Casting a spell: baritone Andrè Schuen & pianist Julius Drake in Schumann’s Heine settings at Temple Church for Temple Music

Andrè Schuen, Julius Drake – Temple Music at Temple Church [Photo: Chris Christodoulou]

A Poet’s Love – Schumann: Liederkreis Op. 24, Dichterliebe Op. 48; Andrè Schuen, Julius Drake; Temple Music at Temple Church

A focus on Schumann’s Heine settings with two of his 1840 song cycles in performances that brought out the songs’ lyric beauty alongside a focus on text and meaning.

We first saw baritone Andrè Schuen back in 2016 when he gave an all-Schubert recital at Oxford Lieder Festival [see my review] and there have been other more recent sightings including at the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival [see Tony’s review]. Then we caught him as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte in Christoph Loy’s powerful production at the Salzburg Festival this year [see my review]. So it was a great pleasure to be able to encounter him again in recital for Temple Music.

Andrè Schuen and pianist Julius Drake have been performing their Schumann/Heine programme in Europe and the stopped at Temple Church on 12 November 2026 to give us a treat. Their programme, A Poet’s Love featured Schumann’s two Heine cycles, Liederkreis Op. 24 and Dichterliebe op. 48 along with the four songs that Schumann cut from Dichterliebe but published later.

Andrè Schuen, Julius Drake – Temple Music at Temple Church [Photo: Chris Christodoulou]

We began with the Liederkreis, a sequence of nine songs setting poems from Heine’s Junge Leiden (Young Sorrows) section of his Buch der Lieder (1827). Heine’s poems, often referring to his own emotional turmoil, seem to have struck a chord with Schumann who was writing the songs whilst fighting his future father-in-law in court. There can be a bitter edge to Heine’s poetry, and many of those in Schumann’s Liederkreis were written after Heine was bitterly rejected by his cousin with whom he was in love. The cycle has no narrative, but then Schumann’s cycles tend not to; instead we have a progression of lyrics exploring unrequited love.

Singing from memory, Andrè Schuen cut a poised figure on stage, his performance throughout the evening focusing on the story and words. Temple Church is not an ideal space for a lieder recital, but Schuen had no problems conveying word and meaning. His performances were not operatic, but there was an emotional directness in manner as he really inhabited text and story.

‘Morgens steh’ ich auf und frage’ began with a light, fluent piano and Schuen’s dark, focused voice. The second song was all vivid vigour with warm and depth to his timbre. ‘Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen’ was quiet and concentrated, with some real magic in the third verse when time seemed suspended. ‘Lieb’ Liebchen’ seemed quite light-hearted at first, but Schuen brought a real twist to the words. ‘Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden’ moved from lyric beauty to something more intense, and wonderfully expansive. The fierce vigour of ‘Warte, warte, wilder Schiffmann’ gave way to real bitterness in the second half. Quiet and intimate at first, ‘Berg und Burgen schaun herunter’ was all about lyricism which we came to realise was deceptive. Drake’s piano began ‘Anfangs wollt’ ich fast verzagen’ in a dark and sober manner, complementing the serious tone of Schuen’s voice. Then ‘Mit Myrten und Rosen’ began with a lovely spring to the rhythms, developing vigour later on, though Schumann does not quite leave us with a resolution. You feel the poet’s suffering will go on.

The poems from Schumann’s Dichterliebe (which was written later in 1840 after Liederkreis) all come from the Lyrisches Intermezzo section of Heine’s Buch der Lieder. Heine’s original has a verse Prologue and 65 poems which tell the story of a knight who is in love with a fairy who visits him nightly (!) Schumann’s selection of poems extracts the emotional narrative from any sense of story telling. In Schumann’s original he set 20 poems but he eventually reduced them to 16, reusing the other songs in later works.

To finish the first half of the programme Schuen and Drake performed the four cut Dichterliebe songs, along with ‘Du bist wie eine Blume’ from Myrthen. We began this group with Dein Angesicht Op. 127 No.2 (Your face so lovely and fair), an example of slowly unfolding lyric beauty, yet the words counted too. Lehn’ deine Wang Op. 127 No. 4 (Rest your cheek against my cheek) was vivid and intense, then Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No. 3 (The gleam of my love) was urgent and flowing with a vigorous piano part. Finally in the ex-Dichterliebe group, Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142 No. 4 (My carriage rolls slowly) was finely thoughtful with a long, expressive postlude. The first half concluded with ‘Du bist wie eine Blume’ (You are like a flower) from Myrthen (also setting Heine) where the interior quality of Schuen’s performance brought out the song’s beauty.

Apart from his late poems there is often a bitter or sarcastic quality to Heine’s verse. Whilst Schumann’s settings in Liederkreis Op. 24 seem to chime in with Heine’s attitudes, in Dichterliebe you sense a mellowing and though the poems deal with unrequited love, Schumann melds this with what might be terms poetic romance. There is less immediacy in the emotional turmoil, also Schumann uses the piano postludes (many of which are substantial) to modulate the mood of the text somewhat. Schuen’s was a mellow, thoughtful performance with the poetry given with a great deal of poise, almost as if the poet was recollecting.

‘Im wunderschönen Monat Mai’ was nicely flowing, the interior quality developing into something more expansive. This latter quality continued into ‘Aus meinen Tränen sprießen’ which was also rather confiding. ‘Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne’ was vivid and fast, then ‘Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’ had a wonderful poetic feel to it, leading to sadness (rather than bitterness).

‘Ich will meine Seele tauchen’ felt rather well-balanced, as if the poet was thoughtful and on top of his emotions. But ‘Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome’ gave the opposite impression as it began strongly, almost fierce with powerful moments. That was the interesting thing about Schuen’s performances, he was often confiding and intimate, never histrionic, but he did not shy away from the big moments, filling the church admirably. ‘Ich grolle nicht’ offers scope for anger, and here the powerful delivery led to some real bitterness. The opening of ‘Und wüßten’s die Blumen, die kleinen’ was light and urgent, but the final lines were bitter indeed – ‘My pain is known to one alone; For she it was who broke, Broke my heart in two.’

‘Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen’ featured a lightly dancing piano though there was surprising strength to Schuen’s voice. The suggestion the poet was not coping well, which led to the bleak ‘Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen’ with Schuen’s performance very interior and a bleak piano postlude. ‘Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen’ began insouciantly, but this poet could not keep this up and the song ended in real bitterness. ‘Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen’ was thoughtful with a lovely postlude.

‘Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet’ was haunted with a powerful conclusion, then ‘Allnächtlich im Traume’ was remarkably graceful. The vigour of ‘Aus alten Märchen winkt es’ developed into a real swagger but the postlude was delicate and eventually evaporated, suggesting the line ‘Ah! I often see that land of joys in dreams: then comes the morning sun, and it vanishes like smoke’. The final song, ‘Die alten, bösen Lieder’ was strong and uncompromising, yet with a touching postlude.

We had an encore, something suitably vigorous: Schumann’s ‘Entflieh’ mit mir und sei mein Weib’ from Tragödie Op.64 No.3 (also words by Heine). 

Andrè Schuen, Julius Drake – Temple Music at Temple Church [Photo: Chris Christodoulou]