Robert Schumann: Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart – Iryna Ilnytska, Mezzo-soprano

Iryna Ilnytska – Mezzo-soprano
Sarah Madisson – Piano
Concert ‘Royalty and Love’ at St. Nicholas Priory in Exeter, UK
June 14th 2025

Robert Schumann: Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart
1. Abschied von Frankreich
2. Nach der Geburt ihres Sohnes
3. An die Königin Elisabeth
4. Abschied von der Welt
5. Gebet

Robert Schumann’s Die Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, Op. 135, represents the last song cycle he composed in 1852 and the last work he published altogether. Schumann set the queen’s poems in the German translations of Gisbert Freiherrn Vincke. They are titled: Abschied von Frankreich (Farewell to France), Nach der Geburt ihres Sohnes (On the Birth of her Son), An die Königin Elisabeth (To Queen Elizabeth), Abschied von der Welt (Farewell to the World), Gebet (Prayer).

The span of the cycle is twenty-six years in Maria Stuart’s life. There is no reference here to love between man and woman, nor to any of the Queen’s three husbands, source of the controversy surrounding her life, as well as of the accusations against her. Instead, we see in the 1st song a young girl devoted to her adopted land of France, in the 2nd – a young mother concerned for the legacy of her son, in the 3rd – a proud imprisoned queen forced to write a pleading letter, in the 4th – the same prisoner some years later renouncing hope in life and, finally, in the 5th song – praying before a fearful death.

In this cycle Schumann overlooks political intrigues and focuses on the queen’s suffering. Schumann tells us about an honourable and helpless queen and, inevitably, this touches us. According to some sources, Mary would have written her prayer (the 5th song in the cycle) some hours before her execution, on February 8, 1587.
Oh God, my Master,
I place my trust in Thee!
Oh Jesus, Beloved,
Save me now!
In a cruel prison,
In sore distress
I yearn for Thee;
In lamentations sobbing to Thee,
Despairing in the dust,
Hear my plea, I implore Thee,
And save Thou me!