Towards the end of his long life, Richard Strauss wrote four songs for soprano and orchestra which, after his death, were brought together under the title Vier letzte Lieder, Four Last Songs. Three are settings of poems by Hermann Hesse: Frühling (Spring), September and Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep). The final song, Im Abendrot (At Sunset), is a setting of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff.

The songs move from the rapture of spring towards autumn, sleep and, finally, the tranquillity of sunset. Strauss surrounds the soprano with rich yet transparent orchestral writing, in which long melodic lines, birdsong and prominent horn parts create a sense of both beauty and farewell. In Beim Schlafengehen, the solo violin also takes on a central role in one of the work’s most intimate moments.

In Im Abendrot, an elderly couple walk together into the twilight and finally ask: “Can this perhaps be death?” At that moment, Strauss allows a motif from Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), a tone poem from his youth, to emerge in the orchestra. The circle is closed, quietly and almost imperceptibly.

Vier letzte Lieder was first performed in London in 1950 by Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler.