"Erlkönig",
Op. 1, 328, is a ''
Lied
In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...
'' composed by
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
in
1815
Events
January
* January 2 – Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke in Seaham, county of Durham, England.
* January 3 – Austria, Britain, and Bourbon-restored France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Pr ...
, which sets
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
's poem
of the same name. The singer takes the role of four characters — the narrator, a father, his small son, and the titular "
Erlking
In European folklore and myth, the Erlking is a sinister elf who lingers in the woods. He stalks children who stay in the woods for too long, and kills them with a single touch.
The name "Erlking" (; ) is a name used in German Romanticism for ...
", a supernatural creature who pursues the boy — each of whom exhibit different
tessitura
In music, tessitura ( , , ; ; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer (or, less frequently, musical instrument). It is the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characteristic) tim ...
,
harmonic
In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...
and
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
ic characteristics. A technically challenging piece for both performers and accompanists, "Erlkönig" has been popular and acclaimed since its premiere in 1821, and has been described as one of the "commanding compositions of the century".
Among Schubert's most famous works, the piece has been arranged by various composers, such as
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
(solo piano) and
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (8 June 1812 – 8 October 1865) was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. He was seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Niccolò Paganini's greatest successors. He contributed to polyphonic ...
(solo violin);
Hector Berlioz
Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
,
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
, and
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...
have orchestrated the piece.
History
Goethe's poem was set in music by at least a hundred composers, including
Johann Friedrich Reichardt
Johann Friedrich Reichardt (25 November 1752 – 27 June 1814) was a German composer, writer and music critic.
Early life
Reichardt was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, to lutenist and ''Stadtmusiker'' Johann Reichardt (1720–1780). Johann F ...
,
Carl Friedrich Zelter
Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 December 1758 15 May 1832)Grove/Fuller-Datei:Carl-Friedrich-Zelter.jpegMaitland, 1910. The Zelter entry takes up parts of pages 593-595 of Volume V. was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his ...
and
Carl Loewe
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (; 30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869), usually called Carl Loewe (sometimes seen as Karl Loewe), was a German composer, tenor singer and conductor. In his lifetime, his songs ("Balladen") were well enough known for ...
, though no work would become as preeminent as Schubert's, which stands among the most performed, reworked and recorded compositions ever written.
Schubert composed "Erlkönig" at the age of 18 in 1815 –
Joseph von Spaun
Joseph Freiherr von Spaun (November 11, 1788November 25, 1865) was an Austrian nobleman, an Imperial and Royal Councillor, lottery director, and honorary citizen of Vienna and Cieszyn. He is best known for his friendship with the composer Franz S ...
claims that it was written in a few hours one afternoon. He revised the song three times before publishing his fourth version in 1821 as his Opus 1. The work was first performed in concert on 1 December 1820 at a private gathering in Vienna. The public premiere on 7 March 1821 at the
Theater am Kärntnertor
or (Duchy of Carinthia, Carinthian Gate Theatre) was a prestigious theatre in Vienna during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its official title was (Imperial and Royal Court Theatre of Vienna).
History
The theatre was built in 170 ...
was a great success, and quickly propelled the young composer to fame in Vienna.
Publication history
"Erlkönig" exists in four versions by Schubert's hand, with the 3rd version featuring a simplified piano accompaniment without triplets in the right hand. The original (for medium voice) is in the key of G minor, though there are also transposed editions for high and low voice.
Structure and musical analysis
Schubert's adaptation of "Erlkönig" is a
romantic musical realization that represents the various rational and irrational elements of Goethe's ballad by contrasting yet unifying musical elements. Its form is the
through-composed
In the theory of musical form, through-composed music is a continuous, non- sectional, and non- repetitive piece of music. The term is typically used to describe songs, but can also apply to instrumental music.
While most musical forms such as te ...
song; although the melodic motives recur, the harmonic structure is constantly changing and the piece modulates within the four characters.
Characters
The four characters in the song – narrator, father, son, and the Erlking – are all sung by a single vocalist. The narrator lies in the middle range and begins in the minor mode. The father lies in the lower range and sings in both minor and major mode. The son lies in a higher range, also in the minor mode. The Erlking's vocal line, in the major mode, provides the only break from the
ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...
bass
triplets
A multiple birth is the culmination of a multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such births ...
in the accompaniment until the boy's death. Schubert places each character largely in a different
tessitura
In music, tessitura ( , , ; ; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer (or, less frequently, musical instrument). It is the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characteristic) tim ...
, and each has his own rhythmic and harmonic nuances; in addition, most singers endeavor to use a different vocal coloration for each part.
A fifth character, the horse on which the father and boy are riding, is implied in rapid triplet figures played by the pianist throughout the work, mimicking hoof beats.
Structure
"Erlkönig" begins with the piano playing rapid triplets to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse's galloping. The
moto perpetuo
In music, ''perpetuum mobile'' (English pronunciation /pərˌpɛtjʊəm ˈmoʊbɪleɪ/, /ˈmoʊbɪli/; Latin, literally, "perpetual motion"), ''moto perpetuo'' (Italian), ''mouvement perpétuel'' ( French), ''movimento perpétuo'' ( Portuguese) ' ...
triplets continue throughout the entire song except for the final three bars and mostly comprise the uninterrupted repeated chords or octaves in the right hand that were established at the opening.
In the introduction, the left hand of the piano part introduces an ominous bass motif composed of rising
scale in triplets and a falling
arpeggio
An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords.
Arpe ...
, pointing to the background of the scene and suggesting the urgency of the father's mission. It also introduces a chromatic "passing note motif" consisting of C–C-D that represents a daemonic force, and used throughout the work.
:
Verse 1
After a long introduction of fifteen measures, the narrator raises the question "Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?" and accentuates the key words "Vater" (father) and "seinem Kind" (his child) in the reply. A link between "Wind" and "Kind" is suggested in the placement in a major tonality. The verse ends where it started, in G minor, seemingly indicating the narrator's neutral point of view.
:
Verse 2
The father's question to his son is harmonically supported by a modulation from the
tonic to the
subdominant
In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...
, also employing the "passing note motif" from the introduction. The son's distress is represented by the high pitch of this reply and the repetitive nature of the phrase. As the child mentions the Erlking, the harmony passes into F major, representing a gravitation from the father's tonality to the Erlking. The father calms the son, which is expressed by the low register of the singing voice.
:
Verse 3
After a short piano interlude, the Erlking starts to address the boy in a charming, flattering melody in B major, placing emphasis on the words "liebes" (dear) and "geh" (go). The descending intervals of the melody seems to provide a soothing response to the boy's fear. Though the Erlking's seductive verses differ in their accompanying figurations (providing some relief for the pianist), they are still based on triplets, not letting the daemonic presence be forgotten. The "passing note motif" is used twice.
:
Verse 4
The son's fear and anxiety in response to the Erlking's words is highlighted by the immediate resumption of the original triplet motif, just after the Erlking finishes his verse. The
chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...
in the son's melody indicates a call to his father, creating dissonances between the vocal part and the bass that evoke the boy's horror. The harmonic instability in this verse allude to the child's feverish wandering. The father's tonal center becomes increasingly distant from the child's, suggesting a rivalry over possession of the boy with the Erlking.
:
Verse 5
The Erlkönig's enticement intensifies. The piano accompaniment transforms into flowing major arpeggios that may refer to the dances of the Erlking's daughters and the troubled half-sleep of the child. The presence of the daemonic is once again highlighted by the "passing note motif". As in the Erlking's first verse, the octave triplets resume immediately after the verse.
:
Verse 6
The son cries out to his father, his fear again illustrated in rising pitch and chromaticism.
:
Verse 7
Before the Erlking speaks again, the ominous bass motif foreshadows the outcome of the song. The Erlkönig's luring now becomes more insistent. He threatens the boy, the initial lyricism and playfulness yielding to a measured declamation, with the "passing note motif" being voiced both in the treble and in the bass. Upon the word "Gewalt" (force), the tonality has modulated from E major to D minor, with the Erlking appropriating the minor tonality originally associated with the father and his child. The boy cries out to his father a final time, heard in . The "passing note motif" on the word "Erlkönig" suggest that the fate of the child is sealed.
:
Verse 8
The music intensifies further, Schubert once again creating tension through the "galloping motif". The grace notes in the voice line suggest the father's horror, and the music accelerates on the words "er reitet geschwind" (he swiftly rides on). A final allusion to the father's tonality of C minor is followed by the
Neapolitan
Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to:
Geography and history
* Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city
* Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...
chord of A major, as the father spurs his horse to go faster and then arrives at his destination. Before this chord is resolved, the triplet motif stops, and the final rendition of the "passing note motif" in the bass seems to seal the fate of the boy.
The
recitative
Recitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo () is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines ...
, in absence of the piano, draws attention to the dramatic text and amplifies the immense loss and sorrow caused by the Son's death.
The resolution of C to D major implies a "submission to the daemonic forces", followed by the final cadence delivering "a perfect consummation to the song".
:
Tonality
The song has a tonal scheme based on rising
semitone
A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between ...
s which portrays the increasingly desperate situation:
The "Mein Vater, mein Vater" music appears three times on a prolonged
dominant seventh chord
Domination or dominant may refer to:
Society
* World domination, structure where one dominant power governs the planet
* Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition
* Ch ...
that slips chromatically into the next key. Following the tonal scheme, each cry is a semitone higher than the last, and, as in Goethe's poem, the time between the second two cries is less than the first two, increasing the urgency like a large-scale
stretto
The Italian term ''stretto'' (plural: ''stretti'') has two distinct meanings in music:
# In a fugue, ''stretto'' () is the imitation of the subject in close succession, so that the answer enters before the subject is completed.Apel, Willi, ed. ( ...
. Much of the major-key music is coloured by the flattened
submediant
In music, the submediant is the sixth degree () of a diatonic scale. The submediant ("lower mediant") is named thus because it is halfway between the tonic and the subdominant ("lower dominant") or because its position below the tonic is symm ...
, giving it a darker, unsettled sound.
Reception and legacy
The premiere in 1821 was an immediate success; the large audience broke out in "rapturous applause", as
Joseph von Spaun
Joseph Freiherr von Spaun (November 11, 1788November 25, 1865) was an Austrian nobleman, an Imperial and Royal Councillor, lottery director, and honorary citizen of Vienna and Cieszyn. He is best known for his friendship with the composer Franz S ...
reported. During the 1820s and 30s, "Erlkönig" was unanimously acclaimed among the Schubert circle, critics and general audiences, with critics hailing the work as "a masterpiece of musical painting", "a composition full of fantasy and feeling, which had to be repeated", "an ingenious piece" that leaves an "indelible impression". No other performance of Schubert's work during his lifetime would receive more attention than "Erlkönig".
Joseph von Spaun sent the composition to Goethe, hoping to receive his approval for a print. The latter, however, sent it back without comment, as he categorically rejected Schubert's form of the
through-composed song. However, when
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient ( Schröder; 6 December 180426 January 1860), was a German operatic soprano. As a singer, she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as ...
performed "Erlkönig" before Goethe in 1830, he is reported by Eduard Genast to have said: "I have heard this composition once before, when it did not appeal to me at all; but sung in this way the whole shapes itself into a visible picture".
"Erlkönig" has had enjoyed enduring popularity since its inception to this day.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...
has highlighted the piano accompaniment in the setting, which he describes as having a "compositional life of its own", with important motifs such as the repeated octaves that create an eerie, suspenseful atmosphere. Furthermore, Fischer-Dieskau praised the "magnificent tragedy" of the setting.
Graham Johnson writes that "Erlkönig is one of those songs that defies age (the composer's, particularly) and defines an age. Like Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony it appeals to the great unwashed and the squeaky-clean in equal measure, to those who see something symbolic in the poem, and to those who simply love a rattling good yarn excitingly told. It was that rare thing: a hit that absolutely deserved to be."
The piece is regarded as challenging to perform due to the multiple characters the vocalist is required to portray, as well as its difficult accompaniment, involving rapidly repeated chords and octaves.
[
]
Arrangements
"Erlkönig" has been arranged
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...
for various settings: for solo piano by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
(1838, revised 1876; S. 558/4), for solo violin by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (8 June 1812 – 8 October 1865) was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. He was seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Niccolò Paganini's greatest successors. He contributed to polyphonic ...
(1854; ''Grand Caprice für Violine allein'', Op. 26), and for solo voice and orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
by Hector Berlioz
Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...
(1860; H. 136, NBE 22b), Franz Liszt (1860; S. 375/4) and Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...
(1914).
Brian Newbould wrote on the arrangements: "Most, like Liszt's transcriptions of the Lieder or Berlioz's orchestration for Erlkönig, tell us more about the arranger than about the original composer, but they can be diverting so long as they are in no way a replacement for the original."
For solo piano (Liszt)
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
arranged "Erlkönig" for solo piano as part of his ''Twelve Songs by Franz Schubert'', S. 558, which was published in 1838 and revised in 1876. Compared to the original, Liszt retains many of the basic musical elements, including melody, harmony, accompanimental patterns, and dynamics. The melody is transcribed to different registers of the piano: the narrator and the son remain in the same register as the voice, the father moves an octave lower, and the Erlking moves an octave higher. Liszt, being a virtuoso pianist, adds even more technical challenges for the pianist, for instance turning the bass motif in the left hand into octaves:
:
A critic for the ''Courrier de Lyon'' remarked on these octaves: "Those scales, so numerous and so rapid, whose rolling, like that of the thunder, made the listeners tremble with terror, who else but Liszt, in order to increase their sonority, would have dared play them in octaves?"[
Liszt performed his "Erlkönig" 65 times during his tours of Germany between 1840 and 1845, more than any of his operatic paraphrases. Ludwig Rellstab, who reviewed one such concert, wrote in 1841 in the ]Vossische Zeitung
The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...
: "To a quite different sphere, increasing the ''sensual ''excitement still further, belonged his playing of Schubert’s Erlkönig, a work widely known and heard, and yet now heard ''for the first time'', truly electrifying the audience, which caused it to be encored more by their ever-renewed applause than by express demand."
Commenting on Liszt's arrangements of Schubert's Lieder, Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
wrote: " heyhave found a great deal of interest among the public. Performed by Liszt, they are said to be of great effect, and those who are not masters of the piano will try to play them to no avail. They are perhaps the most difficult works that exist for piano, and a witty person said, 'if one arranges a simplified version of them, and would be so curious to see how it would turn out, would it be the original version by Schubert?' Sometimes not: Liszt has made changes and additions; the way he has done it testifies to the powerful nature of his play, his conception; others may think differently. It boils down to the old question whether the performing artist may place himself above the creative artist, whether he may reshape the latter's works at will for himself. The answer is easy: we laugh at a fool if he does it badly, we allow a witty one if he does not downright destroy the meaning of the original. In the school of piano playing, this kind of arrangement marks a special chapter."
For solo violin (Ernst)
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (8 June 1812 – 8 October 1865) was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. He was seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Niccolò Paganini's greatest successors. He contributed to polyphonic ...
composed his ''Grand Caprice for solo violin'' on "Erlkönig" (), Op. 26, in 1854, in what represents the "pinnacle of violin technique". The work is characterized by its highly polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...
nature, the solo violin having to perform the narrator, the Erlkönig, the father, and the child (4 independent voices) in their different vocal colourations, but also the complete piano accompaniment at the same time. This is accomplished through the use of double, triple and quadruple stops, artificial harmonics and left-hand pizzicato
Pizzicato (, ; translated as 'pinched', and sometimes roughly as 'plucked') is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument:
* On bowe ...
.
:
For voice and orchestra
Berlioz
In 1846, during a visit to Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, Berlioz witnessed a new musical rendition of Goethe's "Erlkönig" by Czech composer Václav Tomášek
Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (in German: Wenzel Johann Tomaschek; 17 April 1774, Skuteč, Bohemia – 3 April 1850, Prague) was an Austrian-Bohemian, by other accounts a Czech composer and music teacher. He was known as the Musical Pope of Prag ...
. As recalled by Berlioz in his memoirs, the two composers were soon drawn into an argument comparing Tomášek's composition to Schubert's: "Someone (for there are people who find fault with everything) drew a comparison between the accompaniment of this piece and that of Schubert's ballad, in which the furious gallop of the horse is reproduced, and declared that M. Tomášek had mimicked the placid gait of a priest's nag. An intelligent critic, however, more capable than his neighbours of judging of the philosophy of art, annihilated this irony, and replied with great good sense: 'It is just because Schubert made that unlucky horse gallop so wildly that it has foundered, and is now forced to go at a foot pace.'"
When Gustave-Hippolyte Roger
Gustave-Hippolyte Roger (17 December 1815 – 12 September 1879) was a French tenor. He is best known for creating the leading tenor roles in '' La damnation de Faust'' by Berlioz in 1846 and Meyerbeer's ''Le prophète'' in 1849.
Early years and ...
asked him to orchestrate Schubert's work for a performance in Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
in 1860, Berlioz was too willing, as he felt that Schubert's piano accompaniment was essentially orchestral in nature. The arrangement was premiered at Baden-Baden on 27 August 1860, and was published in Paris the same year. Berlioz's biographer Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, ...
wrote of the arrangement: "From the finely wrought and polished score no one could suspect anything of the anxiety, illness, or conflicts in his heart and soul. It is delicate, poignant, full of insight into Schubert's masterpiece – a compendium of art concealing itself."
Berlioz's arrangement is scored for two flutes, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and solo voice.
:
Liszt
During his later Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
years, with many of his major works having been published, Liszt turned his attention to orchestral transcriptions. On Johann von Herbeck
Johann Ritter von Herbeck (25 December 1831 – 28 October 1877) was an Austrian conductor and composer, best known for leading the premiere of Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.
Life and career
He was practically a self-educated musician, ...
's request, who was the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic
Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...
, Liszt produced transcriptions of Schubert's marches. With his orchestration of the ''Reitermarsch'' (S. 363/3) have been a success, he decided to orchestrate six ''Lieder'': "Die junge Nonne", "Gretchen am Spinnrade
"" (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), Op. 2, 118, is a Lied composed by Franz Schubert using the text from Part One, scene 15 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's '' Faust''. With "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and some 600 other songs for voice and piano, ...
", " Lied der Mignon", "Erlkönig", "Der Doppelgänger
"Der Doppelgänger" is one of the six songs from Franz Schubert's ''Schwanengesang'' that sets words by Heinrich Heine for piano and tenor voice. It was written in 1828, the year of Schubert's death.
Text
The title "Der Doppelgänger" is Schub ...
", and "Abschied". Of these, which were completed in 1860, only the first four would be published in 1863 as ''Four Songs by Franz Schubert'' (S. 375). Ben Arnold notes the irony that Berlioz's arrangement, his only transcription of a Schubert song, was written in the same year.
Liszt's arrangement is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, harp, strings, and solo voice.
:
Reger
Reger was influential in the development of the orchestral ''Lied''. He wrote: "To my ear, it is often a real insult to have to listen to a singer, following an orchestral piece in a gigantic hall, performing lieder to the spindly accompaniment of a piano in the huge space. But it goes without saying that one must make a very careful choice of the songs to be orchestrated."
After he was appointed music director of the Meiningen Court Orchestra
The Meiningen Court Orchestra () is one of Europe's most time-honoured orchestras. Since 1952, the 68-member ensemble has been affiliated with the Meiningen Court Theatre, where it regularly performs opera, symphony concerts, and youth concerts. ...
in December 1911, Reger seems to have used the orchestra to experiment in orchestration. Between 1913 and 1914, he completed 45 orchestral arrangements of songs written by himself and others. He wrote to his publisher: "The instrumentation will ensure that the singer is never 'muffled'. I have so often noticed that the performance of songs in symphonic concerts has suffered greatly due to the fact that the gentlemen conducting were not really the best accompanists. This grievance will be remedied by the instrumentation; and dragging an extra grand piano on to the stage will not even be necessary... After having rehearsed daily for two whole winters, as it were, with the Meiningen Court Orchestra, and having performed many songs (solo songs!) with the orchestra, I know precisely how to orchestrate such matters."[
Reger's arrangement of "Erlkönig" was completed in 1914, together with "]Gretchen am Spinnrade
"" (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), Op. 2, 118, is a Lied composed by Franz Schubert using the text from Part One, scene 15 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's '' Faust''. With "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and some 600 other songs for voice and piano, ...
", "Gruppe aus dem Tartarus", "Prometheus", and " Gesänge des Harfners". In the work, the restless piano accompaniment is performed by the strings, with the flute supporting the seductive sound of the Erlkönig.[
Reger's arrangement is scored for flute, oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, two horns, timpani, strings, and solo voice.
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References
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** Arrangement for solo piano (Liszt):
** Arrangement for solo violin (Ernst):
* by David Bennett Thomas
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Lieder composed by Franz Schubert
1815 songs
Compositions in G minor
Musical settings of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Songs about kings
Songs about death
Songs about children