Joesphine Lang is among the most deserving yet overlooked composers of the nineteenth century. In a German Lied repertoire dominated by songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf and Strauss, the songs of Josephine Lang hold an incredible (if yet underappreciated) place.

Over the course of her lifetime, Lang published over 100 songs for voice and piano, and her style offers a rich view into German Lieder tradition. Like Robert and Clara Schumann, Lang utilizes rich chordal piano accompaniment, and she worked almost exclusively with truly great poetry from either German poets or translations of internationally revered foreigners; texts in this program are taken from Goethe, Heine, Stieler and Lord Byron. Like Brahms, her songs offer singers beautiful, singable, and memorable melodies; vocal lines are carefully and superbly applied to texts, allowing vocalists to convey texts with both musical and dramatic prowess. Like Brahms and Wolf, she extended and made the most of the rules of harmony; her songs often exhibit dense harmonic textures that paint the text through liberal modulation and chromaticism.

The four songs presented in this program have been selected and ordered to outline a story arc that might constitute a typical German song cycle. The first song, “Sie liebt mich,” introduces a character that is newly in love. The second song, “In weite Ferne,” sees the character now far from his beloved but longingly hoping that she will return. The third song, “Erinnerung,” is a cynical soliloquy in which the character declares that all happiness is gone from his life and that he wishes his memories would also flee. The fourth and final song, “Im Abendstrahl,” depicts the character now near enough to his lover to see her house bathed in the evening sun. Despite this nearness, his lover never looks out toward him, and he finds himself with tears in his eyes. He stoically blames the tears on the brightness of the sun.

Though Josephine Lang’s music is experiencing a slight resurgence in recent years, her vast catalogue of songs remains a largely untapped source of beautiful and accessible material for performers and teachers.