Alto Rhapsody

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The Alto Rhapsody, Op 53 is a work for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra by Johannes Brahms.

The Rhapsody is a setting of verses from Goethe’s Harzreise in Winter. It was written in 1869 the year after the German Requiem, with which the third part of the Rhapsody has similarities of vocal and choral style. It is in three sections, the first two, in C minor, for soloist and orchestra, describe the pain of the misanthropic wanderer – the second section is an aria in all but name; the third, in C major, in which the male chorus joins, is a plea to God to take away the wanderer’s pain.

The work takes about 12 minutes in performance.

The text Brahms set is:

Aber abseits wer ist's?

Im Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad;

hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen,

das Gras steht wieder auf,

die Öde verschlingt ihn.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen

dess, dem Balsam zu Gift ward?

Der sich Menschenhaß

aus der Fülle der Liebe trank!

Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter,

zehrt er heimlich auf

seinen eigenen Wert

In ungenugender Selbstsucht.

Ist auf deinem Psalter,

Vater der Liebe, ein Ton

seinem Ohre vernehmlich,

so erquicke sein Herz!

Öffne den umwölkten Blick

über die tausend Quellen

neben dem Durstenden

in der Wüste!

In English:

But who is that apart?

His path disappears in the bushes;

behind him the branches spring together;

the grass stands up again;

the wasteland engulfs him.

Ah, who heals the pains

of him for whom balsam turned to poison?

Who drank hatred of man

from the abundance of love?

First scorned, now a scorner,

he secretly feeds on

his own merit,

in unsatisfying egotism.

If there is on your psaltery^[1]

Father of love, one note

his ear can hear

then refresh his heart!

Open his clouded gaze

to the thousand springs

next to him who thirsts

in the wilderness!

[edit] Recordings

The Alto Rhapsody is not frequently performed in concert, perhaps because of the expense of hiring a soloist and chorus for a 12-minute piece, but it has been recorded many times. Some well-known recordings are:

Kathleen Ferrier/London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir/Clemens Krauss (Decca)
Christa Ludwig/Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus/Otto Klemperer (EMI)
Dame Janet Baker/LPO and John Alldis Choir/Sir Adrian Boult (EMI)
Marilyn Horne/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Robert Shaw (Telarc)
Marjana Lipovšek/Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Senff Choir/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

[edit] Note

^ translations differ on whether ‘auf deinem Psalter’ means ‘on your psaltery’ (an old instrument like a small harp) or ‘in your psalter’ (‘in your book of psalms’).