Johannes Brahms
Zigeunerlieder Op. 103
1. He, Zigeuner, greife in die Saiten
2. Hochgetürmte Rimaflut
3. Wißt ihr, wann mein Kindchen
4. Lieber Gott, du weißt
5. Brauner Bursche führt zum Tanze
6. Röslein dreie in der Reihe
7. Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn
8. Horch, der Wind klagt in den Zweigen
9. Weit und breit schaut niemand mich an
10. Mond verhüllt sein Angesicht
11. Rote Abendwolken ziehn
BBC Singers conducted by Stefan Parkman
Susan Tomes, piano
The Zigeunerlieder ("Gypsy songs") op. 103 and op. 112, nr. 3–6, are a song cycle for 4 singers (or choir) and piano. The texts are Hungarian folk songs in German adaptation by Hugo Conrat (originally: Hugo Cohn (1845–1906)), belonging to the Brahms circle in Vienna. The first translation of the texts was in fact from the Hungarian nurse of the Conrat family.
The first eleven pieces of the cycle, which formed some well-connected story, were put to music by Brahms either in his Thun summer of 1887 or in winter 1887/88 straight-away during a stay in Budapest. In Brahms’s total work the Zigeunerlieder can be seen – on the one hand – as als vocal counterpart of the Hungarian Dances and – on the other hand – as exotic counterpart to the more-referenced Liebesliederwalzer op. 52 und 65.
The first public performance of the songs op. 103 was on 31 October 1898 in Berlin, with great success, although the presentation of the opus in a concert hall presented some bad feelings to the composer, since Brahms had conceived his opus genuinely for soloist quartets, and had thought of performances at home. Nonetheless the songs are also suited for (small) choirs, particularly in connection with the voluminous sound of modern pianos. As a consequence, performances by choirs in concert are now the rule. CD-representations are, instead, frequently performed by soloists.
