Rebecca Schull in collaboration with William Tegtmeier, performing "Meeresstille" from Nikolai Medtner's 12 Songs after Goethe.

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In 1909, Nikolai Medtner (1880–1951) won the Glinka prize for his 12 Songs after Goethe. The receipt of a distinctly Russian honor may seem at odds with a German musical form, but knowing the characteristics of Lieder, his Meeresstille can be seen as faithfully German.

 

Displayed within Meeresstille we find artful marriage of poetry and music, musical representation of poetic figures, and narrative ambiguity — all hallmark characteristics of Lieder. Listen for the glint of the sunlight off the waves, feel the rocking of the boat in the asymmetrical rhythm, sense the oppressive stillness in the harmonic repetition. Wonder, perhaps, whether our sailor is ultimately doomed or saved. These individual poems are vignettes, snapshots of a moment in time, rather than a complete story. Without the context provided by the accompanying songs, whatever happens before or after this moment is not a matter of record, but of imagination.