Aufklänge (Resonances)
Hausegger’s
last symphonic work, Aufklänge, is a set of variations on the
once-familiar nursery song “Sleep, Baby Sleep”. He thought of the work as a complement
to Die Natursymphonie,
the one bringing man into a cosmic relation with Nature, the other
establishing man within his own subjective experience. The text is:
Schlaf’,
Kindchen schlaf’ Sleep, baby sleep
Der
Vater hüt’t die Schaf While father guards the sheep
Die
Mutter schüttelt’s Bäumelein And mama rocks her baby’s bough
Da fällt herab die Träumelein Till tiny dreams fall o’er thee now
Schlaf,’
Kindchen schlaf’ Sleep, baby sleep
Aufklänge reflects the
“dream-like optimistic and deeply reverie-like feelings of a father beside his
child’s cradle.” (The work is dedicated to his son, Friedrich.) The general
layout of the piece is a theme and eight variations, followed by an elaborate
scherzo-like section Hausegger describes as “the
roaring song of a visionary view of life”. The music concludes with a return to
the musing of its beginning.
He finished the work in Sept. 1917,
at Obergrainau. Premiered in 1919 at the Tonkunstlerfest der Allgemein Deutscher Musikverein in
3 flutes
(piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, D clarinet, 2 Bb clarinets, bass clarinet (Bb
#2
when the D
clarinet’s playing), 3 bassoons (contrabassoon)
6 horns,
4 C trumpets
2 tympanists, 2 percussion- crash cymbals, triangle,
glockenspiel (If the percussionists
aren’t territorial
and union regs allow it, 3 players overall will
suffice.)
celeste, harp (2 or 3 if possible), 62
strings (32/12/10/8)
Aufklänge begins with calm string
harmonies, which both serve as a slow introduction and to establish the
fundamental F major tonality of the work. After this, we hear the lullaby itself.
Ex. 1
The first variation is so short as to be hardly more than a transition to the
second. Supported by string arpeggios, the horns sound the theme, harmonized
with, appropriately, horn fifths. The second
variation is a faster 6/8 in the manner of a barcarolle. Its predominant colors are the high woodwinds
and celeste, enriched with a handsome violin
countermelody.
Ex. 2
The third variation is more
tender, with an especially attractive violin and clarinet duet
Ex. 3
This
variation mingles in the first two bars of the lullaby, building to a climax,
then a decrescendo, where the horns play a couple a couple of - very oblique -
bars’ transition into the fourth
variation in D major, where for the first time the work strays from its
basic F major tonality.
Over the theme in the celli, the
upper strings and woodwinds play an eloquent countertheme
with crossing voices in the strings creating the harmonic inner parts. The B
minor of the theme itself versus the D major of the countermelodies and the
pedal D creates a bimodal tension between the major key and its relative minor
(Ex. 4).
Ex. 4
Eventually,
with the lullaby on the horns, the music segues into B minor. The fifth variation begins with an
overlapping dialogue, or as Hausegger wrote “the
bassoons clumsily stumble behind one another” (Ex. 5)
Ex. 5
The
orchestra then snatches up the theme “with arrogant menace”
Ex. 6
building
to a powerful tutti segment which suddenly breaks off
to resume the introductory dialogue, this time adding clarinets to the
discussion. The somewhat grotesque nature of the music prepares us for the sixth variation, “a spooky, extended
scherzo” which begins with the theme on the celeste,
accompanied by harp syncopations and rustling string figures.
Ex. 7
A center
scherzando section, highlighting the woodwinds, uses
the first two and the last four beats of the lullaby in retrograde.
Ex. 8
As
momentum gathers, a new agitated chromatic theme joins in on the strings and
higher woodwinds.
Ex. 9
Its
relation to Ex. 8 is plain. The stormy pace continues, climaxing on an A flat
seventh chord, to have its momentum undercut by a D natural in the bass
instruments and tympani. After this, there’s a short reprise of shadowy opening
bars of the introduction to the section.
A brief transition leads to the seventh variation a rather pensive
adagio in D flat major. First the horns, then the violins, play a longing
transformation of the lullaby.
Ex. 10
Adding a
note of anguish, the music builds to a crescendo over the bass instruments
playing a version of the original theme’s ninth and tenth bars. Eventually, it
dies away, returning to the D flat tonality via this cadence:
Ex. 11
The eighth variation,
in A major, combines the first bars of the theme
with a countermelody on the flute (part of the lullaby in retrograde):
Ex. 12
These
form an ostinato accompanying “an intimate melody” on
the violin.
Ex. 13
The
general light coloration of this variation contrasts with the emotional depth
of its predecessor. The vision of the child’s song fades away, the music via a
deceptive cadence, returning to F major. An expectant stillness overcomes the
music, vanishing in a diminished seventh chord. As an introduction to the
elaborate final section of the work, we hear (Mahlerian)
bird calls on the flutes, based on the first notes of the lullaby.
Ex. 14
The
woodwind choir, then the entire orchestra joins in till the violas begin a
fugato passage, its subject based on the second bird call.
Ex. 15
Its
development reaches a climax in C major, then, after a diminuendo, a “love
song” appears on the solo violin, then the celli (Ex.16).
Ex. 16
Another fugal segment, based on the
second bar of Ex. 15 ensues, with the bird-calls chiming in. The music gets
increasingly energetic, not to say bumptious, including a sweeping variant of
Ex. 16 for divisi violins and violas, till abruptly,
“the child’s laughter vanishes”. A violin theme reminiscent of Ex. 16
introduces a second episode.
Ex. 17
A
compressed reappearance of the fugato passage resumes, the entries every 2,
rather than 4, bars. Its momentum is tautened by hemiola
rhythms, climaxing in a vaulting melody on the strings and woodwinds, combined
with brass fanfares derived from the bird-calls. Underpinning all this is the
fugal subject, Ex. 15. Aufklänge
is Hausegger’s most diatonic orchestral work. E. g.,
in all this contrapuntal activity, there’s scarcely an accidental; “serene
child-like innocence subdues the world!” (Ex. 18)
Ex. 18
After a
short reprise of the fugue theme, the music again broadens out over this melody
in the strings
Ex. 19
The
waves of sound subside, leading to the coda, using the first bars of the
lullaby in extended asymmetric phrases, to lead to this elegiac violin theme:
Ex. 20
Reminiscences
of the bird-calls reappear. Over an F pedal, a further violin melody unfolds,
along with muted reminiscences of the last phrase of the lullaby (recall the
words are “Sleep, baby sleep”) on the harp and horns.
Ex. 21
We could consider Aufklänge as a
counterpart to Strauss’ Domestic
Symphony, minus the literal details of the yowling baby, the lovemaking parents
or the cooing relatives. Like the Strauss work, it centers on the child, but in
a more sublimated form. We also hear Mahler’s influence. Although it could simply
be the composer desiring a lighter texture at key moments, the absence of the
lower brass inevitably recalls Mahler’s Fourth (Hausegger
was at its premier). The critical role of the bird-calls in the final segment,
especially in their rubato phrasing, also pays homage
to a Mahler trait.
After Aufklänge, von Hausegger
wrote nothing further for orchestra. Partly this was due to his increasingly
successful career as a conductor, which, as his son noted, took up more and
more of his time. Nontheless, I’m inclined to think
it’s also a case of the times being out of joint. We see a similar drying up in
contemporary composers as different as Sibelius and von Schillings.
To someone of Hausegger’s
idealistic, otherworldly bent, with his veneration of the musical art, the
paths being taken by, say Krenek or Weill must have
seemed like a sacrilege. Alternately, that of Schönberg
and his 12-tone technique would probably have struck him as denying the very
notion of inspiration. Neither was a direction he could take, thus he sought
refuge in the classics, devoting his life to their interpretation and the
education of a new generation. One does one’s best and hopes for a vindication
from future explorations - like this one.