Rachel Harnisch
soprano
|
Jan Philip Schulze
piano
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
“Das Marienleben” (“The Life of Mary”), Op. 27 (1948 version)
The premiere of his opera “Sancta Susanna” in 1922 earned Paul Hindemith a reputation as an enfant terrible and iconoclast to whom nothing was sacred. In this one-act piece he dramatized the carnal desires of a young nun who falls into a state of rapture at the sight of the crucifix and tears the loincloth from the Savior … So it’s no wonder that Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem cycle “Das Marien-Leben” (“The Life of Mary”) aroused Hindemith’s interest. In this work the Holy Virgin is represented as entirely earthly and human in her joys and sorrows, her sexuality and motherhood, as someone who suffers pain and death. Hindemith proceeded to set it to music in close proximity to the “Susanna” scandal. Just how important this song cycle was to him can be fathomed by the fact that between 1935 and 1948 he returned to the score, fundamentally revising it. This second version will be performed by Swiss soprano Rachel Harnisch, who has earned the admiration of Lucerne audiences thanks to several concert appearances with Claudio Abbado.
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