Awe, Attention, and Surrender in the Bookends of the Seven Early Songs by Berg

All photos by Deeann D. Mathews on August 2, 10, and 13, 2024

Soprano Diana Damrau and Alban Berg's Seven Early Songs got my attention and took me on a journey this week, with the first song, "Night" and the last song "Summer Days" touching me in places I did not know were there ... at least not before coming to a speed of life that allows me to emotionally catch up with the reality and of being blessed ...

You are blessed, Frau Mathews ... gesegnet ... whether you are able to feel so or not, for that is granted you from on high and cannot be changed ... and now, you are blessed ... selig ... for now you are resting in contented joy in your blessedness, not worried about the future.

The word "selig" comes up again in the bookend of these songs by Berg ... the first, "Nacht," describes the most beautiful night very like one might see one in a San Francisco summer should the fog lift at night ... natural waterways murmuring ... and then ... in the moonlight, silver clad hills and pathways and valleys shine while a single tree moves in the scented air from groves unseen ... here, it would be a combination of the sea air coming through Golden Gate Park, past the conifers and summer flowers ... sometimes jasmine and geraniums and honeysuckle too, on my block ... and for me, many nights of the full moon are "bass midnights," for I will throw open my window shades and marvel at the moonbow and clearing and then turn on my favorite bass songs ... but not always ... sometimes I have done what Berg suggests ... just marvel, and "Drink, soul, in this solitude, and TAKE HEED!"

In the seventh song, "Sommertage," Berg writes of summer days being a gift from the blue eternity. To understand why eternity should be blue, think of last week and the colors of the immense sky and sea, and the association of the color blue with Heaven, and with truth ... all of that rolls up here into the long days, and the sense of time blowing in the gentle warm wind as a gift on a blessed land ... for every night, the blessed hand -- seliger Hand -- of God ties all of these things together in a bow made of stars over the land of wonders described in the first song ... so then, in the second verse, the singer asks what words or song are even sufficient to express the heart's joy as encounters with the beauty of summer pile up upon each other until the heart is overfilled...

Of course, me being who I am, a single day outdoors can and has filled me to the point of ecstasy ... so "Nacht" primed me and "Sommertage" tapped that portion of me because the memories of the spring and summer before my illness came back upon me -- the seventh song actually says wo Bild am Bild -- where picture upon picture, scene upon scene -- I know what that is and I have shared many of those photos in Q-Inspired ... to have been able to walk and climb in so many beautiful places, and to take those photos ... and then I looked around and found my favorite soprano had sung "Sommertage" ...

... and at that point, the memories and the gratitude and the joy overcame me ... while resting and recovering in my home, I found I needed to be and do nothing else to touch the height of joy for what I have already been blessed with, without reference to the future.

Now, I will confess that while I was delighted to find Ms. Norman's recording, she was not who I was checking to see about who had done a recording ... and that earned me a gentle reprimand from the Ghost of Musical Greatness Past, who in his long career sang with her and admired her greatly...

"Frau Mathews, I tolerate you thinking that no other baritone or tenor even needed to have a job while I was in my career, but there is a limit to all things, and when it comes to Frau Norman in particular, my only proper act when she was singing and I was not was to be quiet and be grateful for the privilege of even being in her presence -- therefore, likewise be content!"

So we were, all through "Sommertage," and he, like me, began to experience the memories of the blessings of his life ... almost 79 years compared to my mere 43 ... so it was a long time before either of us spoke.

"I appreciate, Frau Mathews, the admiration for me that caused you to desire my presence in a moment of joy, and I also am delighted that you are learning one of the great joys of my life: it is not necessary for one person to do or sing everything. There is so much and there are so many to enjoy in life, Frau Mathews ... so many new experiences and blessings that are good and right to enjoy. Of course we love Frau Norman ... but Frau Damrau ... that too is a singer!"

"You are consistent, Herr Moll ... your Commendatore at the Met almost got caught smiling for joy, listening to your fellow basses as they sang ... and in many performances, one can just see the mutual admiration just breaking out all around."

"I enjoyed my earthly life, Frau Mathews, in a manner that I enjoy even more now ... my miniature lesson to you is that you may practice what you will forever enjoy, now.

"You are an alto's well-prepared alto, Frau Mathews, and also stunningly consistent across your entire life -- able to confidently manage both highs and lows, and if you will have extremes, let them be on the deep foundational end of things. You play a deep bass on the piano, but rarely get up on the high end although you can -- and your compositions reflect this also. Your politics, even, are moderate in general, but deeply informed by history, civics, deep belief in the value of all humanity, and natural law derived from universal principles, with no patience for demagogues and high histrionics. You are also a highly competent, dynamic, and responsible person -- if it needs to get done, your inclination is to get it done, and it is not easy to deter you."

He laughed.

"I was both tickled and chagrined this week, Frau Mathews, to have seen you go more slowly, take more rest, and still run some 16-hour days in there by basically treating your night rest like a second nap."

"You're basically telling me Bring dein Leben in den Griff, aren't you?" I said.

"I knew you would hear 'get your life together' without me having to say it, Frau Mathews, because that is not the point I am making now. The point I am making now is that you do not need to slip back into habits that need to stay broken. 'Nacht' and 'Sommertage' by Berg are making the same point coming out of 'Selige Welt' from last week: you make time to rest, recover, and allow yourself to enjoy what other people are doing because you need not be doing it. As it is said in 'Nacht,' three times: 'gib Acht' -- take heed -- give attention to these things.

"There is also an opportunity to deepen in humility here that I am glad that you have taken ... Berg is outside your preferred musical tastes, and add Frau Damrau with that ... yet I see that you are observing that what you feel is essential to you is not the only essential, and that you can respect and appreciate things and people that would not be your first choice."

"I try to be consistent, and acknowledge truth and beauty wherever they are shown to me, for I am not the arbiter of what is good or bad. This is where God and I differ -- that is His call, so if He wills to bless me and others through Berg, or through sopranos, or through people who are very different from me in the world, it is my place, as His daughter, to say Amen, and not pretend that a thing or a person are not worthy of attention and respect simply because they do not fit my preferences. I have come to understand that such pretense is a kind of blasphemy, and one that has wreaked much havoc in the world as people have decided, based on their preferences, that whole groups of people and things are to be judged as worthless."

"As I have said, Frau Mathews, if you care for an extreme at all, let it be a deep one -- and that is very deep. The quarrel of the ages concerns who determines the absolutes of good and evil, right and wrong, good and bad ... the quarrel of the ages will be finished, and all worlds again fully blessed, when everyone who is not qualified to determine that for the universe is done making futile, disastrous attempts. There is a sense, Frau Mathews, in which your world is blessed -- gesegnet -- and will become more and happily blessed -- selig -- because you have bowed out of a conflict you need not be in.

"I add to this that since you also are not omnipotent, omnipresent, nor omniscient, it is both fitting and necessary that you respect your limitations and the rights and callings of others to do what they do. Your definition of blasphemy would also cover your overworking, as if you were the only person keeping the universe running."

That stung, deeply, because I thought it unfair at first, accounting for all the things that had required someone to give effort over and above just to keep things going for those most in need. It did come to mind that my past could not be permitted to govern my future, but my temper had been aroused to the point that the thought was not clear. He knew how to clear it up, though.

"That young musician you have been mentoring -- did she not play well Sunday -- and have not two of your other students distinguished themselves -- and is there not a wonderful young organist coming back this Saturday?"

I forgot the sting and the rousing of my temper entirely because of my love and enthusiasm for my students and mentees and younger colleagues! He listened to me go on and on and on and on about my students with a smile getting bigger and bigger ... he was doing his entire Cheshire Cat impression before purring, "I completely understand, Frau Mathews ... one can get lost in love for those who are called to permit us to come to rest, from here to eternity."

That startled me into clarity, and then I started laughing and just raised my hands in surrender to how he had lovingly outwitted me and my temper!

"Sie gewinnen -- ich gebe auf! I said, as he started laughing. "You just reached that voice over here, wrapped it around my little heart, and turned it 180 degrees with a smile!"

"I knew that if I could get you past a moment of deep pain into joy," he purred, "the truth would become clear in your mind, and you would surrender to it."

"Danke schoen," I said.

"My pleasure, Frau Mathews, my honor, and my duty."

After a few more moments, he looked out of the window and smiled.

"Frau Norman was just singing about these beautiful summer days," he said. "I suppose we can find some place where that summer wind will blow as she said it will, though a little cooler here than most places."

"Natural air conditioning all summer, for which we San Franciscans are very grateful," I said.

"Indeed," he said. "I think I know the ideal spot. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele ...

"... for I am taking you to the lower bounds of that hill in which you refused evil to remain holy -- up we shall ride, and then by the gentlest path downward, resting at points, it will not be too much for you."

"You really have been thinking about my summer," I said as he counted out our bus fare. "Working every day, just to get me out of the house!"

He smiled.

"I can do a little better than bus fare, Frau Mathews, but you have just been ill. I need to ease you into all that."

"I guess I had better adorn myself!" I said as I laughed.

"Get your practice in, O beloved soul!"

While waiting on the bus that would take us up the hill, my companion got a thoughtful look on his face.

"You know, I do not remember recording any Berg, but there are some beautiful lines in those songs."

Now he was wearing midnight-blue ... and his eyes were twinkling ... he was way ahead of me, but I would not know it until it was time in the day's lesson. I just enjoyed him warming up and not knowing that was what he was doing.

Off the bus ... early fall colors looked so magnificent against the blue...

... and he resumed our conversation as we went up a little and around to go down.

"You were raised and acclimatized in a community in which there was a lot to do and too few to do it. I realize how deeply that has shaped your approach to life. Yet you also have this going for you, Frau Mathews: you still retain the ability, when encountering and understanding the truth, to respond in complete surrender."

"One thing I have learned in 43 years," I said. "The truth sometimes hurts, but it saves."

"And then if you choose to walk, abide, and adorn yourself in it, it will take you to the most wonderful places," he said.

"Yes," I said.

"Yet that is another way of describing a complete surrender, Frau Mathews," he said. "Do you remember what I said in Corollary C last week?"

"I do, and I see how these thoughts go together ... if for the moment we may consider love, truth, and wisdom interchangeable, all three call, and it is up to the beloved to decide to answer in trust and respond appropriately."

"It seems to me that you have discovered another harmony -- der helige Akkord -- of three there, Frau Mathews, and if you recall from Schubert's 'An die Musik,' what lifts the character in the song from his anguish and difficulty is turning his attention from the noise of the world to that sweet harmony ... so again, a surrender.

"But tell me this, Frau Mathews. When the world thinks of surrender, how does it usually go?"

"By force," I said. "Battles and wars, law enforcement, and legal judgments."

"Is that what we are speaking of?"

"Not at all," I said.

"Do you think that the distinction we are making is clear to most people?"

"No. This is why love is so complex in a fearful world, because surrender is conflated with defeat and loss of control of life, liberty, and resources -- presumably scarce resources."

"Is it not written, 'fear has torment'?"

"It is."

"And yet, is it not also written, 'perfect love casts out fear'?"

"It is."

He paused for a long moment, and then closed his eyes ... whatever his feelings were at that moment, he needed a moment to control them before continuing. The hill quivered, all the way to the bottom.

"I am still a human being, Frau Mathews, and what frailties of mortal life I am now past, I still when here can have strong memories of them. I am not without sympathy with the Huberts of your world, because I know: there but for the grace of God go I, as you have it in English. For around love we have spoken of many holy accords -- today you have noted the connection between love, truth, and wisdom, and once upon a time I rejoiced to sing of faith, hope, and love in Brahms, and of course almost daily you read of 'love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.' But fear also has an unholy discord: fear, doubt, and unbelief. It might be said to be the third in another such discord: pride, inadequacy, fear."

"Ah, we go back to the quarrel of the ages," I said. "Pride has finite beings reaching up to be God, and then failing, and then being afraid of being exposed."

"And, although Haydn did not write it, you know that when man began this quarrel with God in Genesis 3, what human being was warned to be prepared to bear the brunt of that?"

"Eve," I said.

"You are not unwise to remain a chaste bachelorette, Frau Mathews, in a world dominated by pride, inadequacy, fear, doubt, and disbelief. I have never disputed you on the point because One far greater than I has said that. Because I have the spirit of a man, of course it grieves me that the world is the way it is, and that it is so hard for my fellow men even in the presence of women like you to be able to move from pride and all its discords to love and all its accords ... but unless you were to meet a man who was so moved, there would be no point at all to any permanent attachment. You also have been bereft of nearly all your women friends -- you were called apart from them -- for the same reason.

"But I do not say all of that to take you back through those memories, Frau Mathews. I say that to set up this understanding: to have truth, you must surrender all claim upon all that is not true. To have love, you must surrender all claim upon what is not in accord with it. The converse may be stated only once: in rejecting truth and love, one has therefore surrendered to pride, inadequacy, fear, doubt, and disbelief. This is another way of understanding the quarrel of the ages, and of the present age."

"It is written: 'No one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other.'" I said.

"Service can be forced," he said, "but there can only be a complete surrender -- for even in defeat people cling internally to resistance -- to love. Now evil will be content in crushing the last ounce of value of servitude out of people for the trinkets of this world, since it has no eternity worth looking forward to beyond this world. Good looks higher and farther and so rejoices to uplift others as it is going to endless eternal ages, Frau Mathews, Because it does not obsess with the tokens of this world at every moment, it seems at times as though evil is winning in material terms -- and it often is -- but in the long run, and in the longest run, evil pays a high price for its short-term success."

"Yes, I would say damnation, wherever that starts to be experienced, is a high price -- we see pride going before destruction from high places in this world! How often the mighty fall, in this world!"

"It is a lesson for another day, and there are a few operas I have in mind," he said, "but the most terrible thing evil may do for itself is lift itself too high, because that is such a long fall in the end. Meanwhile, humility is lifted up ... and how high is up, in eternal terms?"

"Very, very high," I said, and we laughed.

"Which brings me, as I round off today's lesson, back to last week, Frau Mathews."

Again, he closed his eyes, and beneath us, the ground quivered.

"I was concerned three weeks ago, Frau Mathews, because one never knows if a student is ready for a sudden, stringent test. So then to have witnessed you delivered from the discord of pride, inadequacy, fear, doubt, and disbelief through that, and to then meet you resting, completely surrendered and resting in love and all its accords put me in a state of joy I would not have thought this cold world now could afford me. Yet you have given attention to the things you have learned such that they have become a haven all around you.

"I stepped from home into that haven, and then, because you bridged the gap in the German you did not know by borrowing words you had just learned from me in my desiring to bless you and turned them back around to bless me! Hard it go for a little bass, with his precious one in his embrace, when she does that ... he might forget up from down, height from depth, night from day ... for if any two hearts meet in a mutual surrender to love, then while there will be always be distinctness in things created distinctly from one another, in a blessed world in which distinctness is no need for divisiveness, all true things may be enjoyed.

"Your English has certainly made an amazing comeback," I said, "and right on time, because, wow."

Wow no. 1: he had summarized Brahms's Versunken again ... a man hears of and seeks love and finds it ... steps all the way in and sinks ... "the waves of love roar around my heart" he says as he surrenders ... and finds in the depths that he can not only see the stars of heaven in the deep blue sea, but at the same time, the world shimmers in rainbows, which requires sunlight ... so, height and depth, day and night, and the one promise of love written into nature, the rainbow, are all there.

Wow no. 2, with which I could not fathom what to do: the two deep eyes, or at least the deep, soft voice on the occasion that had now triggered recalls of "Versunken" two weeks in a row, belonged to me.

"I am not in the state of being that these men you are melting down in your locale in ten minutes are, Frau Mathews, those men running down their resumes, assets, and businesses to you," he purred. "But I know what they are going through -- I remember! Hard it go for a man in this cold world to let go of a moment like that, never to experience it again -- you notice none of the things of this world were not worth trading away instantly by them. Yet you saw instantly what they valued most by what they offered so soon, and so, alas, never will they have what they desire! You are wise, Frau Mathews, for what should you accept in exchange for all the capacity for love in your soul?"

I let my mind go back to that moment of the previous week ... I had been caught by surprise, but I had not felt unsafe because he had brought his voice from the near-danger edge of its immortal power down into its utmost gentleness before coming close to me. To his understanding and kindness I had surrendered already, so then I too had seen what he had seen next.

So then I gathered the lessons ... my grand old soldier actually had modeled these too ... a great and powerful man called to pursue love and all its accords in the world, willing to live and be blessed from grace instead of pursuing worldly ambition ... and then maturing in that life, encountering me, and out of that life, more and more showing me his goodwill toward me. Once he had seen that that the wisdom that was blessing his life was also blessing me, and that I was responding in gratitude and deepening trust, that gave him the security to open his life to me, and find out we were similarly called ... so then love's accords had at last gently drawn us into love.

When I came from my thoughts, I noticed my companion was studying some sheet music. He handed the music to me ... now, the original was in C minor ...

Found a viewer score in IMSLP; "Sommertage" is on page 26

... but there was a version in A minor following it, the vocal line now down in the bass clef.

"But ... but ... that high note ... still an F sharp!"

"Take that as the beginning of this last portion of our lesson," he said. "You require both great depth and high standards."

I laughed, and he smiled, but the smile faded into an earnest look.

"As you know about me, in performance and recording, I tended to respect my primary vocal classification, although when called to do so I could indeed sing well through baritone range. However, as you also discovered, I knew and enjoyed much more music than I publicly performed, and made a good guess that there are some things I reserved for my close circle. So, I will sing 'Sommertage' for you, in a private interpretation."

"It is a bit hard outdoors, in the age of social media, to give a private performance," I said.

He laughed.

"Recording my immortal voice is an invitation to need a new recording device -- my infrasonic bass overtones even while I approximate my mortal voice are too much. Now, as for privacy, even in my mortal days, if I desired to allow someone a private view of a public performance, I could have secured a box. For today I have an idea about that too, but first, let me share with you what I intend.

"Your grand old soldier epitomizes something of great importance: in order for a man to successfully navigate love with a woman like you, he must first be past the quarrel of the ages, having surrendered all pursuit of his own deification and humbly walking in the great calling of steward of Creation for which man was created. He must also have matured in all of love's accords. He must be so convinced in mind and filled in heart with the reality that the Blessed Hand is keeping and guiding and blessing him that he can walk, abide, and adorn his life in the leading on that side, while silent and still in answer to the voices that will always be calling him to follow his pride, inadequacy, fear, doubt, and disbelief.

"You heard me say to August Everding that every lied can be considered an opera sized for the chamber. I therefore will make a picture for you, Frau Mathews, of the things of which we have spoken. For yes, 'Sommertage' is about summer days, but also can be taken as a discovery of life in a blessed world, and becoming so full of the beauty of the truth -- three times it is said in 'Nacht' to give attention, and this is the result -- that there is no need to give voice or hearing to anything of the quarrel of the ages ... at last to surrender there, and receive what is far better.

"Now as for your private box, mein geliebtes Blumenkind, I shall seat you among your fellow beauties."

The descent from Buena Vista Hill adjacent to Ada's Stairway is terraced, and there are sturdy stone walls and many blooming bushes -- he snapped his fingers, and I found myself on a comfortable cushion placed on one of the higher walls, in dappled shade by a blooming bush. Attired as I was where I was, I was practically invisible to all passer-bys and those who would look up from below or down from above, but the bush parted in several places at my eye level, so I watched him walk down the staircase to the bottom, and stand in that open place there.

Before him, when he had set himself, was that long, long descent to Market Street, and thus even to downtown San Francisco ... one would think that the beauty of summer in the city had inspired a song, and that still would not be wrong for the audience that would be coming from all directions shortly. He was generous to them also, in the limited access the public was allowed in a private sharing with a friend. Although most could not speak German, he simply bridged the gap like the great performer he was, his eyes shining, his face glowing with the emotions it would reveal in more detail over the course of the song.

That uncanny balance of intense emotion under carefully paced self-command ... his majestic tempo along with the midnight-blue of his attire and the immense weight of his voice allowed him to evoke Blue Eternity itself as a witness to that Blessed Hand at work blessing the land and the people with summer's gifts, a witness in such deep awe that one had to pay attention, because if one might just see what he saw, and hear what he heard ... the question is asked in the song ... what more could the heart ever want?

There, after that, his smile that had been coming out in hints of joy at last flashed across his face ... for to the attentive, now joy upon joy, and picture upon picture could be revealed. Thus, up he went to his high F sharp, his cry of joy sustained through that long note and the high range to the close of the song, amply covering the moment at which picture after picture of beauty has finally piled on to the point that the heart can do no more to even describe it ... and by then he had raised his arms in complete surrender, his face looking upward in a picture of both reverence and bliss before reverence caused a bowing of the head. Bliss, left alone, called on awe, and the two together remained as the music faded into the song of summer on the hill, gently drifting down.

Time passed ... I do not know how long ... even though I knew it was coming, that F sharp had me seeing stars in the middle of that golden late afternoon, and when he closed his eyes to the world, so did I ... that cushion was my portal to the Knockout Zone! While I was floating in the midnight blue, the Milky Way spangled upon it, I did hear a sound as though it were a rain shower ... the applause of the crowd at some distance ... although silence had been commanded, humans in large crowds are forever being human!

The thought came to me that the singer, though no longer capable of being vocally or physically tired, was still capable of being emotionally tired while under the strain of being on Earth. He had poured out his heart, and now, everybody wanted their piece to carry away. I had drawn back from a career of public performance because I knew I would not have been able to survive that part. I was up away from the crowd for good reason ... but I also knew big-hearted extroverts are not harmed as much as big-hearted introverts by such things ...

"Keine Angst, Frau Mathews -- nur ruhe!" I murmured, and a golden meteor streaked across the sky ... the administrator of the Knockout Zone had probably just dazzled those near him with a sudden smile.

Some time later, the song of the hill gently flowed into the midnight blue, and I opened my eyes to see him sitting by me, his eyes closed, his face still glowing. There was no need to disturb him, not after how he had blessed me and probably a tenth of the city. The command at the end of the song was silence, and we understood the assignment, so again into the song of the hill I surrendered, and rested.

Some time later ... most of the day had blown away in the gentle wind ... I woke up being carried up Ada's Stairway into the last of the golden hour sunlight before sunset. Slightly across the hill there were blackberries, and he was set upon them because it was getting late and I had not eaten. Now this was really the challenge of the day with his huge hands and the delicacy of ripe berries ... but his hands proved as deft as his voice, and he soon had filled his ethereal handkerchief with these gifts from the Blessed Hand ... a practical corollary, for we had no need of anything that had already not been provided us, and could with reverence and gratitude receive all things.

Still a little later, we came down the hill to find the fog blowing in and the weather becoming much cooler, so I was getting home just in time. Up the stairs he walked with me, and I at last broke the silence.

"Danke schön für alles," I said as I embraced him.

*"Gern geschehen, Frau Mathews," he said softly. "Guten Abend."

But how he felt, walking up home, I would not know until I looked out of my window and saw something I had never seen: a foggy sunset with the whole sky overcome with a rosy flush of color.