Reuss, August

August Reuss – Sommer-Idylle

(b. Liliendorf, Moravia, 6. March 1871 – d. Munich, 18. June 1935)

August Reuss was one of the leading members of the Munich School of composers who flourished from roughly 1870 through 1920, including Alexander Ritter, Ludwig Thuille, and Walter Braunfels. Reuss’ Sommer-Idylle was published in 1920, at the end of the main period of Munich School activity, and late in Reuss’ career. Its publication also coincided with a rather low period in his life, as economic turmoil and social change after the First World War claimed the successful family business that had helped support his musical pursuits. In that regard, Sommer-Idylle sits in distinct contrast with the circumstances of his life in those years.

Details on the orchestral score and piano reduction published around 1920 by Tischer und Jagenberg support the notion of Sommer-Idylle’s offering an escape into a musical space which evokes happier memories, in vivid sensory detail. Two notable remarks are in the title caption of the piano reduction: The first is “Dem Hause Diehl in Neustadt [an der Donau] in alter Freundschaft gewidmet” — “Dedicated in old friendship to the Diehl house in Neustadt on the Danube.” Still more illustrative is the line of poetry, “In ein freundliches Städtchen tret’ ich ein…” — “In a friendly little town I enter.” The line provided in the score is from Eduard Mörike’s poem “Auf einer Wanderung” (On a Journey).

One could speculate that the line was added by the publisher, but a copy of the orchestral score once owned by Reuss suggests the poem indeed meant something to him with respect to the work itself. The score, which resides in the Eugene Goossens collection of music scores in the National Library of Australia, bears the stamp “Eigentümer [Owner]: August Reuss.” On that copy, the caption includes the printed dedication to the Diehl house, but the line of Mörike’s poem is handwritten on the title page, in more angular writing than the examples of Goossen’s handwriting which are available for comparison on the internet.

Therefore, it seems reasonable to ascribe particular significance to Mörike’s poem, which thus lends depth and context to the entirety of Sommer-Idylle. Mörike’s poetry was well known to composers of lieder in his day and afterward, and “Auf einer Wanderung” was itself set by Hugo Wolf. The poem evokes the beauty of nature at evening, with vivid references to the red and purple hues of sunset, flowery meadows, and red roses, along with golden-toned bells, choirs of nightingales, and a rushing stream. The scene is at once peaceful and busy with the routines of evening, juxtaposing stillness and motion.

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