Seligkeit, D.433
In Hölty’s poem the protagonist imagines the heavenly halls where there is celebration, dancing and playing on the harp. He comes to new thoughts in the third verse facing the possibility that Laura may smile at him and decides that the present seems to be the better choice.
The song is in E-major as the original key and has a simple strophic form according to the poem’s structure.
The piano introduces each verse with a sprightly solo and proceeds with a simple accompaniment in triple time when the vocal part takes over.
Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty (1748–1776)
Hölty was an era typical German folk poet. His language is characterized by nature-simplicity, harmony, and modesty. His famous ghost ballads are budding traits of ”Sturm und Drang.” His poems were published mainly in magazines and calendars. Only after his death, they were collected in a book.
