DESCRIPTION:
Vor den Türen (from Drei Männerchöre, Op. 45)
Richard Strauss (1864 -- 1949)

Richard Strauss is best remembered today as the composer of strikingly original orchestral tone poems and operas that continued and extended the groundbreaking changes to harmonic language and musical structure made by Richard Wagner. Strauss also wrote little-known works for the male singing-societies of Germany, including these Drei Männerchöre, composed for the Cologne Männergesangverein in 1935. Though written after the height of his prowess as an operatic and symphonic composer, these pieces exemplify Strauss's masterful command of his musical language and his great sensitivity in setting the poetry of the great German Romantic poet Friedrich Rückert (1788 -- 1866).

Vor den Türen ("At the Gates") is a metaphorical journey through the life of one man, from his early struggle for wealth and love to his final resting place.


TEXT AND TRANSLATION:

Ich habe geklopft an des Reichtums Haus;
man reicht mir 'nen Pfennig zum Fenster heraus.
Ich habe geklopft an der Liebe Tür;
da standen schon fünfzehn andre dafür.
Ich klopfte leis' an der Ehre Schloß;
hier tut man nur auf dem Ritter zu Roß.
Ich habe gesucht der Arbeit Dach;
da hört' ich drinnen nur Weh und Ach!
Ich suchte das Haus der Zufriedenheit;
es kannt' es niemand weit und breit.
Nun weiß ich noch ein Häuslein still,
wo ich zuletzt anklopfen will.
Zwar wohnt darin schon mancher Gast,
doch ist für Viele im Grab noch Rast.


I knocked at the house of Wealth;
they handed me a penny through the window.
I knocked at Love's door;
fifteen others were already standing there.
I knocked softly at the castle of Honor;
here they only open for the knight on horseback.
I sought Labor's floor;
inside there I heard only "woe" and "alas!"
I sought the house of Contentment;
far and wide, no one knew of it.
Now I know of another quiet, little house,
where I want to knock at last.
True, some guests already dwelt there,
but for the Many, there is still rest in the grave.

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