Tenor Robert Dean Smith sings "On Youth" from Mahler's Song of the Earth, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink, in November 2006 (part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Haitink's association with the orchestra).
MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth):
iii. "Von der Jugend" ("On Youth")
[English translation by Deryck Cooke]
In the middle of the little pool
stands a pavilion of green
and of white porcelain.
Like the back of a tiger
arches the bridge of jade
over to the pavilion.
In the little house friends are sitting,
beautifully dressed, drinking, chatting;
several are writing verses.
Their silken sleeves slip
backwards, their silken caps
perch gaily on the back of their necks.
On the little pool's still
surface everything appears
fantastically in a mirror image.
Everything is standing on its head
in the pavilion of green
and of white porcelain;
Like a half-moon stands the bridge,
upside-down its arch. Friends,
beautifully dressed, are drinking, chatting.
by Ken
As I explained last night, heading toward tomorrow's Sunday Classics post, we're working our way backwards through the three tenor songs (Nos. 1, 3, and 5) of Mahler's Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde), starting last night with the last of them, "The Drunk in Spring" ("Der Trunkene im Frühling"). Tonight we come to the shortest of the song symphony's six movements, No. 3, "On Youth" ("Von der Jugend"), which typically lasts 3-3½ minutes -- though tomorrow we're going to hear the longest as well as most remarkable performance of the song I've ever heard.
FOR THIS SONG I PROMISED YOU A STORY . . .
. . . of "the special personal identification that opened this song up for me -- or perhaps opened me up for this song" type. Here goes.
