Sag, wo ist dein schönes Liebchen (Tell Me, Where is Your Beautiful Sweetheart): Heinrich Heine and Rodrigo Ruiz

09/01/21 • 26 min

1 Listener

The 21st-century Mexican composer Rodrigo Ruiz sets a text by the 19th-century German writer Heinrich Heine. In so doing, Ruiz channels 19th-century musical style and offers a deeply moving interpretation of a poem about the loss of love and the death of an artistic tradition that Heine once held dear.
The performance of the song features soprano Grace Davidson and pianist Christopher Glynn.
The song appears on the CD An Everlasting Dawn. Check out Ruiz's recent CD of chamber works, Behold the Stars, on the Signum Classics label, and be on the lookout for Signum's release of his song cycle Venus & Adonis.
Sag, wo ist dein schönes Liebchen
by Heinrich Heine
Sag, wo ist dein schönes Liebchen,
Das du einst so schön besungen,
Als die zaubermächtgen Flammen
Wunderbar dein Herz durchdrungen?
Jene Flammen sind erloschen,
Und mein Herz ist kalt und trübe,
Und dies Büchlein ist die Urne
Mit der Asche meiner Liebe.
———
Tell me, where is your beautiful sweetheart
That you once sang of so beautifully
When the magical flames of love
Wonderfully pierced your heart?
Each flame is burnt out,
And my heart is cold and grey,
And this little book is the urn
With the ashes of my love.

Previous Episode

Strawberry Man: Kendra Preston Leonard and Lisa Neher

Kendra Preston Leonard's poem and Lisa Neher's song—about a man who sells fresh fruit on a summer day—celebrate something sumptuous where we would least expect it.
The performance of the song is by Arwen Myers, who is also featured in a previous episode about a song by Florence Price.
Be sure to check out other collaborations by Kendra Preston Leonard and Lisa Neher, especially the works in their micro-opera festival.
Strawberry Man
by Kendra Preston Leonard
The Strawberry Man
and his little pinto pony
Sweetness, slaked
in the city street
Poem reproduced with permission from the author

Next Episode

Room in Brooklyn/A Gradual Dazzle: Anne Carson and Caroline Shaw

Anne Carson's poem and Caroline Shaw's mesmerizing setting of it meditate on the feeling of being in and out of time.
The recording of the song, which appears on the album Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part (Nonesuch, 2021), features Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting).