"Memory" is a show tune composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Trevor Nunn based on poems by T. S. Eliot. It was written for the 1981 musical Cats, where it is sung primarily by the character Grizabella as a melancholic remembrance of her glamorous past and as a plea for acceptance. "Memory" is the climax of the musical and by far its best-known song, having achieved mainstream success outside of the musical. According to musicologist Jessica Sternfeld, writing in 2006, it is "by some estimations the most successful song ever from a musical."
Elaine Paige originated the role of Grizabella in the West End production of Cats and was thus the first to perform the song publicly on stage. "Memory" was named the Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the 1982 Ivor Novello Awards. In 2020, Jessie Thompson of the Evening Standard wrote, "Paige’s version set the standard and enabled Memory to become one of the most recognisable musical theatre songs of all time."
In Cats, "Memory" is sung primarily by Grizabella, a one-time "glamour cat" who has fallen on hard times and is now only a shell of her former self. For most of the musical, Grizabella is ostracized by her fellow Jellicle cats.[5] She sings a prelude version of "Memory" at the end of the first act, recalling the time before she became an outcast.
Melodic fragments of "Memory" are then sung twice in a higher D major key by Jemima (also known as Sillabub), a young cat who is sympathetic to Grizabella's plight. The first instance occurs at the beginning of the second act after "The Moments of Happiness", and the second instance occurs near the end of the second act right before Grizabella's final appearance. As Grizabella returns near the end of the musical, she sings the full version of the song as she pleads for acceptance, with Jemima joining in briefly to urge her on.
Andrew Lloyd Webber originally composed the tune for a proposed Giacomo Puccini project that he later abandoned. Although the tune was intentionally written in the style of Puccini, Lloyd Webber was concerned that he had unknowingly lifted it from one of Puccini's works. He asked his father, a noted expert on Puccini, for his opinion on whether it sounded like one of the composer's works; according to Lloyd Webber, his father responded: "It sounds like a million dollars!" Prior to its inclusion in Cats, the composition had also been earmarked for his early draft of Sunset Boulevard.
Memory (deutscher Titel Erinnerung) ist das wohl bekannteste Lied aus dem Musical Cats von Andrew Lloyd Webber. Der Text stammt von Trevor Nunn und basiert auf T. S. Eliots Gedicht Rhapsody on a Windy Night.
Gesungen wird der Song im Musical von Grizabella, der ehemaligen Glamour-Katze, die nun nur noch ein Schatten ihres damaligen Ichs ist. Der Song ist ein nostalgischer Rückblick auf ihre Vergangenheit und drückt ihren Wunsch aus, ein neues Leben zu beginnen. Memory wird in dem Musical mehrmals gesungen. Als er gegen Ende des Stückes gesungen wird, markiert er den Wende- und Höhepunkt der Handlung.
Memory (oft fälschlicherweise auch als Memories bezeichnet) ist Lloyd Webbers größter Hit und wurde vielfach kopiert und verändert. Bekannte Künstler, die den Song berühmt machten, sind vor allem Elaine Paige, die die Grizabella in der Originalbesetzung von Cats sang, Barbra Streisand und Barry Manilow. Die Sängerin Angelika Milster machte das Lied in Deutschland unter dem Titel Erinnerung bekannt. Zugleich ist es ihre bekannteste und populärste Aufnahme.
Quelle: Wiki
