Neue Liebeslieder, Op.65: Study score

In the wake of the success of his first volume of Liebeslieder-Walzer of 1869, Brahms set another 14 songs to the same poetry from Polydora, the 1855 collection of German folk-poems and love-songs assembled by George Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875) plus a conclusion set to a poem of Goethe - "Zum Schluss". Composed from 1869 through 1874, the second volume also features numbers for solo voices placed between the 4-voice settings. The first performance was given in Karlsruhe on May 8, 1875 of nine selections with four vocalists accompanied by Otto Dessoff and the composer on the piano.

The conductor Ernst Rudorff persuaded Brahms to orchestrate the accompaniment for No.9 (plus 8 numbers from the earlier Op.52 set) for a concert given at Berlin's Hochschule on March 19, 1870. Offered here is Richard Sargeant's thoroughly researched, meticulously edited and engraved complete score, including variants. Brahms' own earlier variant of the ninth song is present along with the final version of 1875. This new orchestration includes the Brahms' 1870 orchestration of the ninth song while the rest (including the final version of No.9) have been freshly orchestrated by Sargeant with the same forces employed by the composer.

1. Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung
2. Finstere Schatten der Nacht
3. An jeder Hand die Finger
4. Ihr schwarzen Augen
5. Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn
6. Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter
7. Vom Gebirge Well auf Well
8. Weiche Gräser im Revier
9. Nagen am Herzen fühl ich ein Gift mir
10. Ich kose süß mit der und der
11. Alles, alles in den Wind
12. Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten
13. Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
14. Flammenauge, dunkles Haar
15. Zum Schluss

SATB soli (chorus) / Orchestra (2d1, 2, 2, 2 - 2, 0, 0, 0 - strs) ; ISMN: 979-0-58042-084-8