Ex. 5-6: Das ist ein Tag, der klingen mag

No. 5 from Clara Schumann's "6 Lieder" (Op. 23, 1853), set to a poem by Hermann Rollett, who titled it "Frühlingslied" (Spring Song). It is a bright, lively song about a spring day so full of joy that everything seems to ring with music. Rollett was an Austrian poet who had to leave his country in the 1840s because his revolutionary poems got him into trouble with the government.

Clara composed the whole set in June 1853, probably as a birthday gift for her husband Robert. All six poems come from one book by Rollett, called Jucunde. When Rollett saw a newspaper report that "Schumann" had set some of them to music, he wrote to ask about it. Robert replied that the songs were actually by his wife Clara — and that they were so good that he would have praised them even if she were not his wife.

Op. 23 was the last song collection Clara composed. Another song from it is also in this app. (Ex. 2-5: An einem lichten Morgen by Clara Schumann)

From the album Clara Schumann: Lieder by Lan Rao and Micael Gelius (2023)
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