''Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente'' (English: ''Six Hölderlin Fragments'') is a

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

for high voice and piano composed in 1958 by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

(191376), and published as his Op. 61. It consists of settings of six short poems and verse fragments by the German lyric poet

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

(17701843). Britten had been introduced to the poetry of Hölderlin by Prince Ludwig of Hesse, and the cycle is dedicated to him. It was recorded by

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

(tenor) and the composer (piano) and broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

in November 1958. A performance typically takes about 13 minutes. The songs are: # "Menschenbeifall" ("Public Applause") # "Die Heimat"" ("Home") # "Sokrates und Alcibiades" ("

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

and

Alcibiades Alcibiades ( ; grc-gre, Ἀλκιβιάδης; 450 – 404 BC) was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last of the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War. He played a major role in t ...

") # "Die Jugend" ("Youth") # "Hälfte des Lebens" ("The Middle of Life") # "Die Linien des Lebens" ("The Lines of Life")

References

Song cycles by Benjamin Britten 1958 compositions Classical song cycles in German Musical settings of poems by Friedrich Hölderlin {{Classical-composition-stub