"Befreit" is one of Richard Strauss' greatest songs. It was written on June 2, 1898, and was published as part of a group of five songs written from May 31 to July 8 of that year. Four of the texts of the set are by Richard Dehmel. (The other is by Otto Julius Bierbaum, who had provided the texts for the opus 29 songs including another masterpiece, Traum durch die Dämmerung, Op. 29, No. 1.)

Richard Dehmel (1863 - 1920) was a leading member of what has become known as the Expressionist movement in German poetry. These poems often concern themselves with dark, passionate feelings and are linked in concept with the growing interest in psychological therapy during the era.

Dehmel is considered the most controversial poet of this group. The controversy related to poems discussing erotic or sexual matters, and his songs with sociological import, such as Der Arbeitsmann (The Workman), another poem included in Strauss' Op. 39 songs.

The song "Befreit" is sometimes called by its first line, "Du wirst nicht weinen." The title "Befreit" can mean "Liberation" or the act of being made free. The subject of the poem is a loving couple; the depth of their devotion to each other has freed them from suffering despite the troubles they have seen, which will even free them from being threatened by death.

The text is elusive and ambiguous. Much of Strauss' song has a sense of serenity about it. There are two main recurring ideas. One, using chords containing sonorous fifths in the bass, represents the immortality of their love. The other is associated with the words "O, Gluck!" (Oh, happiness!) which ends every verse of the song. This rising refrain always arrives to contradict words and musical imagery that suggest sorrow should be the emotion, but sorrow is transformed into happiness because whatever has befallen the couple, they have experienced it together. (Strauss cited this motive when he wrote the "Hero's Works of Peace" section of his autobiographical tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) a few years later.

In September 1933 Strauss orchestrated the song at the request of soprano Viorica Ursuleac. There is an inferior orchestration by Hans Stüber that continued to be used for some time simply because it was more readily available from the composer's publisher.

Oddly, Dehmel disliked Strauss' setting, but never gave convincing reasons why. He did write on the subject that it should be clear that the poem should evoke the picture of a man talking to his dying wife, but then said it was all right to imagine it concerned any temporary parting of such a couple, for that in itself would be a foretaste of the separation of death. At any rate, he thought Strauss' concept was too serene and soft in emotion and would have preferred more bitterness in the setting.

© Joseph Stevenson, Rovi