Enjoyment of Music, Ess. Listening Ed. 4th Ed. Chapter 33

1. CHAPTER 33
Musical Reading: Schubert
and the Early Romantic Lied
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2. The Romantic Art Song
• A poem set to music
• Typical subjects: love,
nature, beauty, death,
and heroism
• Performed in small
gatherings in people’s
homes; later
performed in concert
halls
• Singer and piano equally important
• Piano: introduction and ending
section
• Melodies heard in both parts in a
musical dialogue
• Poetry and music both high art

3. • Many composers set poems in
native language
• Favored poets: Goethe, Heine
• German art song: Lied
• Art song-filled with unrequited
love, beauty of nature,
supernatural folk tales, reaching
out of the soul
• Translation of mood & imagery
into music; mood set by
introduction & postlude(end of
piece)
The Art Song

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The Lied (plural, Lieder): Romantic Art Song, Part 1
I. The Lied (plural, Lieder): Romantic Art Song
A. German-texted solo song with piano accompaniment
1. favored Romantic-era genre
a. emergence, popularity of the piano
b. amateurs and professionals, home and
concert hall
2. prominent composers: Franz Schubert, Robert
Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Wieck Schumann

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The Lied (plural, Lieder): Romantic Art Song, Part 2

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The Lied (plural, Lieder): Romantic Art Song, Part 3
3. favored poets: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–
1832), Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)
a. short, personal “lyric” poems
b. tender sentiment to dramatic balladry
c. common themes: love, longing, beauty of nature
4. unity of expression: text and music
5. song cycle: group of Lieder, unified theme

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The Lied (plural, Lieder): Romantic Art Song, Part 4
B. Types of song structure
1. strophic: same melody every stanza
2. through-composed: without repetitions of whole
sections
3. modified strophic: features of strophic and through-
composed

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Franz Schubert (1779-1828)
Born in Vienna; member of Vienna Boy’s Choir
Son of school master
Pianist and violinist
Wrote Gretchen am Spinnrade at 17
Started out as a teacher, but quit to compose at 21.
Income came entirely from composition, gifted songwriter
Home & Salon concerts
Usually lived with friends, did not mingle with upper class
Contracted syphilis at 25, moody & prone to despair
Like Mozart, he died at a young age (31), after 5 years of illness.
Applied to musical positions but not accepted

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 1
II. Schubert and the Lied
A. Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
1. Vienna-born composer
2. member of Vienna Boys’ Choir
3. rejected career as a schoolteacher, struggled
financially
4. songwriting prodigy: melodic gift, subtle
interactions
5. Schubertiads: private gatherings of writers,
artists, musicians

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A prolific composer of German lieder (art
songs)
Regional fame
His songs involve texts from some of the
greatest writers of his day.
Other works:
9 symphonies, many piano sonatas, chamber music
“The Trout”--a song and a piano quintet
Symphony no. 8--”Unfinished”
“Death and the Maiden”--a song and a string
quartet
“Serenade”--a song and a piano piece
7 masses
Over 600 art songs
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

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Die Forelle(The Trout)
1817
Text by Christian Daniel
Schubart
Trout caught by
fisherman
Also as string quartet
Die Forelle
Franz Schubert

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A drama set to music;
characters
Narrator
Father
Child
The Erlking (death)
Only one performer with piano
accompaniment
Text is a poem by Wolfgang
Goethe--a ballad--poem that
tells a story.
Through-composed
Franz Schubert “Erlkönig”

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Word-Music Relationships--song fits the content,
meter, and rhyme scheme of the poem.
Rhythm--repetitive rhythmic figure in the accompaniment
represents the horse.
Register--three characters and the narrator each have a
particular register of the singer’s voice.
Dynamics--reflect the story; father is always loud; child is
soft then loud; Erlking is softer and softer until very loud at
end.
Harmony--key of g minor; shifts to major when the Erlking
“speaks”--provides harmonic variety to the song.
Franz Schubert “Erlkönig”

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 3
6. music: confluence of Classical and Romantic styles
a. Lieder and piano music: Romantic, lyric
b. symphonies, chamber music: more Classical
7. output: more than 600 Lieder, song cycles, nine
symphonies, piano and chamber music, choral music
B. Elfking (Erlkönig)
1. written by Schubert at age eighteen: swift public
recognition
2. text: ballad by Goethe
a. dramatic poem, based on Danish legend
b. four characters (one singer): narrator, father,
child, Elfking

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 4

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 5

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 6
c. Elfking: king of the elves
d. whoever is touched by Elfking must die
C. Listening Guide 22: Schubert: Elfking (Erlkönig) (1815)
1. through-composed Lied
2. fast, dramatic, eerie atmosphere
3. constant triplets in piano unify: horse’s hooves
4. Elfking lures child from father: suavely melodious
phrases, shift to major key
5. child’s terror: dissonance, high vocal range
6. father reassures, calms fears: rounded vocal line, low
register
7. tension builds to the end

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Erlkönig
• The Erlkonig

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 7

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 8

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Schubert and the Lied, Part 9

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Credits
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Schubert and the Early Romantic Lied”
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