Johannes Brahms lullaby (Wiegenlied) in the original German version speaks of roses and carnations covering the baby’s crib. For some reason the carnations became lilies in the English translation; and it goes on to wish the child a blessed slumber, when the German version hopes that the child, God willing, will survive the night and wake up in the morning. In the second verse, the English version talks about the mother at whose breast the child will wake, when the original mentions angels, and hopes for glimpses of paradise in the child’s dreams. Hm. I guess it had to rhyme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oBIJTnqXMg

But of course it suits my plan to introduce some music for roses and lilies, since they are the chosen flowers to bring this week to a close. There are not that many musical pieces about lilies, and the ones I found were on the early side. That might have to do with the symbolic function of lilies in medieval religious paintings, where they symbolized the purity of Mary, Susannah and the occasional Saint. Maestro della Madonna Strauss, Annunciation, ca. 1390

Here is a John Dowland piece sung beautifully by countertenor Andreas Scholl:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlGnt6kxYMA.

Roses are a different story: there is an abundance of music, from every possible period, tackling the topic. In no particular order some of my favorites: Schumann, of course, Meine Rose; Benjamin Britten, The Nightingale and the Rose; Gounod’s Les temps des roses; Richard Strauss’ Das Rosenband. Fauré’s Les Rose d’Ispahan sung tenderly by Elly Ameling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4Z2sBeWeQ

And of course there is Der Rosenkavalier, my favorite opera of all times. But instead of young Octavian twirling silver roses around I decided to post Leo Delibe’s flower duet from Lakmé.  Yes, we all have heard it a million times, but it is such beautiful music and so right for the flowers it names in all their complexity, fragility, impermanence. Enjoy!