Heinrich Schenker - Der Traum, Op. 8, No. 3 for Women's SSAA Chorus

A Dream of Forbidden Love — Der Traum, Op. 8, No. 3 by Heinrich Schenker

Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935) composed Der Traum (“The Dream”), Op. 8, No. 3, as part of his Op. 8 collection of part songs. The text is a poem of three stanzas whose narrative arc moves from rapturous dream to cruel awakening. In the dream, two pale and ailing lovers wander hand in hand through a beautiful garden; they kiss and hold each other close, and in that embrace are miraculously restored — made young and whole again. Then two small bells ring out clearly, and the dream vanishes in an instant: she wakes alone in a convent cell, he far away in the depths of a prison tower. The contrast between the luminous garden and the cold reality of separation gives the poem — and Schenker’s setting — its quiet power. The song belongs to the finest tradition of the German Romantic Lied, with harmonic refinement and lyrical sensitivity characteristic of Schenker’s compositional voice.

Performance Highlights

• Three-stanza narrative poem: a healing dream of love shattered by waking reality
• Vivid imagery: a blossoming garden, a kiss that restores health, bells that end the dream, a convent cell and prison tower
• Characteristic harmonic refinement in the German Lied tradition
• By Heinrich Schenker — one of music theory’s greatest figures
• A rare and rewarding discovery for choral directors and art song performers
• Scored for women’s SSAA chorus — digital PDF download, print-ready score included

About the Composer

Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935) is widely considered one of the foremost musical minds of the twentieth century. His reputation today rests on his theoretical work, in which he developed the single most sophisticated conception of common-practice tonal music currently available. In his mature theoretical writings, Schenker is known for a pan-Germanic arch-conservatism that proclaimed Brahms “the last great master of German tonal art” and sharply denounced modern musical trends. In the compositions of his youth, however, Schenker was very much caught up in the currents of his day and eager to establish himself as a composer. His music brought him into contact with Ferruccio Busoni and Arnold Schoenberg, and the three collaborated on a single project — the so-called “Syrian Dances” — with Schenker as composer, Schoenberg as orchestrator, and Busoni as conductor. Schenker’s compositional output for voice numbers some twenty-six solo songs and ten part songs, of which one set of six was published as Opus 3. He also wrote incidental music for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, including several songs sung by Ophelia.