Erik Meyer-Helmund and Georg von Dyherrn, "Das Zauberlied" ("The Magic Song")
(English version by John P. Jackson; arr. Craig Terry)
Martin Luther Clark, tenor; Ensemble Members; Craig Terry, piano
Comparatively little biographical material is available regarding either the poet or composer of this song. We do know that the sadly short-lived Georg von Dyherrn (1848-1878), born into an aristocratic family, was prevented by illness from pursuing a career in law. He chose instead to devote himself to writing novels and poetry. A number of his poems were set to music by the Russian-born, Berlin-based Erik Meyer-Helmund (1862-1932). The composer of five operas, Meyer-Helmund also wrote a good deal of piano music and nearly 300 songs. If he's remembered at all today, it's for several of the songs, which were performed by some of the most famous singers of his time.
Meyer-Helmund's most popular composition may well have been "Das Zauberlied" ("The Magic Song"), in which the singer confesses that his beloved has sung her way into his heart—through a lusciously romantic waltz. Published in 1886 and orchestrated 11 years later, the song was a favorite of many of the greatest German-speaking tenors of the 1930s, including such legends of singing as lyric tenor Joseph Schmidt, spinto tenor Richard Tauber, and dramatic tenor Franz Völker.
