Franz

Schubert and German

Lieder
Dr. Lara Housez
School of the Arts
McMaster University

Content

Wrap-up Beethovens Symphony No. 9

Franz Schubert
The genre of German Lieder
Der Erlknig, D. 328
Text by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Characters
Form
Word-music relationships

Viennese Salon

Beethovens Symphony No. 9

In the 4th movement, the orchestra is
augmented by soloists (SATB) and chorus
Text (Ode to Joy) by Friedrich Schiller
Idealistic vision of the human race becoming
brothers

In 1985, the European Union adopted the

music (without words) as their of]icial anthem
Widely performed: here with 10,000 musicians
(listen to beginning and @ 6:40)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Austrian composer
Lived only 31 years, 5
years less than Mozart
Blossomed as a young
composer: 1st symphony
at age 11
Best known for his 600
songs, 9 symphonies,
piano sonatas, operas,
chamber works, and
choral music

The Lied
Lied = (German) song (pl. Lieder = songs), also
translated as art song
A genre of songs for a solo singer singing a
setting of a romantic German text with piano
accompaniment
The text usually tells a story (ballad) and deals
with pastoral themes or romantic love; often a
drama in miniature
Other Lieder composers: Robert Schumann,
Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss,
among others

Der Erlknig (The Erlking)

(1815)
The Erlking is a
name from
German folklore
for a supernatural
being. He is only
visible to those
who are about to
die
Title page of the
]irst edition, 1821

The Erlking, by Albert Sterner (1910)

 The Erlking is a
1780s poem by
German Johann
Wolfgang Goethe
(1749-1832)
poet, writer, artist,
scientist (polymath)

Goethes Erlking is a
threat to children and
his intentions are
never made clear; he
is a force of death

Characters
A single singer (usually male, but sometimes
female) enacts 4 different characters:
Narrator: middle range, minor key
Father: low range, minor/major
Child (son): high range, minor key
Erlking (supernatural demon): all ranges, major
key, pianissimo

The piano part enacts a 5th character, the

horse on which the Father and Son ride

English Translation of Goethes Text

Narrator: Who rides, so late, through night
and wind? It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arms
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.

Father: "My son, why do you hide your face
so anxiously?"
Son: "Father, do you not see the El]king?
The El]king with crown and tail?"
F: "My son, it's a wisp of fog."

Erlking: "You dear child, come, go with me!
Very lovely games I'll play with you;
Some colourful ]lowers are on the beach,
My mother has some golden robes."

S: "My father, my father, and don't you hear
What the El]king quietly promises me?"
F: "Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind is rustling through withered
leaves.

E: "Do you want to come with me, pretty

boy?
My daughters shall wait on you ]inely;
My daughters will lead the nightly dance,
And rock and dance and sing you to sleep."

S: "My father, my father, and don't you see
there
The El]king's daughters in the gloomy place?"
F: "My son, my son, I see it clearly:
There shimmer the old willows so grey."

E: "I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you're not willing, then I will use
force."
S: "My father, my father, he's grabbing me
now!
The El]king has done me harm!"

N: It horri]ies the father; he swiftly rides on,
He holds the moaning child in his arms,
Reaches the farm with trouble and hardship;
In his arms, the child was dead. (LISTEN)

Form
ModiUied strophic form, with 8 strophes
(i.e. verses), akin to theme and variations
form in instrumental music

Word-Music Relationships
Rhythm: repetitive rhythmic ]igure in the
accompaniment = galloping horse
Register: each character placed in a particular
range of the voice
Dynamics: father always loud; child soft then
loud; Erlking getting softer, then very loud at end
Harmony: g minor; moves through various keys;
shifts to major for seductive music of Erlking
Listen again to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and to a
version featuring Anne So]ie von Otter with an
orchestral arrangement by Hector Berlioz

Viennese Salon

Vital music forum in the 19th century

Chamber music, piano, song
Setting usually wealthy residence
Small and intimate, but in]luential
During Schuberts lifetime, the Lied was a
domestic genre. Only later did it move to the
concert hall

A Schubert Evening (Schubertiade) with

Joseph von Spaun, by Moritz von Schwind

For Tuesday
Read: pp. 255-260
Listen: CD 3, track 9 (Felix Mendelssohn,
Overture to A Midsummer Nights Dream)