"Morgen!" ("Tomorrow!") is the last in a set of four songs composed in 1894 by the German composer Richard Strauss. It is designated Opus 27, Number 4.

The German love poem Morgen! which is the text of the song was written by Strauss's contemporary, John Henry Mackay, of partly Scottish descent but brought up in Germany.

History

Strauss had met Mackay in Berlin, and set Morgen! to music on 21 May 1894. It was one of his four Lieder Opus 27, a wedding present to his wife Pauline. Initially, he set the accompaniment for piano alone, and for piano with violin. In 1897 he arranged the piece for orchestra with violin solo.

Morgen! remains one of Strauss's best-known and most widely recorded works. Strauss himself recorded it in 1919 accompanying the tenor Robert Hutt on the piano, and again in 1941 conducting the orchestral version with tenor Julius Patzak and the Bavarian State Orchestra.

Instrumentation of accompaniment

Strauss wrote the song originally to be accompanied by piano. In 1897 he orchestrated the accompaniment for orchestral strings plus a solo violin, a harp, and three horns. The orchestral strings are muted, and the dynamic throughout is pianissimo or softer. The harp, playing arpeggios, and the solo violin accompany continuously, and the horns do not play until the last few bars when the violin pauses before ending with an ascending phrase. The last chord is joined by a solo horn.

Text

A translation which is as close as possible to the original German, but adapted to flow in English:

And tomorrow the sun will shine again

And on the way which I shall follow

She will again unite us lucky ones

As all around us the earth breathes in the sun

Slowly, silently, we will climb down

To the wide beach and the blue waves

In silence, we will look in each other's eyes

And the mute stillness of happiness will sink upon us

Opus 27

The other songs of Strauss' Opus 27:

• Op. 27 No. 1 "Ruhe, meine Seele!" (Nicht ein Lüftchen regt sich leise)
• Op. 27 No. 2 "Cäcilie" (Wenn du es wüßtest)
• Op. 27 No. 3 "Heimliche Aufforderung" (Auf, hebe die funkelnde Schale)

References and notes

1. ^ Richard Strauss Lieder, Complete Edition Vol. IV, London, 1965, Boosey & Hawkes
2. ^ Strauss made a few changes to Mackay's words
3. ^ In line 3 Strauss replaced Mackay's "Seligen" with "Glücklichen"
4. ^ In the last line Strauss replaced Mackay's "großes" with "stummes"