"Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by
forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down."
AUTHOR: Hector Berlioz
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"Artistic inspiration is fleeting
(passing quickly) and unexpected."
SONGS MY MOTHER
that he had published in 1859 entitled
Despite a negative response from the press,
(Slovakian Gypsies came from a mountainous land
Within the set of Dvorak's seven "Gypsy Songs" the
SONGS MY MOTHER
(passing quickly) and unexpected."
COMPOSER:
ANTONIN DVORAK
 |
| Dante Gabriel Rossetti: The Two Mothers, 1851 |
SONGS MY MOTHER
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Paul Robeson, Vocals
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| http://musicofyesterday.com/sheet-music-s/song-mother-taught/ |
SONGS MY MOTHER
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Joan Sutherland, Vocals
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| George Dunlop Leslie: Home, Sweet Home |
SONGS MY MOTHER
TAUGHT MEOP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Richard Crooks, Vocals
 |
| James Abbott McNeill Whistler: At the Piano |
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
Brigham Young University Women's Chorus
(Gypsy Melodies), in January, 1880 at the
request of the leading tenor at Vienna's Hofoper
(Vienna Court Opera; precursor to the Staatsoper),
 |
| Opera House in Vienna c 1890 |
Prague born,
especially for him. Walter
had long admired Dvorak's
songs and frequently presented
Dvorak's songs at his recitals.
As text material for the songs, Dvorak
chose seven poems from the first part
of the collection of Poems by the
Czech poet Adolf Heyduk,
 |
| Adolf Heyduk (1835-1923) |
a professor at Písek (fifty miles south of Prague).
 |
| Písek |
Gypsy Melodies, celebrating the freedom
of Roma (Gypsy) life.
 |
Pierre Auguste Renoir:
Italian Girl (Roma)
with Tambourine, 1881
|
GYPSIES, ROMA, TRAVELLERS:
to portray gypsy life as romantic, em-
phasizing their love for song and music.
 |
| Mucha: Gypsy Girl |
Gypsy Melodies, partly due to the fashionable
appeal at that time for romantically
idealized gypsy motifs
 |
| Richard Lipps: Gypsy Dance |
 |
| Carpathian Mountains, Slovakia |
then considered by the more westernized
Bohemians to be wilder and more
exotic than their own),
 |
| Alfred J. Muinnings: Gypsy Caravan at Ringland Hills |
became extremely popular among
readers and was later published in
several editions. These poems portray notonly the
uninhibited freedom of gypsy life, the
bond between man and nature, but also, by
implication, the Czech people's bid to liberate
the Czech nation from Habsburg rule.
 |
| Pierre Renoir: Guitar Lessons |
In deference to the singer, and to the
commercial sense of his Berlin-based
publisher Simrock, Dvorak set the poems not
in their original Czech but in German, using a
translation prepared by the poet Heyduk him-
self in such a way that, in declamatory terms,
the German version kept as close as possible
to the Czech original. The songs were publish-
ed soon afterwards in 1880 and were premier-
ed at Walter's recital in Vienna on February
4,1881 becoming an immediate success. Be-
cause the songs were only published with a
German text the Czech press was highly crit-
ical. Simrock soon brought out a Czech
edition of the text with an added English
translation by Natalie Macfarren.
 |
| Francis Day: The Piano Lesson, 1895 |
most famous and beloved song, with its both sad and
optimistic memorable melody, is song number
four titled "Songs My Mother Taught Me."
optimistic memorable melody, is song number
four titled "Songs My Mother Taught Me."
 |
| Walter-Dendy Sadler: Home Sweet Home |
SONGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME
Lyrics by Alfred Heyduk
Translation by Natalie Macfarren
Songs my mother taught me,
Lyrics by Alfred Heyduk
Translation by Natalie Macfarren
Songs my mother taught me,
In the days long vanished;
Seldom from her eyelids
Were the teardrops banished.
Now I teach my children,
Each melodious measure.
Oft the tears are flowing,
Oft they flow from my memory’s treasure.
Although this piece, Songs My Mother Taught Me, was
 |
| Jean-François Garneray: La leçon de Piano |
Were the teardrops banished.
 |
| Harry Brooker: The Recital |
Each melodious measure.
 |
| Osmund Cain: The Rehearsal, 1946 |
Oft they flow from my memory’s treasure.
 |
| Karl Harald Alfred Broge: The First Music Lesson |
originally written for piano and voice, it was later
transcribed for violin and piano (published in 1914)
by the famous violinist, Fritz Kreisler,
 |
| Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) |
who's performance of the song, which he
played frequently, helped make it famous.
 |
Arthur Hughes: Home Quartet
(Mrs. Vernon Lushington and Her Daughters)
|
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Fritz Kreisler, Arranger/Violin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlktfcLNAJ0&feature=related
SONGS MY MOTHER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlktfcLNAJ0&feature=related
 |
| Arthur Hughes: Of Love and Beauty |
SONGS MY MOTHER
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Itzhak Perlman, Violin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDGYNFXbKV0
To create a purely instrumental piece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDGYNFXbKV0
 |
| George Goodwin Kilburne: The Recital, 1924 |
 |
| Cope Charles West: The Music Lesson, 1869 |
the vocal part (or melody) has often been
transcribed for various instruments.
TAUGHT ME
OP. 55, NO. 4
From: Seven Gypsy Songs
Yo Yo Ma, Cello
This song, with a wonderful melody and
strong emotional impact, comprises two
stanzas, a prelude, interlude and postlude.
The theme itself consists of two eight-bar
periods (the second stanza features an ex-
tended closing section), with an unusual
rhythmical structure: the vocal line is
written in 2/4 time, while the piano ac-
companiment is in 6/8 time. According
to the writer Alec Robertson, in his
study of the composer,
Dvorak's settings of the Gypsy Songs
"...reached his highest pinnacle as a song-writer.
Everything is in place here."
an ocean away in
 |
| Marguerite Gerard: The Piano Lesson, 1780 |
About fifteen years after Dvorak,
the American composer
Charles Ives,
an ocean away in
New England, created his
own musical setting of this poem.
CHARLES IVES
SONGS MY MOTHER
SONGS MY MOTHER
TAUGHT ME
Jan DeGaetani, Mezzo-Soprano
Gilbert Kalish, Piano
 |
| William A. Breakspeare: The Reluctant Pianist |
SEVEN GYPSY SONGS OP. 55
Complete
Complete
1. My Song of Love Rings Through the Dusk
Má píseň zas mi láskou zní / Mein Lied ertönt, ein Liebespsalm
2. Hey, Ring Out, My Triangle
2. Hey, Ring Out, My Triangle
Aj! Kterak trojhranec můj přerozkošně zvoní / Ei, wie mein Triangel wunderherrlich läutet
3. All Round About the Woods are Still
A les je tichý kolem kol / Rings ist der Wald so stumm und still
4. Songs My Mother Taught Me
4. Songs My Mother Taught Me
Když mne stará matka zpívat, zpívat učívala / Als die alte Mutter
5. Come and Join the Danci
5. Come and Join the Danci
Struna naladěna, hochu, toč se v kole / Reingestimmt die Saiten
6. The Gypsy Songman
6. The Gypsy Songman
Široké rukávy a široké gatě / In dem weiten, breiten, luft'gen Leinenkleide
7. Give a Hawk a Fine Cage
7. Give a Hawk a Fine Cage
Dejte klec jestřábu ze zlata ryzého / Horstet hoch der Habicht auf den Felsenhöhen
 |
| Charles West Cope |
LINKS
http://violinsheetmusic.org/classical/d/dvorak/dvorak-songs-my-mother-taught-me-score.pdf
 |
| Gustave-Leonard de Jonghe: Music Hour |
 |
| Karl Harald Alfred Broge: The Piano Lesson |
http://www.tiqinpu.com/qupu/20111013/510Piano%20%20Kreisler-Dvorak
%20Songs%20My%20Mother%20Taught%20Me%20Op.55,No.4.pdf
%20Songs%20My%20Mother%20Taught%20Me%20Op.55,No.4.pdf
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| Maude Goodman: By Particular Desire |
 |
Tamara de Lempicka:
The Grandmother
|
