Ruhe, meine Seele!

"Ruhe, meine Seele!", Op. 27, No. 1, is the first in a set of four songs composed by Richard Strauss in 1894. It was originally for voice and piano, and not orchestrated by Strauss until 1948, after he had completed one of his Four Last Songs, "Im Abendrot".^[1] The words are from a poem "Ruhe, meine Seele!" (Rest, my soul) written by the poet Karl Henckell.

History

Strauss composed the song in May 1894, and that September he gave it as a wedding present to his wife the soprano Pauline de Ahna.

Instrumentation and accompaniment

The instrumentation is: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B♭, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 timpani, celesta, harp and the orchestral string section.^[2]

The accompaniment has sombre and ambiguous harmonies, with contrasting calm and tempestuous episodes, and ends peacefully in the home key of C major.

Lyrics

Ruhe, meine Seele! ^[3]	Rest thee, my Soul^[4]
Nicht ein Lüftchen Regt sich leise, Sanft entschlummert Ruht der Hain; Durch der Blätter Dunkle Hülle Stiehlt sich lichter Sonnenschein. Ruhe, ruhe, Meine Seele, Deine Stürme Gingen wild, Hast getobt und Hast gezittert, Wie die Brandung, Wenn sie schwillt. Diese Zeiten Sind gewaltig, Bringen Herz Und Hirn in Not – Ruhe, ruhe, Meine Seele, Und vergiß, Und vergiß, Was dich bedroht!	Not a breath of wind is stirring, Hill and Dale are wrapped in slumber; Golden through the sheltering foliage Summer's Midday sunbeams peep. Rest thee, rest thee troubled spirit, Thou hast suffered laboured, toiled, Thou hast fought and thou has trmebled, like the stormbeat, ocean wild. These times are momentous, head and heart must trouble bear – Rest thee, rest thee troubled spirit and forget all thy sufferings will soon be over!

Ruhe, meine Seele! ^[3]

Rest thee, my Soul^[4]

Nicht ein Lüftchen
Regt sich leise,
Sanft entschlummert
Ruht der Hain;
Durch der Blätter
Dunkle Hülle
Stiehlt sich lichter
Sonnenschein.

Ruhe, ruhe,
Meine Seele,
Deine Stürme
Gingen wild,
Hast getobt und
Hast gezittert,
Wie die Brandung,
Wenn sie schwillt.

Diese Zeiten
Sind gewaltig,
Bringen Herz
Und Hirn in Not –
Ruhe, ruhe,
Meine Seele,
Und vergiß,
Und vergiß,
Was dich bedroht!

Not a breath of wind
is stirring,
Hill and Dale
are wrapped in slumber;
Golden through the
sheltering foliage
Summer's Midday
sunbeams peep.

Rest thee, rest thee
troubled spirit,
Thou hast suffered
laboured, toiled,
Thou hast fought
and thou has trmebled,
like the stormbeat,
ocean wild.

These times
are momentous,
head and heart
must trouble bear –
Rest thee, rest thee
troubled spirit
and forget
all thy sufferings
will soon be over!

Opus 27

The other songs of Strauss' Opus 27:

Op. 27 No. 2 "Cäcilie" (Wenn du es wüßtest)
Op. 27 No. 3 "Heimliche Aufforderung" (Auf, hebe die funkelnde Schale)
Op. 27 No. 4 "Morgen!" (Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen)

Recordings

Richard Strauss recorded it twice with himself accompanying on the piano. In 1919 with the baritone Heinrich Schlusnus and again in 1944, with the baritone Alfred Poell.

References and notes

↑ This is discussed in the essay "Ruhe, meine Seele! and the Letzte Orchesterlieder" by Timothy L. Jackson, in Richard Strauss and his World by Bryan Randolph Gilliam. Strauss orchestrated "Ruhe, meine Seele" just after completing "Im Abendrot" but before completing the other of the Last Four Songs: "Frühling", "Beim Schlafengehen" and "September". The author suggests that the five songs form a unified song cycle, with reasons for "Ruhe, meine Seele!" to be performed as a prelude to "Im Abendrot".
↑ Richard Strauss Lieder, Complete Edition Vol. IV, London, 1965, Boosey & Hawkes
↑ "Ruhe, meine Seele!", in Moderne Dichter-Charaktere, p. 288, Leipzig 1885
↑ English Lyrics by John Bernhoff, Richard Strauss, Lieder Album (Universal edition 1343-9), Band 2 Number 8. 1904, Leipzig Jos.Aibl Verlag G.M.B.H.

External links

4 Lieder, Op. 27: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: "Rest my soul", English translation by Emily Ezust

Orchestral accompaniment

Recording on YouTube, Jessye Norman
Recording on YouTube, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Piano accompaniment

Recording on YouTube, Alfred Poell
Recording on YouTube, Kiri Te Kanawa
Recording on YouTube, Dima Orsho
Recording on YouTube, Richard Tauber
Recording on YouTube, Helen Traubel
Recording on YouTube, Birgit Nilsson

Richard Strauss

Operas	Guntram (1894) Feuersnot (1901) Salome (1905) Elektra (1909) Der Rosenkavalier (1911) Ariadne auf Naxos (1912/16) Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919) Intermezzo (1924) Die ägyptische Helena (1928) Arabella (1933) Die schweigsame Frau (1935) Friedenstag (1938) Daphne (1938) Die Liebe der Danae (1940) Capriccio (1942)

Ballets	Josephslegende (1914) Schlagobers (1924) Verklungene Feste (1940)

Orchestral	Violin Concerto in D minor (1881–82) Horn Concerto No. 1 (1882–83) Symphony No. 2 (1883–84) Burleske (1885–86) Le bourgeois gentilhomme (1911–17) Dance suite after keyboard pieces by Couperin (1923) Olympische Hymne (1936) Japanese Festival Music (1940) Divertimento for chamber orchestra after keyboard pieces by Couperin (1942) Metamorphosen (1945) Oboe Concerto in D major (1945)

Tone poems	Aus Italien (1886) Macbeth (1988) Don Juan (1888) Death and Transfiguration (1889) Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895) Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1896) Don Quixote (1897) Ein Heldenleben (1898) Symphonia Domestica (1903) An Alpine Symphony (1911–15)

Chamber music	Piano Sonata in B Minor (1881) Violin Sonata in E-flat (1888) Enoch Arden (1897)

Lieder and Choral	"Wandrers Sturmlied" (1884) "Zueignung" (1885) "Die Nacht" (1885) " Allerseelen" (1885) "Utan svafvel och fosfor" (1889) "Ruhe, meine Seele!" (1894) "Cäcilie" (1894) "Heimliche Aufforderung" (1894) "Morgen!" (1894) "Traum durch die Dämmerung" (1895) "Der Arbeitsmann" (1898) "Befreit" (1898) "Notturno" (1899) "Des Dichters Abendgang" (1900) "Frühlingsfeier" (1906) "Der Krämerspiegel'" (1921) Four Last Songs (1948)

Film adaptations	Der Rosenkavalier (1926 film)

Family and peers	Franz Strauss (father) Pauline de Ahna (wife) Hans von Bülow Hugo von Hofmannsthal Max Reinhardt Stefan Zweig

Related articles	Elektra chord Treatise on Instrumentation Modernism Neoclassicism Neo-romanticism

List of compositions

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