We now reach the final part of Tragödie. Last week I mentioned that the poem in the central section, Es fiel ein Rief in der Frühlingsnacht, was not originally by Heine but, as he himself explained, a traditional song. I also told you that in the version of this same song collected by Anton von Zuccalmagio there was a fourth stanza, added to the three included by Heine.

Last week I referred to Tragödie as a triptych, for lack of a better definition. Because it has three parts, and because it is best appreciated if we consider it as a whole. But also—and this is a reason I had not yet mentioned—because the second part, the one we will hear today, is the one that gives meaning to everything. In other words, it is the central part of the triptych, the main one.

I could not say for certain whether Tragödie is a song in three parts or a small cycle. We find it published in Romanzen und Balladen IV as number 3 (that is, not as numbers 3, 4 and 5), yet it is rare to hear it performed in its entirety, even in recordings (and we shall see why). In fact, the only song (or part) that is occasionally heard in recitals is the first.

I look up at the sky, always overcast, fasten my jacket tightly (it’s chilly!) and think that in a few days I'll be back in Barcelona, with much warmer temperatures and a much bluer sky. But there is still time to send you a second musical postcard from my travels: Stehe still [stand still], the second of Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, composed in February 1858.

Dear all, I’m on holiday. As ever, I've paid a visit to the music-postcard display where I’m staying, and there are so many and so beautiful... I’ve selected two, which you’ll receive on the last Wednesday in September and the first in October.