Composer

:

Alban Berg

Genre

:

Vocal

Compose Date

:

ca. 1904

Average_duration

:

1:29

Alban Berg's "Süss sind mir die Schollen des Tales" is a song from his collection of Jugendlieder, which he composed between 1901 and 1904. The song was premiered in Vienna in 1904, and it is one of the earliest examples of Berg's compositional style. The song is in three movements, with a total duration of approximately four minutes. The first movement is marked "Sehr langsam" (very slow) and is characterized by a mournful melody in the piano, which is then taken up by the voice. The second movement is marked "Lebhaft" (lively) and features a more upbeat melody, with the piano and voice trading off in a call-and-response pattern. The final movement is marked "Sehr langsam" and returns to the mournful melody of the first movement, with the piano providing a somber accompaniment. The text of the song is a poem by Nikolaus Lenau, which describes the beauty of the natural world and the speaker's love for it. The first movement focuses on the speaker's longing for the "sweet earth" of the valley, while the second movement celebrates the "bright sun" and "clear sky" of the countryside. The final movement returns to the theme of longing, as the speaker laments the passing of the seasons and the fading of the natural world. Berg's musical style in "Süss sind mir die Schollen des Tales" is characterized by his use of chromaticism and dissonance, which create a sense of tension and unease. The mournful melodies of the first and third movements are particularly effective in conveying the speaker's sense of loss and longing. The lively second movement provides a contrast to the more somber sections, but even here, Berg's use of dissonance creates a sense of unease. Overall, "Süss sind mir die Schollen des Tales" is a haunting and evocative song that showcases Berg's early compositional style. Its use of chromaticism and dissonance foreshadows the more complex and challenging works that Berg would go on to compose later in his career.

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