Schubert & Schumann Song Arrangements: Chamber Orchestra

Britten’s arrangements of Schubert’s The Trout (op 32/ D550) for small orchestra, and Schumann’s Spring Night (op 39 no 12) for chamber orchestra, dating from 1942, are settings of anonymous English translations. The new edition includes the original German words (Schubart, Eichendorff), as many performers and audiences will prefer the songs in the original language. In his preface, Nicholas Clark, Librarian at the Britten-Pears Foundation, speculates on why the songs were set in English and on the possibility that the translator was Peter Pears, commenting that “the English language settings allowed [Britten] to edge away from existing versions of the songs, to assist him in imprinting his own unique mark on both worksThe Trout is scored for 2 clarinets & strings; Spring Night for flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, triangle, harp (or piano) and strings.