Melchior Grohe (1829 Mannheim – 1906 Naples)

Summary

‘O komme, holde Sommernacht’ Op. 58 no. 4 (comp. by autumn 1871, publ. Dec. 1871)

IN 1871, when Op. 58 was published, Brahms had to confirm Grohe's name to his publisher Rieter-Biedermann, possibly because of the risk of confusing this littleknown figure with the better-known Groth. Brahms found the poem in Grohe's 1861 collection Reime und Reisen. This is a typical lyrical-pastoral collection, with short verses on topics such as love, roses and the moon, and some reflections of Grohe's exotic travels. In the brief introduction to the volume, Grohe acknowledges that Romantic subjectivity is passé, but declares that he cannot help but write poetry. Although none of Grohe's verses made it into Brahms's poetry notebooks, his battered paperback copy of the Reime und Reisen bears many signs of reading. Brahms marked the poems ‘Abends’ and ‘An die Sterne’ in pencil, and the pages of ‘Mein Bächlein’ and ‘Nach Mitternacht’ are dog-eared. The poem ‘Abends’ particularly reflected Brahms's other poetic preoccupations at the time, namely the poetry of figures like Platen and Schack. It ends with the lines:

Ach! Dich kann ich nicht erjagen! Ah! I cannot capture you!

Darum krankt mir Herz und Sinn – Hence my heart and mind suffer –

Und nur meine Seufzer sagen, And only my sighs say

Dass ich noch am Leben bin!’ That I am still alive!

Various other poems have corrections pencilled in, although is not clear that all these are in Brahms's hand.

There is no marking on the poem Brahms set, which is titled simply ‘Sommernacht’.

O komme, holde Sommernacht, O come, precious summer night,

Verschwiegen; Secretly;

Dich hat die Liebe recht gemacht Indeed, you were made by Love

Zum Siegen! For conquests!

Da brechen manche Knospen los, Then, many buds break open,

Verstohlen, Stealthily;

Da öffnen ihren süßen Schoß Then, the sweet hearts of violets

Violen; Are opened;

Da neigt ihr Haupt im Dämmerschein’ Then, roses incline their heads in the

Die Rose, Twilit glow;

Da wird mein Liebchen auch noch mein, Then, my sweetheart will also be mine,

Das Lose! The wanton one!