In the eighth poem, the speaker’s desire has reached unbearable levels. He has been suffering since his soul belonged to the beloved, whom he asks to judge if he really deserves such pain and to relieve him from his agony. The poem’s division into three sentences is underlined by the rhyme scheme and the shortness of each of the last verses of the two tercets that surround the rhyming couplet. In the first tercet, the speaker claims that it would destroy him if he could not touch the beloved’s body. The three verses are connected through the alliteration of the first word of each verse (“Wenn”, “Wird”, “Wie”) and the repetition of the sound /zeː/ in “seele”, “sehr” and “sehne”. The urgency of the speaker’s desire is underlined by the staccato-like beginning “Wenn ich heut nicht” that consists only of monosyllables as the usual form of the adverb “heute” is substituted with the shorter form “heut”. Despite the very fast tempo, it is important that the singer articulates the text clearly, so the intense sounds of the language get conveyed. The image of the taut thread that is in …show more content…
The following sound example is an attempt I made shortly after I rehearsed the song with my second singer for the first time, in which I have not quite gained the independence I wished for. Balance is another ensemble issue in this song. I discovered that the text could be better understood if I played the right hand clearly but not too dominating at the beginning. From bar 18, the singer must articulate as clearly as possible while I try to be alert to possible balance problems and play fortissimo but not too heavy and with clear pedal. At the same time, I think of the unbearable tension of the speaker’s feverish desire. I play the postlude hard, raw and marked, forgetting about tonal beauty and just “hitting” the