The eleventh poem is written in retrospect and elaborates on the speaker’s memories of the short moment of the lover’s togetherness before the fear of discovery and separation threatens the calm intimacy in the following poem. The speaker asks if they were bestowed with the bliss they expected. He remembers that they started shaking and crying as they finally touched each other and that she stayed with him like this for a long time. The song begins again with a lengthy piano introduction, in which I try to convey the fragile intimacy of the text. It is the calmest and softest song of the entire cycle, and after the intensity of the previous songs, it can be challenging to feel the necessary physical calmness and control for the pianissimo start and not be tempted to shorten the long notes, whose sound has to carry to the last seat despite the pianissimo. Due to the thin texture and soft dynamics, each voice feels very exposed and fragile, particularly at the beginning when the right hand and left hand move in different metres. …show more content…
The repetition of the voiced bilabial stop /b/ in “beblümten” adds to the sensual atmosphere whereas the noun “hauchen” in the following verse conveys fragility and intimacy as it describes a different, softer quality of breath than for example “Atem”. The sparse, fragmented piano part allows the singer to start very softly and intimately in this recitative-like phrase. The sustained notes in the piano, especially the right-hand octave in bar 9 can be difficult to place without disturbing the singer’s calmness as they need to be played loud enough to sound until the middle of the next bar. Good timing is essential as the singer needs to take a breath after