Kühreihen / Kuhreihen

The term "Kühreihen" has a complex linguistic and cultural history that is still not completely understood. The use of Kühreihen in the context of the early 1800's has not been employed for about 150 years. Modernization has displaced the old traditions. Yet the Kühreihen, the alphorn and yodeling (among many other old Swiss traditions) are today topics of intense research.

"The calling of cows, which pictorially come by one after the other in a row when they are driven in, is called “Kuhreihen” in the current literature, with deviations in spelling, such as Chuhreihe, Chüereihe, Chühreili, Kühereihen, Kühe-reyen (Tarenne, 1813: 8). The term “Kuhreihen” is used in central and eastern Switzerland and in an adapted linguistic form in the area around Salzburg in Austria (Chuhschroah – Kuhschrei)."

Alpine Vibes: The Musical Connection between the Alphorn and Yodeling – Fact or Ideology?
Raymond Ammann, Andrea Kammermann, Yannick Wey. Translated by Gary Martin.
Chronos, 2023. Pg. 44, Footnote 17. Link: https://www.chronos-verlag.ch/node/28647

A collection of Kuhreihen from Swiss festivals at Unspunnen (in Interlaken) in the early 1800s was published in 1826. A reprint of the 1826 edition, with a wonderful series of critical essays, was published in 1979 (see this page, under 1979, for bibliographic information).

A book scan of the 1826 edition is available for download here from Google Books. Individual song scans provided in the links below are extracted from a downloaded file.

Resetting in MuseScore 3

I reset the scores in MuseScore 3. Pdf and mp3 files generated from the MuseScore files are linked below.

I believe I have corrected several errors in the 1826 scores, and I have undoubtedly both missed some needed corrections, as well as introduced my own errors.

My reset scores provide almost no musical interpretation, other than tempo settings (which are provided only in descriptive terms in some of the scores), fermatas, and a few short pauses between sections. I was simply interested in acquiring a feel for the sound these songs, which, even though mechanically generated, have produced a level of personal enthusiasm that I had not expected. They are full of emotion: joy, sadness, longing, and more. Explore and see what you think! Imagine the range and depth of musical expression that was generated by those who sang and played these songs long ago. The scores are also not optimized for vocal performance. The primary purpose for creating the scores was simply to get an approximate feel for how they sound.

Lyrics

My MuseScore files do not contain lyrics. The original scans contain only the first stanza. All of the lyrics are found in Texte zu der Sammlung von Schweizer-Kühreihen und Volksliedern (Vierte, viel vermehrte und verbesserte Ausgabe), von Joh. Rud. Wyss, Professor. Bern, 1826 (available as a free download on Google Books).

Scoring

• Songs #1-62 and 75 are scored for: Guitar, Voice, Piano.
• Songs #63-72 and 76 are scored for Piano. I added a Voice staff to each.
• Songs #73-74 are scored for: Violin, Hackbrett (Dulcimer), Bass.

Songs with interesting settings indicated:

• Songs scored for 2 voices (zweistimmig): 7, 19, 52
• Songs that are "happy, cheerful" (fröhlich, frohmütig): 8, 11, 12, 14, 26, 28, 34b
• Songs that are "bright, cheerful" (heiter): 20, 49
• A song that is "heartfelt, warm, cordial" (herzlich): 51
• Songs that are "lamenting, pained, plaintive" (klagend): 13, 23
• The contrast between the "cheerful" song when the cows are brought up to the alpine pastures in the Spring (11) and the "plaintive" song when the cows are brought back down in the Autumn (13)
• Songs that are "funny, jovial, amusing" (lustig): 44, 50, 55
• Songs that are "lively" (lebhaft): 3, 4
• Songs that are "pleasant, cozy, warm" (gemüthlich): 20, 21, 22
• A song that is "joking, facetious" (scherzend): 33a/33b
• A song that is "mocking, scoffing, sneering" (höhnisch): 39
• A song that is "narrative" (erzählend): 47
• Songs set in Minor Mode (examples: 6 similar to 68; 13 in contrast to 11; 23 "Heimweh")

Alphorn

Only a few of the songs in this collection appear to be playable on the alphorn. For an analysis of the Kuhreihen in general, including information about which are suitable for the alphorn, see Hans-Jürg Sommer, Eine Auswertung und Interpretation historischer Quellen zur Alphornmelodik, 2010, "Der Kühreihen: Definition des Begriffs and Analyse der Quellen bis 1820, sowie deren Spielbarkeit auf dem Alphorn," pp. 33-76.

Key to Table

• Nr. is the song # from the 1826 edition
• "Title: Pdf File from MuseScore" is generated from my input into Muse Score
• mp3 is the audio file generated from the MuseScore file
• scan is the extracted file from the Google Books file (pdf format)

The Kuhreien

* Song 63 includes the following information in the header:

Diese ist der Kühreihen, den Herr Kapellmeister Joseph Weigli in seiner vortrefflichen Oper: die Schweitzerfamilie so herrlich zu benutzen wusste und dessen Anhören, wie das der lieblichen Oper selbst, so manchen Schweitzer mit wehmüthiger Erinnerung in seine Heimath versetzte. — F. Huber

[This is the Kuhreihen that Mr. Kapellmeister Joseph Weigli in his excellent opera: The Swiss Family knew how to use so wonderfully, that the hearing of it, like the hearing of the lovely opera itself, has transported many a Swiss with wistful memory to his homeland.]

---

Gary Martin