{"id":826,"date":"2016-06-19T06:58:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T13:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=826"},"modified":"2016-06-19T06:58:42","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T13:58:42","slug":"of-roses-and-lilies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=826","title":{"rendered":"Of Roses and Lilies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Johannes Brahms lullaby (Wiegenlied<\/em>) in the original German version speaks of roses and carnations covering the baby’s crib. For some reason the carnations became lilies in the English translation; and it\u00a0goes on to wish the child a blessed slumber, when the German version hopes that the child, God willing, will survive the night and wake\u00a0up in the morning. In the second verse, the English version talks about the mother at whose breast the child will wake, when the original mentions angels, and hopes for\u00a0glimpses\u00a0of paradise in the child’s dreams. Hm. I guess it had to rhyme.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6oBIJTnqXMg<\/a><\/p>\n

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But of course it suits my plan to introduce some music for roses and lilies, since they are the chosen\u00a0flowers to bring\u00a0this week to a close. There are not that many musical pieces about lilies, and the ones I found were on the early side. That might have to do with the symbolic function of lilies in medieval religious paintings, where they symbolized the purity\u00a0of Mary, Susannah and the occasional Saint.\u00a0\"medium_Maestro_della_madonna_str2\"Maestro della Madonna Strauss, Annunciation, ca. 1390<\/p>\n

Here is a John Dowland piece sung beautifully by countertenor Andreas Scholl:https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qlGnt6kxYMA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Roses are a different story: there is an abundance of music, from every possible period, tackling the topic. In no particular order some of my favorites: Schumann, of course,\u00a0Meine Rose;\u00a0<\/em>Benjamin Britten,\u00a0<\/em>The Nightingale and the Rose;\u00a0<\/em>Gounod’s\u00a0Les\u00a0<\/em>temps des roses;<\/i> Richard Strauss’\u00a0Das Rosenband.\u00a0<\/em>Faur\u00e9’s\u00a0Les Rose d’Ispahan <\/em>sung tenderly\u00a0by Elly Ameling.\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oZ4Z2sBeWeQ<\/a><\/p>\n

And of course there is\u00a0Der Rosenkavalier<\/em>, my favorite opera of all times. But instead of young Octavian twirling silver roses around I decided to post Leo Delibe’s flower duet from\u00a0Lakm\u00e9. \u00a0<\/em>Yes, we all have heard it a million times, but it is such beautiful music and so right for the flowers it names in all their complexity, fragility,\u00a0impermanence. Enjoy!<\/p>\n