Lethe

‘Recently in a dream, I spied on the waves / A rowing boat floating without oars’ are the initial words spoken by the hero of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer’s poem on which this orchestral work is based. The encounter on the river of oblivion, however, culminates in a painful awakening: ‘Imploringly, I kissed you in wild desperation / Th e pallid mouth which you offered so willingly, / Then you dissolved with a smile in my arms / And I knew it again – that you were dead.’

Hans Pfitzner created dark underlying musical colours with glistening highlights for this ballad. The work follows in the tradition of large-scale romantic orchestral lieder and could be combined with Willkommen und Abschied by the same Composer.