Aus alten Märchen
F.162
A compact SATB a cappella setting of Heine’s fairy-tale poem in German. Gentle homophonic outer sections frame a vivid melismatic center where independent voices evoke the singing trees and swirling mist-figures of the poet’s enchanted land.
Perusal Score
Program Notes
Heine’s Poem XLIV from Lyrisches Intermezzo conjures a fairy-tale land where flowers glow in golden light, trees sing ancient melodies, and mist-figures dance in a wondrous chorus. The poet aches to reach this enchanted place—only to watch it dissolve like foam each morning. It is a poem about longing for something beautiful that can never quite be grasped.
The ABA′ form mirrors the poem’s arc. The outer sections are gentle and homophonic—the choir moves together, painting the image of the beckoning white hand and the final wish to be free and happy. Between them, the middle section (mm. 11–22) comes alive with independent melismatic lines as each voice takes up its own thread of the fairy-tale imagery: the singing trees, the secret breezes, the birds bursting in. This is where the enchanted land feels most vivid, and each singer briefly becomes part of its landscape.
The piece ends not on the home key of F major but on a unison G—the poet’s longing left suspended, the fairy-tale land still just out of reach.
Performance Notes
The melismatic middle section (mm. 11–22)—with 16th-note runs, non-imitative counterpoint, and long phrases requiring breath control—concentrates the piece’s difficulty and places it at Level 3 (Intermediate). The homophonic outer sections and compact ABA′ form make it an efficient festival piece that demonstrates a cappella intonation, vocal agility, and German diction in just two minutes.
Rehearsal Resources
The Text
Poem XLIV
Aus alten Märchen winkt es
hervor mit weißer Hand,
da singt es und da klingt es
von einem Zauberland;
wo bunte Blumen blühen
im gold’nen Abendlicht,
und lieblich duftend glühen
mit bräutlichem Gesicht;
Und grüne Bäume singen
uralte Melodei’n,
die Lüfte heimlich klingen,
und Vögel schmettern drein;
Und Nebelbilder steigen
wohl aus der Erd’ hervor,
und tanzen luft’gen Reigen
im wunderlichen Chor;
…
Ach! könnt’ ich dorthin kommen,
und dort mein Herz erfreu’n,
und aller Qual entnommen,
und frei und selig sein!
Ach! jenes Land der Wonne,
das seh’ ich oft im Traum,
doch kommt die Morgensonne,
zerfließt’s wie eitel Schaum.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)
About This Recording
Recorded by the Byrd Ensemble on Stories (2017), directed and produced by Markdavin Obenza.