Ruth Leon recommends… Four Last Songs – David Dawson – English National Ballet 

Four Last Songs – David Dawson – English National Ballet 

 Choreographer David Dawson takes us on a deeply moving journey of his choreographic process for the upcoming world premiere of Four Last Songs, his newest work for the English National Ballet.

Composed in 1948, Four Last Songs  is one of the last completed works by Richard Strauss. As the name suggests, it consists of four songs, written for soprano and orchestra.

While Strauss had an illustrious operatic and orchestral career, he also wrote over 200 lieder (songs), taking inspiration from his wife, Pauline de Ahna, a successful soprano.
For Four Last Songs, Joseph von Eichendorff’s  poem Im Abendrot (At Sunset), in which an ageing couple at the end of their lives together look at the setting sun, inspired the composer’s first composition of the piece. It is thought that the words of the poem, especially the last line which translates to “Is this perhaps death?”, resonated with 84-year-old Strauss.

Four Last Songs is often described as a poignant farewell to life. Underneath a glimpse of the heavens above, 12 dancers unite in Dawson’s poetic style to the music’s lush, lyrical melodies, ushering in a feeling of serenity, eternity and the sublime.

Im Abendrot is sung here by Jessye Norman,  with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Kurt Masur.

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