Franz Schubert Composing The Erlkonig Poem English Literature Essay

Franz Schubert Composing The Erlkonig poem English Literature EssayThis essay will compare and wrinkle four Lieder by Schubert and Schumann. Firstly, I will be referring to Schuberts Erlknig and Gretchen am Spinnrade. Secondly, I will be referring to Schumanns Dichterliebe Op.48 and Liederkreis Op.24.Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer who, more than than any other, was noned for his fine skill in Lieder. He arrived into the music scene in 1814 with unrivalled of his first stresss, Gretchen am Spinnrade which is a selection of text from Goethes Faust. Schubert produced many masterpieces passim his poor career, composing in nearly every genre, all which was characterized by strong, rich harmonies and having an endless gift for melody. Schubert initially started out as a vocalist where he sang at the chapel of The Imperial Court. ultimately he explored composition and became cognize as a young genius. after Schuberts voice broke in 1812, he was directed by his bring forth to become a school teacher and follow in his al-Qaidasteps, even off though he was committed to his passion of composing. He trained miserably by day while composing profusely by night and at the age of 20, Schubert had scripted over 100 calls as well as various operatic, symphonic, and chamber music scores. Throughout the balance of his short life, Schubert produced a large quantity of operas, symphonies, easy sonatas, chamber music pieces, and masses. He is know first and fore or so for composing hundreds of forms including his most pop kit and boodle Gretchen am Spinnrade, and Erlknig. He greatly affected Robert Schumann and Gustav Mahlers vocal writing.Erlknig is a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in 1782. It is lift off of his singspiel Der Fischerin and is easily angiotensin-converting enzyme of his most acquainted(predicate) works from the German song repertoire it gave Schubert his most known outstanding ballad to date. Goethe was a German poet, dramatist and novelist. He was unrivalled of the most important literary and cultural figures of his age, impacting Germany like Shakespeare impacted us. He study law in Leipzig and Strasbourg, merely worked as a newspaper critic after returning to Frankfurt in 1771. He moved to Weimar and became a court official and a privy councillor. However, what sustained his reputation was his literary works, and his relationship with music.Erlknig was imperturbable in the midst of shocking and December 1815 and published in 1821 as Schuberts Opus 1. It tells the tale of a father and his son sit through with(predicate) the woods late at night. The boy is tho adapted to think the evil Erl-king (Erlknig), and not his father. The Erl-king calls out to the young child, playing with his mind. The boy cries out for his fathers help many of times, hardly as the father cannot see the Erl-king or his demons, he takes his sons behaviour as a mavin innate(p) occurrence . When the boy is wounded, the father past realises that desperate measures are called for, he rides through the woods with all his strength and skill, but the boy dies in his mail before he reaches a safer place.Schubert, while working as a school teacher composed nearly 145 lieder and numerous submissive works in the year of 1815. Erlknig gained many stories during the nineteenth century one being that some people believed it was composed in a social function of minutes. It took Schubert three times to revise his song, he mostly adjusted the softly supporting and inserted/deleted bars in the music to somewhat better the pacing. He played about with the dynamics, altering them greatly each time.The piano accompaniment, known to be physically tiring and very difficult keeps a persisting concealmentground of repeated, triplet octaves creating a horror theme. Schubert simplified the figuration in one of his revisions, asking for duplets instead of triplets. While the piano acc ompaniment continues the three characters and bank clerk sing their simple zephyrs. Each character is given their own rummy quality the child is frenzied and emotional, the father dignified and confident, Erlknig himself tranquil and harming as he attempts to trick the child. The song is usually sung by one vocalist, but on occasion, four separate utterers have performed it. The vote counter sings in middle range and is kept in a nonaged key throughout, the father sings in low range and sings in both(prenominal) minor and major keys, the boy sings in a high range, in addition in a minor key, signifying the fright of the child and the Erl-kings vocal part is in the major key resulting in a contrast as the piano accompaniment is minor, his part is sung pianissimo and undulates up and rectify to the accompaniment, portraying a sneaky persuasiveness. The sawbuck is implied through the piano accompaniment by the rapid triplets, which represent the horses galloping. As the dra ma unfolds, the boy becomes more and more terrified, this is shown as the character sings in a much higher(prenominal) register, the harsh dissonances occur as the child cries, Mein Vater, mein Vater The music quickens towards the end, portraying an depict of the father desperately trying to encourage his horse to go faster. It is and at the very end of the song that the piano accompaniment ceases and that the horse has come to a halt, as the narrator states in a pussy of skilled recitative that the child was dead in his arms. The piano accompaniment then ends with a dramatic perfect cadence.Gretchen am Spinnrade was composed by Schubert on October 19, 1814. The poem is taken from Part 1 of Goethes enormous recasting of the Faust legend, which finds Gretchen school term at her window waiting for her bangr to return. She spins as she waits for him and Schubert translates the imagination of her foot rising and falling on the pedal, the wheel rotation, and the semi-quaver piano ac companiment demonstrate the twisting of the thread.Schuberts composition seems to be a simple background for the poem, but doesnt just portray the spinning wheel it also represents Gretchens restlessness. Schubert creates this tension by moving through different key changes, from D minor, then to E minor and finally to F minor. In addition, he alters the text so that the initiation lines keep returning throughout the song, which pull the harmony back to the original key. The first stanza of the song reads My peace is gone, my touchwood is heavy, I shall never, never again find peace. This circuits a sad atmosphere for the rest of the piece, and Schubert composed the accompaniment so that it would sound sad along with the text, beginning the song in D minor.At the climax of the song, the accompaniment stops with a fortissimo ascent when Gretchen thinks of her lovers kiss. She stops spinning completely, and its only after some(prenominal) faltering efforts that she is able to reg ain full composure and resume her spinning.Robert Schumann (1810- 856) was one of the great composers of the early romantic era. He was uncomfortable with writing symphonies and designos, the larger musical forms, but still composed works in these genres which jibe moments of great beauty. He like to express his talent in songs and short pieces for piano. Schumann had an ability to translate deep and delicate states of the soul. He did this in works such as the song cycle Dichterliebe by Heinrich Hein which means A Poets Love and in his collections of short piano pieces, which include Phantasiestcke (Fantastic Pieces), Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), and Waldszenen (Forest Scenes).Schumann began playing the piano at the young age of 10, after being encouraged by his father to pursue his musical and literary talents. In 1828, he became a law student at the University of Leipzig, even though he preferred music, philosophy, and Leipzigs taverns. He also started piano lessons with well-known Leipzig piano teacher, Friedrich Wieck. Schumann became a compulsive womanizer and a heavy drinker. He failed to become a concert pianist when he became partially paralysed in his right hand. Wieck had a daughter, Clara, who grew up and fell in love with Schumann but her father didnt approve. Despite his opposition, Clara and Robert gained the legal right to marry in 1840.Heinrich Hein (1797-1856) was a German poet and critic. He veritable his early education at the Lyzeum in Dsseldorf and went to Hamburg in 1816 to work in the banking office of his uncle, Salomon Heine. The business failed in 1819 and he entered the University of Bonn attending August Wilhelm Schlegels lectures on literature. He matriculated as a law student in 1820 at the University of Gttingen but ended up getting hang for participating in a duel. He continued his studies in Berlin between the years of 1821 and 1823.Heines poetry was used by all the major composers of the nineteenth century an d by some minor figures as well. His verses were also popular in music well into the 20th century, and the 19th century witnessed the achievement of approximately 8000 lieder on Heine texts. It was the year 1840 when Schumann launched his year of song with a Liederkreis (op.24) on a poetic cycle from the Junge Leiden section of the Buch der Lieder. For his Dichterliebe, he selected 16 poems from the Lyrisches Intermezzo. Schumann set 43 of Heines verses.Dichterliebe was composed during the year of 1840 and apparently in a theme of days. It was composed during the same month that Schumann wrote his Liederkreis, Op 24. The texts originate from 16 poems from the Lyrisches Intermezzo which is a section of Heinrich Heines Buch der Lieder which was wrote in 1827. The song cycle originally held 20 songs, but when it was published as Op. 48 in 1844, four songs were omitted.In the opening poems, Im wunderschnen Monat Mai which translates to In the Wonderful Month of May and Aus meinen Trne n spriessen, Springing from my tears, optimistic imagery of give and birds singing is featured. Schumann used to end the vocal line of a song hanging on a dissonant chord, and the piano would complete the rest of the piece. In Im wunderschnen Monat Mai, Schumann ends the piano accompaniment also on an unresolved chord, this suggests that the love the singer is showing may remain unreturned. In the fifth song of the cycle, the speaker now sings in the past tense, instead of the present. The seventh song, which is Ich grolle nicht, has a decidedly sardonic tone. The accompaniment has a powerful bass line which supports a repeated chordal right hand part, while the singer sings in a royal, heroic tone. However, the text pretends to have austerity in order to cover its suffering. I saw you in a dream, and saw the darkness trapped in your soul, and saw the serpent that gnaws at your heart I saw, my love, how miserable you are. Schumanns accompaniment makes it clear that the miserable on e is the speaker, and not his beloved. In the conclusion of the collection, the speakers tone is fed-up and all pretence is gone. The music in Die alten, bsen Lieder sounds ploddy and unrelenting in its rhythm and figuration, it also sounds dark. climb arpeggios break the minor key into a brief major mode, only to find an ironic answer in minor once again. In the end of the song, the singers final, sorrowful strains fade and a last piano postlude offers a sense of rest, not found anywhere in Heines original.