Schumann: Zwielicht

Matthias Goerne, one of the world’s leading Lieder singers, has recorded a new Schumann album for Deutsche Grammophon with pianist Markus Hinterhäuser. On Zwielicht (“Twilight”), they perform   the Liederkreis, Op. 39, a cycle setting poems by Joseph von Eichendorff; three of the four Gesänge des Harfners from Op. 98a (Lieder und Gesänge aus “Wilhelm Meister”) and the Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, Op. 135. Zwielicht will be released digitally and on CD on 24 July 2026.

The works on Zwielicht span twelve years of Schumann’s song-writing career – from his miraculous Liederjahr, or “Year of Song”, to the health crisis he suffered in 1852. The composer wrote the Eichendorff Liederkreis within three weeks in May 1840. These 12 songs were among the total of around 140 he wrote over the course of that particular year, which also saw him finally able to marry Clara Wieck. While Heine’s words encouraged a kind of febrile introspection from Schumann, Eichendorff’s poetry inspired musical portrayals of Romantic landscapes in songs such as “Mondnacht” (“Moonlit Night”), “Auf einer Burg” (“In a Castle”) and the title track of this album, “Zwielicht”.

Schumann set to music the Harper’s songs from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister in 1849, during the same period in which he was working on the Scenen aus Goethes Faust. The musical language is different here: lyricism gives way to a more questioning, analytical gaze; the songs of the wandering musician become painfully inward-looking soliloquies.

Composed in December 1852, Schumann’s final song cycle, the Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, is even more austere. The five songs follow Mary Queen of Scots from her “Farewell to France” (“Abschied von Frankreich”) to a pre-execution prayer (“Gebet”). Schumann employs a recitative-like style in spare, direct music that faces death head on.

The latest addition to Matthias Goerne’s acclaimed DG discography Zwielicht joins Beethoven Lieder (with Jan Lisiecki, 2020), Im Abendrot (with Seong-Jin Cho, 2021), Lieder (with Daniil Trifonov, 2022) and Schubert Revisited (with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, 2023) in what has become one of the most remarkable Lieder projects of our time.

Tracklisting:
Liederkreis op. 39, nach Gedichten von Joseph von Eichendorf

01. I. In der Fremde "Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot"

02. II. Intermezzo

03. III. Waldesgespräch

04. IV. Die Stille

05. V. Mondnacht

06. VI. Schöne Fremde

07. VII. Auf einer Burg

08. VIII In der Fremde "Ich hör' die Bächlein rauschen"

09. IX Wehmut 

10. X. Zwielicht

11. XI. Im Walde

12. XII. Frühlingsnacht

Gesänge des Harfners aus op. 98a (Lieder und Gesänge aus Goethes Wilhelm Meister)

13.VI. Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt

14. VIII. An die Türen will ich schleichen

15. IV. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß

Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, op. 135

16. I. Abschied von Frankreich

17. II. Nach der Geburt ihres Sohnes

18. III. An die Königin Elisabeth

19. IV. Abschied von der Welt