“Im Sommerwind“ Idyll for Orchestra - Anton Webern

The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi. I - Ruhig bewegt - Ruhig - Lustig - Feierlich bewegt - Ganz langsam und weihevoll - Lustig - Aufjauchzend - Sehr langsam - Sehr ruhig und weihevoll: 0:00 Webern’s “Im Sommerwind“ (In the Summer Wind) was composed in 1904, just weeks before the composer began his music education as pupil of Arnold Schönberg. The work was never performed nor published in his lifetime as he considered it a youthful work, but nonethless he liked it and kept it as a memento of his youth. Much long after in 1945, as the soviet troops were advancing towards Vienna, the composer buried some of his belongings in the garden of his house, this piece among them. Webern then took his wife to the seeming safety of the mountain village of Mittersill, near Salzburg. Unfortunatelly, the composer was shot by an american soldier from the occupying forces. His daughter-in-law later recovered these buried objects. It wouldn’t be until 1961 that the musologist Hans Moldenhauer rediscovered the manuscript. It was finally premiered in May 26 of 1962, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, during the Seattle World’s Fair and the simultaneous First International Webern Festival. The work was inspired by both his idyllic surroundings while staying at his family’s estate in Carinthia, and a poem of the same name by Bruno Wille, a contemporary German writer and philosopher. Wille’s rhapsodic verse revels in the beauties of an alpine landscape, extolling its power to heal the soul. Stylistically, it shows the influence of composers like Wagner, Strauss and Mahler. Schönberg told the composer that the piece represented an aesthetic dead end, after which Webern would turn to atonality and dodecaphonism in the following decades. The work begins with a brief and peaceful introduction, with the orchestra slowly entering. Gentle phrases of the woodwinds are similar to bird chants. A lyrical and expansive main theme is presented by the strings, calid like the summer wind. The oboe also presents a short playful motive, followed by the flute. This leads us to a climatic development of these materials. A solemn and expressive climax is reached as the theme reappears on the brass along the strings. The development joyfully and brilliantly continues, leading to a very intimate pianissimo passage for strings and woods. The clarinet forms a bucolic trio with the harp and violin., followed by other combinations of instruments in a chamber-like scene. The music suddenly rushes excitedly, leading us to a massive climax of romantic yearning, followed by a peaceful and meditative passage which recapitulates the main theme in a varied manner. The music sweetly and gently dissolves into the silence as it fades away. Picture: “The Sower“ (1888) by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Musical analysis partially written by myself. Sources: , and