"Vier letzte Lieder, TrV 296: 4. Im Abendrot" by Richard Strauss, contributed by Frank Liu (2025)
Im Abendrot
by Joseph von Eichendorff
Wir sind durch Not und Freude
Gegangen Hand in Hand,
Vom Wandern ruhen wir
Nun überm stillen Land.
Rings sich die Täler neigen,
Es dunkelt schon die Luft,
Zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen
Nachträumend in den Duft.
Tritt her, und lass sie schwirren,
Bald ist es Schlafenszeit,
Dass wir uns nicht verirren
In dieser Einsamkeit.
O weiter, stiller Friede!
So tief im Abendrot
Wie sind wir wandermüde—
Ist dies etwa der Tod?
At sunset
English translation © Richard Stokes
We have gone hand in hand
Through joys and distress,
Now we rest from our wanderings
High above the quiet land.
Around us the valleys slope down,
The skies have begun to darken,
Only two larks, recalling a dream,
Soar up into the haze.
Come, and leave them to fly,
Soon it will be time to sleep,
We must not lose our way
In this solitude.
O vast and silent peace!
So deep in sunset glow,
How weary we are with wandering –
Could this perhaps be death?
I chose the final of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, written by the composer at 84 and performed only after his death. Near the end of his life (and tailing-off career), Strauss encountered the poem “Im Abendrot” (“At Dusk”) by Joseph von Eichendorff and was so touched by it that he set it for soprano and orchestra. This act of creation inspired him to also write music for three of Hermann Hesse’s poems, leading to the four songs we have today; these became his final works.
Musically, “Im Abendrot” is an immensely beautiful work with themes of peace, acceptance, and completion. The soprano voice soars and dips with the effortless unhurriedness of someone at complete peace with themselves. After the line “Could this perhaps be death?” Strauss quotes the “transfiguration” theme of his own Death and Transfiguration, signifying the transfiguration of his own soul. Finally, we hear idyllic bird calls, telling us that the end is here.
The lyrics by Eichendorff are warm and contemplative; the image of the “sunset glow” so perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being at peace with one’s life and death. The final question confronts death head-on without a trace of fear. Strauss matched the lyrics perfectly with his music; the result is the sonic portrait of a man perfectly at peace with the imminent end.