Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs)

Quick Facts

• Written in 1948
• Four songs for soprano and orchestra:
  1. Frühling (Spring) – text by Hermann Hesse 
  2. September – text by Hermann Hesse 
  3. Beim Schlafengehen (While going to sleep) – text by Hermann Hesse
  4. Im Abendrot (At Sunset) – text by Joseph von Eichendorff¹
• English translation of all four songs
• The first performance took place in London in 1950 (Strauss died in 1949) with Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler.²
• *A quick note – these songs are commonly referred to by their English title, Four Last Songs, so don’t feel obligated to introduce them in German :).

About the Piece

• These four orchestrated songs represent a swan song of sorts in which Strauss contemplates the meaning of death. This sublime set of songs was completed less than a year before his death and is considered by many to be among the finest music Strauss ever wrote.³
  • The final line of the final song, “Im Abendrot,” –
    • How travel-weary we are—Could this perhaps be death?
• Fun fact – the songs weren’t originally composed as a set OR intended to be called “Four Last Songs.” The titles and order of songs were ascribed to these final compositions posthumously by publishers, and Strauss had intended to write five, not four.⁴

1. Bryan Gilliam and Charles Youmans, “Strauss, Richard,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 27, 2023,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040117.
2. Herbert Glass, “Four Last Songs,” L. A. Phil, accessed March 27, 2023, https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/1813/four-last-songs.
3. Bryan Gilliam and Charles Youmans, “Strauss, Richard,” Grove Music Online.
4. Herbert Glass, “Four Last Songs,” L. A. Phil.