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Lass lieben mich - (2013)
Bertram Kottmann, after Sara Teasdale
for medium voice and piano
Lass lieben mich
bis meine Seele ich verlier und blind
der Erde Schönheit nicht mehr seh,
und taub, wiewohl umweht von lyrisch sanftem Wind,
und stumm in einem Sturm der Freude steh;
Lass lieben mich
bis meines Herzens Durst gestillt zuletzt
und ich gegangen bin von dieser Erd,
o, lass mit aller Kraft mich lieben, jetzt,
selbst wenn mich niemand leibend mehr begehrt.Copyright © 2013 Bertram Kottmann
2 pages, circa 2' 15"
Kottmann's interpretation of Sara Teasdale's poem, A Prayer, was sent to me yesterday referencing my recent setting of the Teasdale text. His words suggested a setting different in part from my setting of the poem in English and titled Let me love.
Bertram wrote of "My tottering bridge across the untranslatable," which seems most meaningful and quite the parallel of Stravinsky's seemingly casual remark, "I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it." Such is the sense of words as one imagines the music which is untranslatable and yet quite real. We grope and feel our way forward in art as in life and in love. For other settings of Kottmann's texts, click here.
A simple "rhyme" scheme of shifted roots of chords in a succession -- C/D, D/C, E/F and F/E -- sets the tone of the setting. The adagio introduction appears in a variation as the bridge material as well as a short ending for this two strophe song.
The score for Lass lieben mich 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.
