3.I Give My Song to the Spring

Each of these six short pieces is a beautiful miniature exemplifying the composer's unique late-Romantic style. The words of the original songs are written above the treble or below the bass, nearest whichever hand is currently playing the melody. The imagery of the texts is a great aid to interpretation as they reveal frequently unexpected meaning and narrative turns.

The "Wiegenlied" (Cradle Song) opens in the harmonically rich key of G sharp minor in an Allegretto doloroso tempo. The simple modal melody is in the left hand, while the harmonies that float above it gradually move from plaintive chords within the scale to chromatic modifications which create tensions that follow the revelations of the text: "Sleep, my boy...laying so gently in your little bed; alas, she who once gave you life, lies peacefully in the cold, dark grave. She cannot now...cover you with love, sing to you in sweet calmness" (translations by this writer). The repetition of the theme begins with a male chorus-like four-voice harmonization in the bass. This is followed by concerto-like declamations before diminishing to a gentle coda.

"Klein Haakon" (Little Haakon) is another tune about a child and his mother. "Little Haakon had barely closed his eyes...then he saw...the most beautiful dream. A staircase rose to the vault of heaven on which God's angels descended....They watch over his slumber faithful throughout the night...your mother also watches." The lovely melody, in ABA form, remains in the major with touching substitute harmonies for the lines surrounding the dream, but modulates into F minor for the sleep imagery. Grieg then lets loose with romantic pianisms: rolling basses, three-against-two and three-against-four rhythms, and a splendid coda of warm chromaticisms and a wash of sparkling harp-like arpeggios in the high register.

"Ich liebe dich" (I love you) is a ballad with surprisingly modern harmonies, especially the minor seconds in the introduction. A melody in the baritone range expresses the barely restrained passion of the work: "...You of my heart's first salvation! I love you like nothing else in this world, I love you in time and eternity!" Similar to the other pieces, the melody is developed with fuller chords and emotional pulsations.

"Wenn einst sie lag an meiner Brust (Sie ist so weiss)" (When first she lay on my breast [she was so pure]) is the briefest work of this cycle. The text concerns a deceased lover, and the altered harmonies add a strange shadow to an almost waltzing melody.

"Die Prinzessin" (The Princess) is a small tone poem with many, moderately difficult coloristic effects about a princess who asks "the boy in the valley who blows on the schawm" to be quiet so that her thoughts may "roam freely when the sun sinks."

"Dem Lenz soll mein Lied erklingen" (My song resounds to the springtime) contrasts a lyrical, pastoral melody with sprightly, dance figures (against a rhythmic drone).

© All Music Guide