Schnittpunktvokal Male Quartet
An excellent male quartet singing Schubert's setting of Seidl's meditation at the grave side on mortality and the question of an afterlife. It could have been the kind of group Schubert expected to sing this music instead of the usual choral performances - the only kind I've ever heard. It is a complete success, making me wish they'd record more of his male quartet music.
Schubert set it in September 1826, having stared the prospect of a terrible death by syphilis in the eye, though lots of people think it was typhoid fever that carried him off. The translation of the text will give you a good idea of what inspired one of Schubert's bleakest scores.
Silver-blue moonlight falls down,
Lowers many beams down into the grave.
Friend of slumber, dear moon, don't be silent,
if in the grave, darkness lives, or light.
All is quiet? Now, silent Grave, speak,
You drew so many beams down into the stillness,
You hold so many glances of the moon, silver-blue,
Just give one beam back. Come and see!
Score
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