Brahms / Busoni: Herzlich Tut Mich Verlangen Op. 122 No. 10 - Paul Jacobs, 1979 - Nonesuch N5-71375

Описание: Paul Jacobs (June 22, 1930 – September 25, 1983) was an American pianist.

Some context: Op. 122 (11 chorales) is the last set of works composed by Brahms.

"Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (I do desire dearly) is a German hymn, with lyrics written in 1599 by Christoph Knoll, with a melody adapted from a secular song by Hans Leo Hassler. It is a prayer for a blessed death, beginning "Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem sel'gen End" (I do desire dearly a blessed end). Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 5385a, was later also used for Paul Gerhardt's "Befiehl du deine Wege" and "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden". Johann Sebastian Bach used the hymn in his chorale prelude, BWV 727, and for his Weimar cantata Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161.

Following are the lyrics to the first chorus of the original chorale upon which this work is based; JS Bach for his part instructed that the words (to five of the eleven choruses) were to be printed in bold type (thereby conveying Bach's own sentiments, which of course he could not express overtly given the social and religious milieu in which he existed.) Given Brahms' obsession with death, and what we know about him as a person, and the fact that many of those to whom he was close had died around the time he composed Op. 122 (following Clara Schumann’s funeral in 1896) it's reasonable to conclude that he felt similarly.

"O Head full of blood and wounds,
full of pain and full of derision,
O Head, in mockery bound
with a crown of thorns,
O Head, once beautifully adorned
with the most honour and adornment,
but now most dishonoured:
let me greet you!"