Happy Present Meet
Mendelssohn The First Walpurgis Night Op. 60
Die erste Walpurgisnacht op. 60
Ballade by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
German, English
Piano reduction, Urtext version
1. Ouverture (Overture)
2. Es lacht der Mai (May is in full bloom) Tenor & chorus of Druids & people.
3. Konnt ihr so verwegen handeln? (Could you be so rash, so daring?) Alto, old woman, & chorus of wives of the people.
4. Wer Opfer heut zu bringen scheut (Whoever fears to sacrifice) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids.
5. Verteilt euch, wackre M?nner, hier (Divide your forces, valiant men) Chorus of Druid watchmen.
6. Diese dummen Pfaffenchristen (Christians and their priests are witless) Bass, watchman, & chorus of watchmen.
7. Kommt mit Zacken und mit Gabeln (Come with prongs and pitchforks) Chorus of Druids and people.
8. So weit gebracht, dass wir bei Nacht (It`s come so far that now by night) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids and people.
9. Hilf, ach hilf mir, Kregsgeselle (Help, oh help me, comrade) Tenor & chorus of Christian watchmen.
10. Die Flamme reinigt sich vom Rauch (The flame is purified by smoke) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids and people.
During the summer of 1799, Goethe wrote his ballad “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” and asked his friend Carl Friedrich Zelter to set the work to music. Zelter however, felt unable to do this, and so Goethe’s wish was only realised thirty years later by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The “heavenly words” of the pagan ballads had impressed the composer so much after a visit to Weimar, that he was inspired to set them to music. In 1832 the composition took shape and was performed a year later in the Sing-Akademie in Berlin.
Mendelssohn was, however, unhappy with the first version of the work and held it back, until he decided on a radical revision of the work ten years after its premiere.
“Die erste Walpurgisnacht” was first performed in 1843 in Leipzig, in the presence of Robert Schumann and Hector Berlioz, in the form in which the work is still performed today.
The publication of this edition by John Michael Cooper makes the work available in an Urtext edition for the first time. The edition reflects the latest state of research, and the volume includes a Critical Commentary.
