Theresa Pilsl. Jonas Müller. Leonard Becker
How do I get in the door?

"This is probably the first time that I have looked with tenderness at what comes from me ...", Brahms wrote in a letter to his friend Hermann Deiters in June 1894, having previously confessed to his publisher Karl Simrock: "The only work whose publication I enjoy". This "single work" is by no means one of his grandiose symphonies or the comforting "German Requiem", but the collection of "German Folk Songs op. 49", his most extensive and demanding collection of folk song arrangements, published in seven volumes of seven songs each.

The intimate character of these songs is in the tradition of bourgeois domestic music, which was at its peak in Brahms' time. This origin is brought to life by the two alumni of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie, soprano Theresa Pilsl and baritone Jonas Müller, accompanied by Leonard Becker on guitar. The predominantly simple accompaniment movement is usually interpreted by the piano today, but Brahms himself mentioned to his friend Philipp Spitta that he had never felt the need to "enjoy the folk songs with the piano"...

The selection of songs includes "Wie komm' ich denn zur Tür hinein", in which Brahms deliberately did not set the insinuating last verse, which asks how the cheeky visitor might get under the warm blanket. In addition, one of Brahms' best song arrangements "In stiller Nacht", whose sophisticated tension between voice and accompaniment approaches the character of the art song.

Concert without intermission


Theresa Pilsl

Soprano

Jonas Müller

Baritone

Leonard Becker

Guitar


Johannes Brahms
German folk songs WoO 33 (selection):
Tell me oh most beautiful shepherdess mine
I stood on a high mountain
Beautiful eyes, beautiful beams
Feinsliebchen, you should not go barefoot for me
Soll sich der Mond nicht heller scheinen
Wake up my beautiful heart
Allow me, fine girl
Maiden, shall I go with you
Quite lovely has come together
Die Sonne scheint nicht mehr
How do I get in the door

Manuel M. Ponce
Andante espressivo and Allegretto vivo from Sonata Romántica

Johannes Brahms
German folk songs WoO 33 (selection):
Mein Mädel hat einen Rosenmund
There in the willows stands a house
Oh, I could spend this evening
All my thoughts that I have
It was a margrave
Little sister
Es steht ein Lind
A knight rode
I have a beautiful little brown maiden
In the silent night