Robert Stern

Soprano and Tenor

Composer's Note:

The title of my cycle takes its name from Else Lasker-Schüler's last cycle of poetry. Mein Blaues Klavier was published in Palestine where Lasker-Schüler died in exile after being forced to flee from the Nazi Reich.

Editor's Note:

Robert Stern’s song cycle for soprano, tenor, and piano, My Blue Piano, was composed in 1995 and draws its texts from Else Lasker-Schüler’s exile-era cycle Mein blaues Klavier (published in Jerusalem in 1943).

The work received its premiere on October 29, 1996, in Bezanson Recital Hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, performed by soprano Paulina Stark, tenor Jon Humphrey, and pianist Nadine Shank. The event was warmly received, with particular praise for the score’s emotional immediacy, its fluid interweaving of German and English texts, and its vividly pictorial piano writing.

Following this first performance, the same ensemble—Stark, Humphrey, and Shank—presented the work at Smith College on February 21, 1997, as part of that year’s Five College New Music Festival. Later that fall, on November 8, 1997, My Blue Piano was featured at Abbey Memorial Chapel at Mount Holyoke College in a new interpretation by soprano Melinda Spratlan, tenor Christopher P. Aspaas, and pianist Gary Steigerwalt.

In 2004, Stern undertook a revision of the score, refining aspects of its vocal and pianistic textures. The revised version received its first documented performance on April 3, 2005, again in Bezanson Recital Hall, with Paulina Stark, William Hite now singing the tenor part, and Nadine Shank.

The revised edition incorporates a series of small but meaningful updates while preserving the overall structure and expressive character of the original version. Minor note adjustments appear throughout, several harmonies have been subtly refined, and select dynamic markings have been clarified or altered for greater musical impact. Issues of pacing and sectional tempo relationships have also been smoothed out or adjusted to enhance the continuity between sections.

The most substantial modification occurs in the final six bars of the third movement, which have been more significantly reworked. Apart from these updates, the piece remains largely unchanged, and the revised score remains essentially faithful to the 1995 original.

The revised edition presented here reflects the composer’s final vision for a work that continues to resonate through its blend of lyrical vulnerability, luminous text-setting, and emotional depth.