The Six Songs,
Op. 50,[a] is a collection of German-language
art songs for vocal soloist and piano written in 1906 by the Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius. "Die stille Stadt" ("The Silent City") generally is considered the best of the set.[1]
Constituent songs
Ordered by catalogue number, the Op. 36 songs are as follows:
"Lenzgesang" ("Spring Song"), Op. 50/1; text by the German poet
Arthur Fitger[2]
"Sehnsucht" ("Longing"), Op. 50/2; text by the German poet
Emil Rudolf Weiß[3]
"Im Feld ein Mädchen singt" ("In the Field a Maid Sings"), Op. 50/3; text by the German-Jewish poet
Margarete Susman[4]
"Aus banger Brust" ("From Anxious Heart"), Op. 50/4; text by the German poet
Richard Dehmel[5]
"Die stille Stadt" ("The Silent City"), Op. 50/5; text by Dehmel[6]
"Rosenlied" ("Song of the Roses"), Op. 50/6; text by the German poet
Anna Ritter[7]
The songs were first published in 1907 by the Berlin-based firm of
Robert Lienau.[8] The table below provides additional information about each song:
Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
ISBN978-0-300-16397-1.
Dahlström, Fabian[in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.
ISBN3-7651-0333-0.
Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books.
ISBN0028713222.