Kitty Song Cycle poems by Heinrich Heine
Program Notes
Although many poems by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) have been set by composers, this cycle includes texts being set for the first or second time. In 1834 Heine sent twelve of these sixteen poems to a composer friend with the inscription "Kitty. Foolish words by Heinrich Heine. Even more foolish music by Ferdinand Hiller." Hiller thought it was a joke, and not a serious invitation to write a song cycle. Indeed, he opined in his memoirs that the poems were totally unsuitable for music. The remaining four poems were found in Heine’s posthumous papers with the heading “Kitty,” but weren't included in the group sent to Hiller. Several of the "Kitty" poems later found their way into various parts of the "Verschiedene" sequence in Heine's Neue Gedichte (New Poems) published in 1844. Taken as a whole, "Verschiedene" (Sundry women) is a satirical, grotesque imitation of his earlier love poetry, and illustrates the poet's disillusionment with Romantic ideology. They describe the poet's bitter feelings and resentment towards a series of fickle French girls of loose morals and little devotion. The "Kitty" poems have their share of satire and grotesquerie, but they also contain many seemingly heartfelt and moving passages of ardor and lamentation. This is entirely speculative, but it would be characteristic of Heine to conceal what might have been a truly passionate episode in his life by not publishing "Kitty" in its original form. – Peter W. Shea
These excerpts are performed by Peter W. Shea, tenor/baritone and Monica Jakuc Leverett, piano on the evening of May 16, 2009.