation, of the soprano line, a beat behind it, a fifth below it, and exactly inverted, turned upside down.  The canon continues all the way through the verse without breaking.  The canon is an excellent illustration of the “following,” or consequences described in the text of this stanza.  The piano accompaniment is flowing and continuous, with alternations between upper harmonies and lower notes in the right hand, only beginning off the downbeat in the first two bars.
0:56 [m. 23]--Stanza 2, lines 3-4.  The soprano begins as the alto sings the last note of line 2.  Her line 3 is the same as in stanza 1, with the hold and decoration on “Sehnen,” which the alto follows and inverts.  The bass octaves already begin here in the third line.  The fourth line is changed and extended.  The decoration on “das” is similar to the previous one on “und,” but the decoration on “Herz” is different from the previous one on “Schmerz,” and makes an octave leap.  There is another large leap on “macht.”
1:11 [m. 28]--The soprano begins a repetition of the last line on a syncopation as the alto is still completing her first statement.  It is far more subdued and narrow in range than the first statement of the line, which had wide leaps.  The accompaniment is thinner and more detached.  The alto takes up the repetition when it reaches that point.  The cadence is full and makes a very sweet turn to major.  It is not completed until the alto reaches the keynote G, overlapping with the return of the introduction music.
1:22 [m. 31]--The introduction returns as a postlude.  The right hand dotted syncopations are given first in octaves, then with harmonies when they move away from the repeated note (which is the keynote G--in both previous appearances it was the “dominant” note D).  The left hand plays full middle-range chords on the straight beats.  The last chords arrive on the same harmonies as before, but are fuller, especially in the left hand.  The “dominant” chord must now resolve to a final chord, and it is G major, not minor, in keeping with the previous vocal cadence (the rest of the postlude had turned back to minor).
1:37--END OF DUET [34 mm.]

2. Klänge II (Sounds, No. 2).  Text by Klaus Groth.  Andante.  Varied strophic form.  B MINOR, 2/4 time.

German Text:
Wenn ein müder Leib begraben,
Klingen Glocken ihn zur Ruh’,
Und die Erde schließt die Wunde
Mit den schönsten Blumen zu!

Wenn die Liebe wird begraben,
Singen Lieder sie zur Ruh’,
Und die Wunde bringt die Blumen,
Doch das Grab erst schließt sie zu!

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--Introduction.  Bass octaves present the main motive, which is a quotation from an old medieval song (or Minnelied) that Brahms used in the slow movement of his second piano sonata, Op. 2.  Three rising notes are followed by a highly dissonant downward leap (a “tritone”).  It is even in the same key as in Op. 2.  The right hand enters off the beat to extend it to a preparatory “dominant” harmony.
0:13 [m. 4]--Stanza 1, lines 1-2.  After a pause, the voices begin unaccompanied, in straight harmony, with the Minnelied motive.  They continue to spin out the melody after the piano enters in the second bar.  It plays rolled chords after the beats, and Brahms subtly has the bass notes of these chords imitate the first two bars of the melody!  Because the piano chords move so much more slowly, this can be difficult to hear.  The alto’s harmony is quite active, with internal scale motion on “begraben” and in the second line.
0:29 [m. 10]--Stanza 1, line 3.  The voices again begin unaccompanied, but now the motive has been transformed to major.  The piano bass now plays on the downbeats, with higher rolled chord responses.  The bass only imitates the first four notes of the melody here, under the third line. 
0:37 [m. 13]--Stanza 1, line 4.  The fourth line introduces a faster arching line in the soprano, with the alto singing simultaneously in the opposite direction, but entering on the downbeat after the soprano’s syncopated beginning.  Under this, the piano becomes more fluent, with rippling arpeggios in groups of six against the voices’ groups of four.  The voices strongly move to the “dominant” key of F-sharp.  When they finish, the piano right hand takes plays the “arching line” in thirds.  The line of text is repeated with the alto taking the “arching line” in its original form an octave lower, and the word “Blumen” lengthened.
0:51 [m. 17]--A piano interlude begins with the vocal cadence.  It presents the Minnelied motive in notes half as long.  The arpeggios in groups of six continue in the left hand.  The faster motive is given twice, the second time an octave lower in an inner voice.  The chord of B minor (the home key harmony, but the “subdominant” of F-sharp, where the music is, and typically a major chord in that context), asserts itself, creating a major-minor mixture.  A long chord with bass syncopation leads into the verse.
1:01 [m. 20]--Stanza 2, line 1.  The voices begin the melody a step higher than in stanza 1.  They now have a syncopated bass note under them.  The right hand enters with a downward winding arpeggio on a dissonant “diminished seventh” chord as the voices hold “begraben” before the soprano makes a poignant plunge on the now-familiar “tritone.”  The piano arpeggio sinks quite low before briefly turning upward against the soprano’s tritone descent.
1:10 [m. 23]--Stanza 2, line 2.  The soprano, over bare piano octaves, slides magically upward to the remote key of C major (the “Neapolitan” harmony).  The soprano sings the faster “arching line” on “Lieder” as the alto enters, singing more slowly.  The soprano repeats “zur Ruh,” slowing down the “arching line.”  The alto repeats no text, and the voices arrive on “Ruh” together.  The piano plays very quietly repeated chords under this line on C major and its “dominant.”  Under the joint arrival on “Ruh,” the harmony sharply moves through a “diminished seventh” to the “dominant” chord of the home key.
1:30 [m. 29]--Stanza 2, line 3.  The voices begin unaccompanied, on the same line used for stanza 1, line 1, in minor, with the piano entering on rolled chords and the bass imitating the entire melody of this line.  This imitation is carried through the fourth line, where new music is heard above it.  This new music already begins on the second syllable of “Blumen.”
1:38 [m. 32]--Stanza 2, line 4.  The alto unexpectedly turns the Minnelied motive upside down.  The piano plays a flowing line with the same contour in an inner voice with clashing dissonance.  Meanwhile, the piano bass continues to imitate the main melody used in line 3.  The soprano enters, imitating the inverted motive, and there is a rapid rise in volume.  The piano winds strongly upward.  The alto sings the faster “arching line,” also inverted.  On “schließt sie zu,” the alto having already sung “schließt sie” on the “arching line” and repeating it, the voices reach a climax, the alto resolving downward before the soprano.  Arpeggios in six-note groups begin in the piano left hand, starting with the last note of the bass imitation.
1:48 [m. 35]--The piano postlude begins with the vocal cadence, and resembles the interlude at 0:51 [m. 17], but in the home key.  It attempts to turn to the major key, but the “subdominant” chord (E minor) persists in holding onto the minor.  The two statements of the fast motive, the second again an octave lower than the first, lead to two closing bars where the major key is asserted in leaping dotted rhythms, then a final middle-range chord.  The postlude rapidly diminishes in volume from the climax to this last chord.
2:07--END OF DUET [38 mm.]

3. Am Strande (Along the Shore).  Text by Hermann Hölty.  Ruhig (Quietly).  Ternary form.  E-FLAT MAJOR, 4/4 time with one 3/2 bar.

German Text:
Es sprechen und blicken die Wellen
Mit sanfter Stimme,
Mit freundlichem Blick,
Und wiegen die träumende Seele
In ferne Tage zurück.
Aus fernen, verklungenen Tagen
Spricht’s heimlich
Mit sanften Stimmen zu mir.
Schaut’s heimlich
Mit freundlichen Blicken
Zum Wandrer am Strande hier.
Mir ist, als hätten die Stimmen
Die je die Seele
Mir sanft bewegt
Und alle die freundlichen Blicke
Sich in die Wellen gelegt.

English Translation

0:00 [m. 1]--The introduction establishes the two-against-three rhythmic contrast that will pervade the entire duet.  It begins in the “wrong” key, B-flat, but this key is shown to be a preparatory “dominant,” as the introduction arrives in E-flat.  The opening downward gestures in the right hand, which are then expanded, are played against ascending arpeggios in the left hand that are given in a clashing triplet rhythm.
0:10 [m. 4]--Stanza 1 (lines 1-5, A).  The first three lines are given in a single straightforward phrase.  The two voices enter on an upbeat and sing in pleasing harmonies, moving entirely together.  The piano now plays entirely in triplets that clash with the straight rhythm of the voices, with groups passed between the hands.  The rolled groups in the left hand and the turning motion in the right graphically depict the waves described in the text.
0:21 [m. 8]--The fourth and fifth lines, set as one phrase, make hints at C minor and B-flat major, but these are fleeting.  The voices begin to diverge slightly, as the fifth line is introduced by an upbeat in the soprano, but not the alto.  The word “ferne” soars high in the soprano.  As the phrase concludes, the piano right hand briefly moves to straight rhythm, bridging to a repetition of the fifth line that is given its own phrase.  The alto becomes quite active and chromatic in this repetition, which includes a reiteration of “ferne Tage” where the soprano leaps in a syncopation.  The piano bass moves to low octaves under right hand triplets, approaching an expanded cadence where the left hand takes over the triplets from the right.
0:45 [m. 16]--Stanza 2 (lines 6-11, B).  The piano bass makes a sudden turn to the home minor key (E-flat minor).  There, the voices begin to sing in canon, the soprano imitating the alto a fifth higher and two beats later.  The piano now plays ascending arpeggios in triplets with breaks between them, along with solid bass notes.  In line 8 (the third of the section), under “sanften Stimmen,” the key shifts up a half-step to E major, notated as F-flat major.  Here, the alto leads the soprano on a gently arching line, then repeats it itself.
0:57 [m. 20]--At the cadence in E (F-flat) major, the canon breaks as the soprano does not repeat the arching line.  For lines 9-11, the soprano leads the canon, the alto imitating a fifth lower and two beats later.  The piano right hand joins somewhat in the texture of the canon, changing to straight rhythm and “entering” (but not in exact imitation) between the two voices  The left hand has triplet arpeggios with shorter breaks between them.  As the soprano reaches the word “Wandrer,” both voices suddenly cut off.  The music has now moved to C-flat major.  The piano takes an arching line just heard from the soprano and alto.
1:04 [m. 23]--The voices join on “zum Wandrer” (which the alto has not yet sung).  They wrench the music to B-flat (the “dominant” where the duet began).  The piano right hand mixes straight and triplet rhythm in its continuing arching lines.  The voices then expand the words “am Strande hier” on longer notes, emphasizing the poem’s title and providing the only real climax of the duet.  Under these words, the introduction enters as at the beginning, continuing after the voices end and leading home to E-flat major.
1:16 [m. 27]--Stanza 3 (lines 12-16, A).  Lines 12-14 are sung as were lines 1-3 at 0:10 [m. 4].  There is one minor change in declamation on the word “als,” which joins as a single note two repeated notes used previously for the last syllable of “sprechen” and “und.”  Line 12 is a syllable longer than line 1.  The verse is sung at a somewhat stronger level than was the first section.
1:27 [m. 31]--The last two lines are given as were those at 0:21 [m. 8].  The soaring line on the insignificant word “in” does give emphasis to the following more important word “Wellen.”  As before, the piano right hand moves to straight rhythm to bridge to the repetition, where the reiterated words are “in die Wellen.”  Before the reiteration, the alto gives two notes to the second syllable of “Wellen” where it had only given one note to the second syllable of “Tage” before.
1:49 [m. 38]--At the cadence, the introduction music is used as a postlude.  It now begins in the home key, which means it leads to a different one, A-flat (the “subdominant”).  The last bar of the music is stretched out to a 3/2 measure and settles down, remaining in A-flat.  At the very end, internal half-step motion helps the A-flat harmony move to a final E-flat chord (in a normal 4/4 bar).  This is a variant of a “plagal” cadence, a motion that is used for a benedictory effect.
2:10--END OF DUET [41 mm.]

4. Jägerlied (Huntsman’s Song).  Text by Karl August Candidus.  Lebhaft (Lively).  Double strophic form.  C MAJOR/MINOR, 2/4 and 6/8 time.

German Text:
Jäger, was jagst du die Häselein?
Häselein jag’ ich, das muß so sein.
Jäger, was steht dir im Auge dein?
Tränen wohl sind es, das muß so sein.

Jäger, was hast du im Herzelein?
Liebe und Leiden, das muß so sein.
Jäger, wann holst du dein Liebchen heim?
Nimmer, ach nimmer, das muß so sein.

English Translation

The voices never sing together in this dialogue duet.  The soprano’s questions are in major and 2/4 meter, the alto’s answers in minor and 6/8 meter.  The identity of the hunter’s questioner (sung by the soprano) is not specified.
0:00 [m. 1]--Question #1.  Two introductory bars establish the pattern of leaping triplets in the bass against a straight dotted rhythm in the right hand.  The 2/4 meter of the questions is constantly undermined by the triplets in the bass, which are more characteristic of the alto’s 6/8 meter.  The first question adopts the dotted rhythm of the right hand and seems innocent or playful.  The soprano repeats “die Häselein,” with its lilting upward leap.  The right hand of the piano rests before each downbeat.
0:09 [m. 9]--Answer #1.  The alto hunter’s minor-key response has a skittish bass in two-note groups, cutting off the last notes of triplet groups.  The melody for her first words is imitated by the piano right hand in octaves, and even the skittish bass follows the melody somewhat.  At “das muß so sein,” the piano right hand moves to distinct “horn fifth” harmony.  The alto always repeats “das muß so sein” to a stretched out line, here placing two notes on “muß” and “so.”
0:15 [m. 15]--Question #2.  The vocal line is the same as in the first question, and the accompaniment is only slightly more active than it was before under the text repetition (here “im Auge dein”), adding two descents in thirds.  Brahms does mark the question più dolce.
0:22 [m. 21]--Answer #2.  The music is unvaried from the first answer, with the same declamation.
0:28 [m. 27]--Question #3.  For this question, which Brahms marks sempre più dolce, the accompaniment is new.  The assertive dotted rhythms are exchanged for flowing, winding arpeggios played in the triplet rhythm of the bass (the piano part is actually notated in 6/8).  The bass itself now has a slower upper voice and low reiterations of the note G, which was a constant pedal point in the previous two questions, but not as noticeable.  This leaves the vocal line as the sole element still in 2/4 time.  For the first time, the intensity rapidly increases in the piano in preparation for the alto’s entrance.  The repeated text is “im Herzelein.”
0:35 [m. 33]--Answer #3.  This is highly varied from the first presentations.  The initial text, “Liebe und Leiden,” is now given in a strong descent.  The piano plays wide arpeggios with both hands in contrary motion under this descent.  The “horn fifth” harmony under “das muß so sein” is much more active, incorporating dotted rhythms within the 6/8 meter.  The repetition is lengthened by three bars, first with an extra repetition of “das muß,” then with a lengthening of what is now the third statement of “muß” on a higher note, and finally through a transitional bar for piano that helps the music settle back down.
0:45 [m. 42]--Question #4.  The accompaniment here is gentler still, with right hand arpeggios that are more static than those of the third question.  The piano part is still notated in 6/8.  The left hand replaces the steady motion and pedal point on G with a bass line using longer notes and somewhat poignant descending half-step motion.  The question is still tender, but much less playful or innocent.  In fact, the soprano even replaces her lilting upward leap on the repeated text (here “dein Liebchen heim”) with a downward leap.  Rather than increasing in intensity, the piano actually becomes quieter before the alto’s last outburst.
0:53 [m. 48]--The initial text, “nimmer, ach nimmer,” is presented in a similar manner to that in the third answer, with a violent outburst.  It is at a higher pitch level, though, moving briefly to G minor.  The repeated “das muß so sein” moves back to its original pitch, but the accompaniment is even more complex.  The dotted rhythms are used as in the third answer, but they are now arranged in groupings suggesting 3/4 bars conflicting with the 6/8 meter.  The left hand is also given more activity, joining the “horn fifth” harmony and playing continuously under the bars with implied 3/4 motion.  The repetition is lengthened in the same manner as in the third question, now adding one more bar by stretching out the last descent.
1:03 [m. 57]--The transitional bar used to help settle the music down after the third question is extended to three bars.  The first two bars are “gasping” echoes followed by rests, and finally a stark, quiet, and bare C played in three low octaves closes the duet, which began so innocently, in a very dark manner.
1:09--END OF DUET [59 mm.]

5. Hut du dich! (Take care!  Beware!).  Folksong text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.  Lebhaft, heimlich und schalkhaft (Lively, secretively and roguishly).  Strophic form.  B-FLAT MAJOR, 2/4 time.

German Text:
Ich weiß ein Mäd’lein hübsch und fein,
  hüt du dich!
Es kann wohl falsch und freundlich sein,
  hüt du dich!
Vertrau ihr nicht, sie narret dich!

Sie hat zwei Äuglein, die sind braun,
  hüt du dich!
Sie werden dich verliebt anschaun,
  hüt du dich!
Vertrau ihr nicht, sie narret dich!

Sie hat ein licht goldfarb’nes Haar,
  hüt du dich!
Und was sie red’t, das ist nicht wahr,
  hüt du dich!
Vertrau ihr nicht, sie narret dich!

Sie hat zwei Brüstlein, die sind weiß,
  hüt du dich!
Sie legt’s hervor mit allem Fleiß,
  hüt du dich!
Vetrau ihr nicht, sie narret dich!

Sie gibt dir’n Kränzlein fein gemacht,
  hüt du dich!
Für einen Narr’n wirst du geacht,
  hüt du dich!
Vetrau ihr nicht, sie narret dich!

English Translation (Poetic translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

0:00 [m. 1]--The introduction, which occurs before each stanza, somewhat obscures the meter with its short-long opening and its triplet rhythm.  The initial descent includes two of the short-long openings in the left hand preceding a right hand entry.  A sense of pulse is restored with the rising leaps leading into the verse.
0:06 [m. 5]--Stanza 1.  The first line continues the leaps from the piano introduction in the soprano part before turning around.  The alto provides synchronous harmony throughout except for an internal motion on “fein.”  Brahms marks the vocal entry “mezza voce” to emphasize the secretive mood.  The words “hüt du dich” are stated twice in all their appearances.  The first one, making up the second phrase,  reverses the initial vocal leap of the first line, jumping down a fourth.  Under the repeated words, the opening leaps of line 1 are heard in the piano on the “dominant” key (F).  The accompaniment is quite simple otherwise.
0:13 [m. 13]--The first line is repeated to the same music.  The third line (fourth phrase) is then given in two similar ascents.  The soprano stretches the second ascent on “freundlich” while the alto sings longer notes.  Only in this line does the intensity somewhat increase.  The right hand chords become more prominent.  The fourth line (fifth phrase) is another repeated “hüt du dich.”  Here, the downward leaps come between “hüt” and “du” rather than between “du” and “dich.”  The second statement is a third lower and extended a bar.  The piano anticipates the first downward leap after line 3 and also plays it between the two statements.
0:27 [m. 27]--The alto begins the last line a half-beat before the soprano.  This moralizing warning/refrain begins like the first line and its reiteration as the third phrase.  The soprano diverges with another upward leap on “narret,” her highest pitch in the verse.  Both voices reach a cadence.  Brahms directs that this line should become both slightly quieter and slightly slower.
0:32 [m. 31]--Second statement of the introduction.
0:36 [m. 35]--Stanza 2.  The vocal lines are the same in all stanzas.  Beginning with this stanza, the piano plays a more elaborate accompaniment, utilizing triplet rhythm everywhere except the right hand in the two “dominant key” echoes of the opening line under the first “hüt du dich” repetitions (line/phrase 2).  The triplets are usually heard in one hand while the other plays chords, and the groups usually begin off the beat after such a chord.  In the right hand, there are several lightly arching arpeggios.  The triplets of the piano create rhythmic conflict with the voices, who remain in straight rhythm.  The alto’s internal motion is on the word “braun.”
0:44 [m. 43]--Repetition of line 1 and then lines 3-4 (phrases 3-5).  The second ascent in line 3 stretches out the last syllable of “verliebt.”  The accompaniment with triplets continues.  The piano’s anticipation of the “hüt du dich” leaps is an octave higher than in stanza 1.
0:58 [m. 57]--Final line/refrain, which has the same text in all stanzas, now with the triplet accompaniment.  In this and remaining stanzas, the downward “hüt du dich” leaps continue to be heard in the piano against the vocal refrain.  This was not the case in stanza 1 with its simpler accompaniment.
1:04 [m. 61]--Third statement of the introduction.
1:07 [m. 65]--Stanza 3.  The triplet accompaniment is used for all the remaining stanzas.  The alto’s internal motion is on the word “Haar.”
1:15 [m. 73]--Phrases 3-5.  The second ascent in line 3 stretches out the word “ist.”
1:29 [m. 87]--Final line/refrain.
1:35 [m. 91]--Fourth statement of the introduction.
1:38 [m. 95]--Stanza 4.  The alto’s internal motion is on the word “weiß.”  The Peters edition cuts this verse, although it appears in the first edition and in the complete works.  This is possibly a case of censorship because of the reference to “zwei Brüstlein, die sind weiß” (“two little white breasts”) that the female subject of the poem likes to show off.  This was only somewhat softened (to a single “bosom”) by Longfellow in his poetic translation.
1:46 [m. 103]--Phrases 3-5.  The second ascent in line 3 stretches out the word “allem.”
2:00 [m. 117]--Final line/refrain.
2:05 [m. 121]--Fifth statement of the introduction.
2:09 [m. 125]--Stanza 5.  The alto’s internal motion is on the second syllable of the word “gemacht.”
2:17 [m. 133]--Phrases 3-5.  Note the singers’ emphasis on “Narr’n” (“fool”) in the first line 3 ascent.  This key word has reference to “narret dich” (“fools you”) in the refrain and clinches the song’s message.  The second ascent in line 3 stretches out the word “du.”
2:31 [m. 147]--Final line/refrain.
2:37 [m. 151]--The introduction is stated a sixth time as a postlude.  This time a final cadence is added with a teasing rest before the very quiet last chord.
2:48--END OF DUET [155 mm.]
END OF SET


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