Mathilde Kralik von Meyrswalden - Symphony & VC

[semloh]

After posting this request in the wrong thread, herewith in a new one!

It relates to the works uploaded by Mark on March 21st, (https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,8656.0.html)

This is a very fine symphony and I've really enjoyed re-visiting it (so too the violin concerto), but please could someone give me even a general idea as to what the soprano is singing about in the 3rd movement?

[Justin]

The same concert recording of the symphony is going to be released on November 23rd by Gramola.

https://www.gramola.at/products/9003643993242

[Ilja]

It's a very fine symphony, with a sensationally gorgeous slow movement, and I hope the greater attention for female composers will grant it a chance in the standard concert repertory. This performance is pretty stellar as well. A must-buy for me.

The timings on the two final movements of this recordings are quite different from the recording in the downloads board. The scherzo is about a minute quicker (7:01 vs. 8:23), the finale almost three minutes slower (12:30 vs. 9:40; assuming the running time doesn't include concert applause). This is probably a good thing, as I felt the finale (at least up to the "Hymn" for soprano) felt a tad rushed.

[semloh]

This is a very fine symphony and I've really enjoyed re-visiting it (so too the violin concerto), but please could someone give me even a general idea as to what the soprano is singing about in the 3rd movement?

No takers?

[Ilja]

The score (with text) can be found here in the Austrian State Library. The full text of the hymn (reproduced in the back of the score) is:

Hymne zum Schlußsatz der Symphonie von Mathilde von Kralik (am 4. März 1942 entstanden)

Befreit die Brust
Von irdischem Dust
So schwingt sich die Seele zum Himmel empor
hat abgestreift der Zeitlichkeit klein
Vom höchsten steht sie nun bereit
Wo nur geahnt
Uns unbekannt
Das Land des Friedens sich enthüllt
Das unbegreiflich dem Verstand
Das unerforschlich himmlische Land,
Das Land, das unser Sehnen stillt
O Land so nah, und doch so weit
Der gotterfüllten Unendlichkeit!
Hinan, hinan,
Die selige Bahn
Wo sich des Rätsels Lösung erweist,
Der Sinn des Lebens durch Ihn, den Geist.
Empor, zum Geisterchor!
Hinauf, vollendet der Lauf!
Geschwellt die Brust
Von unirdischer Lust
So steht die Seele nun bereit
Vorm Riesentor der Ewigkeit

The final movement was apparently created in 1942 (the rest of the symphony in 1903). I read somewhere that her brother Richard wrote the hymn, but it seems rather unlike what I know of him and the score never credits him, either. In interpreting the lyrics, it's important to realize that Mathilde was a very devout catholic.

Deepl gave me the following English translation:

Free the breast
From earthly dust
Thus, the soul soars up to heaven
Has cast off the smallness of time
From the highest, it now stands ready
Where only guessed
Unknown to us
The land of peace reveals itself
The incomprehensible to the mind
The unfathomable heavenly land
The land that satisfies our longing
O land so near, and yet so far
Of God-filled infinity!
Upwards, upwards,
The blessed path
Where the solution to the riddle is revealed,
The meaning of life through Him, the Spirit.
Upwards, to the choir of spirits!
Upwards, the journey is complete!
The chest swells
With unearthly joy
And now the soul stands ready
Before the giant gate of eternity

[semloh]

Gosh! Uplifting sentiments indeed!
Thank you, Ilya 

[tuatara442442]

Here is a new broadcast recording of the symphony, from the same concert that made the modern-day premiere of H. Graedener's Piano Concerto:
https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/brahms-kraliks-sinfonie-graedeners-klavierkonzert-mit-nordd-ph-bosch-triendl-100.html

[Ilja]

Thank you!

[tuatara442442]

An encore by Kralik was also broadcasted at the end of the broadcast, it's this (https://imslp.org/wiki/Walzer_in_D_major_(Kralik%2C_Mathilde)) waltz. Can anybody who speaks German tell me who played this? I didn't heard Triendl's name before the encore.

[Ilja]

It was he, though.

[tuatara442442]

Thank you for pointing that out.

[Ilja]

I have now posted the recording in the Downloads board, as well (including the Waltz encore).

[Wheesht]

The announcer in the radio broadcast clearly states that the text of the hymn was by Kralik herself btw.

[Ilja]

Yes, that was an interesting fact; I'm sure I heard or read that it was written by her brother. Interestingly, the announcer also stated that the score just mentions that it has to be sung, but not by whom: could be a male or female soloist, or a choir.

Oh, and apparently both the Kralik and the Grädener are bound to be released by Hännsler.

[Ilja]

Sorry all, I made a bit of a mistake in yesterday's upload of the Kralik symphony, and redistributed a good minute and a half of the finale to the end of the scherzo. I've corrected it, and the current upload should be okay.