The First Symphony of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann

Karl Amadeus Hartmann

Karl Amadeus Hartmann was a German composer. Some have lauded him as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century, although he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries.-Life:...

 was completed in 1955.

Subtitled Versuch eines Requiem (Essay Towards a Requiem), the piece began life in 1936 as a cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 for alto

Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

 solo and orchestra, setting translations of poetry by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

. Hartmann appended the title Unser Leben: Symphonisches Fragment (Our Life: Symphonic Fragment) in 1938, intending the piece as a comment on conditions under the Nazi regime. Unsurprisingly it went unperformed during these years, as did the majority of Hartmann's output, and it was not until 1948 that the piece was performed in Frankfurt a.M..

Hartmann revisited the piece in the early 1950s. At this point, his designated First Symphony had been Miserae

Miserae

Miserae is a symphonic poem by the German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann.Composed in 1933-34, it was written in response to the plight of those who died in the first Nazi internment camps...

. However Hartmann withdrew that work, and in 1954-55 after further revision, re-designated this piece as his First Symphony, with its new title Versuch eines Requiem. It was first performed in its final version in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 on 22 June 1957 by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Vienna Symphony Orchestra

-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...

 under Nino Sanzogno

Nino Sanzogno

Nino Sanzogno was an Italian conductor and composer.He studied the violin with Guarneri and composition with Agostini at the Venice Liceo Musicale, and later conducting in Vienna with Hermann Scherchen...

 with soloist Hilde Rössel-Majdan. It is his only numbered symphony to include a vocal part.

Settings

Hartmann did not set complete poems by Whitman, instead opting for extracts. The third movement is purely orchestral.

1. Introduktion: Elend (Introduction: Misery) Text from I Sit and Look Out
   
2. Frühling (Spring) Text from When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
   When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
   When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd is an elegy written by Walt Whitman shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865...
   
   
   
3. Thema mit vier Variationen (Theme with four variations)
   
4. Tränen (Tears) Text from Tears
   
5. Epilog: Bitte (Epilogue: Supplication) Text from Pensive on her Dead Gazing