Robert Reinick (1805 Danzig – 1852 Dresden)

Summary

‘Liebestreu’ Op. 3 no. 1 (comp. Jan. 1853, publ. Dec. 1853)

‘Juchhe!’ Op. 6 no. 4 (comp. April 1852, publ. Dec. 1853)

ROBERT REINICK'S gift for transparent, fresh, jingling lyrics endeared him to song composers throughout his century, and he remains a significant figure in German children's literature. ‘Juchhe!’ dates from April 1852, just short of Brahms's nineteenth birthday (and only two months after Reinick's death), and the tremendously successful ‘Liebestreu’ (Brahms's first published song) from the following January. It seems that Reinick continued to interest him during the following year, since he copied four more poems into his notebook. Various editions of Reinick's poetry were in print at the time, but textual variants indicate Brahms used the 1844 edition of Lieder. However, his copy has no name in it and contains no markings.

It is striking that Brahms set so little of Reinick's poetry given his importance to Schumann, who set numerous Reinick texts and attempted to collaborate with him on the libretto of his opera Genoveva. Robert and Marie Reinick were close to the Schumanns and godparents to their eldest surviving son, Ludwig (b. 1848). Although Brahms wrote his songs before meeting the Schumanns, they may well have brought Marie Reinick's attention to the young composer's settings, since she sent Brahms a copy of the second, 1852 edition of the Lieder on 7 March 1855 as a gift. Brahms in turn gave it to Clara Schumann in August of that year.

Reinick delighted in devices like internal rhymes, repetition and ellipses to create internal cohesion and expressive intensity, as can be seen in ‘Liebestreu’.

‘O versenk, o versenk dein Leid, ‘Oh sink, oh sink your grief,

Mein Kind, in die See, in die tiefe See!’ My child, in the sea, in the deep sea!’

Ein Stein wohl bleibt auf des Meeres Grund, A stone will surely remain on the sea-bed,

Mein Leid kommt stets in die Höh. My grief always rises to the surface.

‘Und die Lieb’, die du im Herzen trägst, ‘And the love which you carry in your

Brich sie ab, brich sie ab, mein Kind!’ heart,