Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951)
3 Notturna, Op. 163 (1939)
I. Notturno
Josef Bohuslav Foerster was a prolific composer, with over 350 songs, five symphonies, six operas, 300 choral works, and 26 melodramas. He may be seen as bridging both sides of the gap, so to speak: he modeled his music on the nationalists, Smetana and Dvořák, but he aligned himself more with the modernist composers, though slightly older than his contemporaries. Foerster was a humanist composer, and strove for the marriage of words and poetry.
Foerster adds a third voice to this song cycle, the cello, as an additional character to the poetry. In "Notturno," the long introduction creates a memory in the singer, one of one of those moments of pure bliss and beauty when the universe is in perfect harmony. They recall an evening with their beloved, when a cello’s song drew them to their first romantic encounter. The voice, piano, and cello are all quite expressive and lyrical as they recall this precious moment.
I can hear the sound of the cello again,
just as I did on that evening when our hands first clasped tightly together.
The lovely instrument sang sweetly,
and I looked at you, full of emotion,
and its tune was the evening’s hymn
I could hold that moment, the magic, the happiness,
when the shrunken stars shone in the sky,
