1.Ich trage meine Minne

While he was conducting and living in Munich with his new bride and composing Also Sprach Zarathustra, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) also composed the five songs published as his Lieder (5), Op. 32. Three of the songs were by his Berlin friend, Karl Henckell, including the best-known song of the set, Ich trage meine Minne. A simple yet deeply felt love song in two verses, Strauss set it as a through-composed song with a repeat of the opening verse at the close. The opening verse's gloriously extended melody in the major above piano chords gives way in the central verse to a more passionate melody in the minor above throbbing chords in the piano, moving the music through several modulations culminating in a magnificent modulation back to the tonic for the return of the opening verse. Strauss uses the motif that opens the songs as a unifying theme that binds the song together as a heartwarming whole.

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