Der schönste Anblick

 

Der schönste Anblick - (2012)    

Justinus Kerner

for medium or high voice and piano

 

Schön ist's, wenn zwei Sterne
Nah sich stehn am Firmament,
Schön, wenn zweier Rosen
Röte ineinander brennt.

Doch in Wahrheit! immer
Ist's am schönsten anzusehn:
Wie zwei, so sich lieben,
Selig beieinander stehn.

2 pages, circa 2' 15"

Justinus Kerner

 

Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner (1786-1862) was a German poet and medical writer, whose lyrical work was set to music by many composers of his era, including Brahms, Strauss, and Robert Schumann's cycle is titled with the poet's name, Zwölf Gedichte von Justinus Kerner.  The text is taken from Kerner's collection, Die lyrischen Gedichte.
 

 

Beauteous, when two stars
Lie near together in the heavens.
Beauteous, when a pair of roses
Blush together as in flame.

But in truth! the greater
Beauteousness to be seen
Is when two who so love
Stand holy, one beside the other.

 

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The scansion of the text suggested an alternation of duple and triple meter, and the harmonic stress on the sub-dominant followed by the supertonic minor substitutes for the dominant in function. A short interlude between couplets bridges the changes of imagery, and each set of couplets rises in intensity in rhetorical fashion.

 

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.

 

Der schönste Anblick - high key

 

Der schönste Anblick - low key