FRANZ LlEDER
Sung by JOHN ARMSTRONG (tenor)
Op. i
No. 10, Schlummerlied (Slumber Song)
No. II, Voglein, wohin so schnell?
(Little bird, where so swift ?)
No. 12, In meinem Garten die Nelken
(The gilliflowers in my garden)
Op. 2 (Lenau's Schilflieder) (Songs of the Rushes)
No. i, Auf geheimen Waldespfade
(By secret woodland paths)
No. 2, Driiben geht die Sonne scheiden (The sun goes down)
No. 3, Triibe wird's, die Wolken iagen (Clouded sky)
No. 4, Sonnenuntergang (schwarze
Wolken zieh'n) (Sunset - black clouds gather)
No. 5, Auf dem Teich, dem regungslosen (Rain descends on the pool)
Op. 3
No. i, Der Schalk (The Rogue)
No. 2, Die Farben Helgolands (The
Colours of Heligoland)
No. 3, Fruhling und Liebe (Spring and Love)
ROBERT FRANZ was born at Halle within a week or two of the Battle of Waterloo, and died in 1892. He is considered one of the most important composers of German lieder, and though his songs are sung today with Jess and less frequency, the listener will be able to trace in these often beautiful songs the germ of the more highly developed modern lieder.
Franz wrote over two hundred and fifty songs, of which only the earlier ones are to be given in the present Foundations. As a matter of fact, these are perhaps more acceptable to listeners than the later ones ; this on the authority of Mendelssohn who, as did Schumann, praised the early songs of Franz very warmly, but was not so appreciative of the later ones, which he complained lacked melody. One wonders what Mendelssohn would have said about Hugo Wolf 's songs ; would he have found that they, too, lacked melody ? The charm of these songs lies not only in their unaffected simplicity and naive emotional content, but in the ingenious and imaginative workmanship.