Widely considered to be one of the great German song cycles of the 20th Century, Paul Hindemith's Das Marienleben presents the listener with settings of the 15 poems of Rainer Maria Rilke’s 1913 sequence about the life of Mary, the mother of Christ. These songs, first featured at a Bauhaus exhibition in Weimer in 1923, are seldom performed today, but had a great champion in pianist Glenn Gould—who claimed Marienleben was the greatest of all song cycles—and made a famous recording of the cycle in 1978, with the soprano Roxolana Roslak. As we look ahead to next week's holiday, we'll enjoy the sections of the work encompassing the Christmas story—and much more—on Wednesday afternoon's Classical Music with Foley Schuler.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
