Songs on the Death of Children: Selected Poems (Toplight/McFarland, 2022)

A TIME FOR GRATITUDE

“You know who you are” — I want everyone else to know, too!

Few of us linger over the acknowledgements in a new book. Songs on the Death of Children: Selected Poems (Toplight/McFarland, 2022) is probably no exception. Fortunately, the Internet allows me to tell the whole world!

SONGS ON THE DEATH OF CHILDREN by Friedrich Rückert and David Bannon — Book Trailer

Acknowledgements (from Songs on the Death of Children: Selected Poems)

My daughter, Jess, died on 16 January 2015 of a fentanyl-laced heroin overdose. She was twenty-six. A few months later, I came across Philip Yancey’s thoughts on Friedrich Rückert’s Songs on the Death of Children in his book The Question that Never Goes Away. Less than a month later, I discovered a double-disc set of Gustav Mahler’s setting of Rückert’s songs in Kindertotenlieder as sung by the remarkable Christa Ludwig, with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert Von Karajan. It cost a mere fifty cents at a thrift shop that benefits half-way houses for ex-cons.

These events led me to download a copy of Rückert’s complete 1872 book, Kindertodtenlieder. In it I discovered a communion of grief that I dared not imagine could exist. I translated one of his best, “Over all Graves,” and sent it to Philip on a whim. He dubbed the piece “very fine” and kindly encouraged me to render into English more songs from this classic. “Over all Graves” and nine other Rückert laments appeared in my first book on grief, Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations (Paraclete Press, 2018).

Songs on the Death of Children has been a companion of solace through many years of sorrow. For this, and for your calm, gentle support of a broken friend, thank you, Philip.

Two anonymous single-blind peer reviewers examined this manuscript. They offered keen insights and a lively discussion that contributed to the book a great deal. I am indebted and grateful.

To:

Steven Bammel, Ph.D., translator;

Kim Blum-Hyclak, poet, author and gardener;

Timothy Jones, author, former Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina, and Rector (Pastor) of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Halifax, Virginia;

Cornelia Kallisch, three time Grammy-nominee and world-renowned interpreter of the musical setting of Kindertotenlieder, for a movingly personal foreword to this book;

Dr. Rudolf Kreutner, past president of the Rückert Society (Rückert-Gesellschaft), historian and archivist of the Rückert estate collection, and editor/publisher of the definitive critical editions of the works of Friedrich Rückert;

Titus Leber, bereaved father, author and director of the film Kindertotenlieder (1976), multiple award winner at the Valladolid International Film Festival, of a Colombe d’Or (Cannes 1978) and in Paris, as well as Austria’s nominee for best short film for the Academy Awards;

Christel and Klaus Rückert with Friedrich-Rückert-Gedenkstätte, Neuses, Lkr. Coburg;

W. Lee Warren, MD, Neurosurgeon, Author of I’ve Seen the End of You, Winner of the Christian Book Award, and Host of The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast;

Johannes Wilkes, psychologist, author of Der Fall Rückert and president of the Erlangen Rückert Circle (Erlanger Rückert-Kreis), Germany;

Philip Yancey, author, hiker, pianist and all around good egg;

the staff of McFarland Books;

the staff of the Chester County Library;

and Elaine:

thank you all.

Steven Bammel, Ph.D., translator.

Kim Blum-Hyclak, in the Garden of Life and Death: A Mother and Daughter Walk (Main Street Rag, 2015).

Timothy Jones, The Art of Prayer: A Simple Guide to Conversation with God, rev. and expanded ed. (WaterBrook, 2005).

Cornelia Kallisch, Gustav Mahler / Anton Webern — Kindertotenlieder / Adagio From Symphony №10 / Passacaglia Op. 1 / “Im Sommerwind” (Hänssler Classic, 2003).

Dr. Rudolf Kreutner, Friedrich Rückerts Werke, Historisch-kritische Ausgabe “Schweinfurter Edition” [The Works of Rückert: Historical-Critical Editions “Schweinfurt Editions”] (Wallstein).

Prof. Dr. Titus Leber, Kindertotenlieder (1976); written and directed by Titus Leber using Gustav Mahler’s musical setting of Friedrich Rückert’s Songs on the Death of Children. Gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Unterricht und Kunst und Kulturamt der Stadt Wien.

W. Lee Warren, MD, I’ve Seen the End of You (WaterBrook, 2020).

Johannes Wilkes, Der Fall Rückert, 4th ed. (ars vivendi, 2016).

Philip Yancey, Where the Light Fell: A Memoir (Convergent, 2021) and The Question that Never Goes Away: Why? (Zondervan, 2014).