What Extent Do Schubert’s Songs Serve the Meaning Essay Example

be seen.

It was his setting of Goatee's Gretchen am Spikenard that created the first real balance teen words and music in a song. As the tradition began to flourish, many composers attempted to create an Intimate relationship between music and poetry. Schumann, Brahms and Wolf continued the tradition and showed an interest in the power of poetry typical of the period.

Until now, the piano had usually been a subservient accompaniment to the vocal line. With Schubert, however, this intimate relationship created between the music and poetry included a new attitude to the piano.

He used the instrument in a new way, emphasizing themes and images in the Schubert wrote the more important line in the piano part, therefore rendering the rod 'accompaniment' insufficient. Schubert use of the piano encouraged later composers to emphasis the words through the accompaniment.

This approach gave Wolf the reputation as the 'poets' composer'. Schubert seemingly random choice of poets and poetry has led many to think him unliterary; as well as setting poetry by the likes of Goethe and Hein, his settings of M;leer and R;exert have preserved poems which would otherwise not have gone down in history.

Many have criticized his settings of Hein, whereas others have praised them. There is no doubt that Schubert was able to mind in a poem aspects of musicality.

Therefore, the question arises as to whether Schubert Lieder serve the lyrical character of the poetry. In this essay I will look at three poets whose texts Schubert set frequently; M;leer, Hein and Goethe. In doing so, I hope to highlight differences in the music depending on the historical, personal and artistic

context of the poetry.

In order to investigate fully Schubert success as an interpreter of poetry it is necessary to look at work by contrasting poets.

This essay will look at the poetry of M;leer, Hein and Goethe, as well as individual songs y others in which Schubert exemplify his use of word painting or descriptive piano writing. Over the course of his relatively short life, Franz Schubert wrote a huge amount of music ranging from symphonies to chamber groups for various ensembles and liturgical music. He is remembered most, however, for his contribution to the German Lieder tradition.

He used the piano in a revolutionary way, and painted the words of poetry as had never been done before.

Schubert wrote over 600 songs, some of which have been hailed as the very best of the era, but it has often been disputed as o whether his songs were true interpretations of the poems that he chose. 'In the new age, the composer turned reader and fastidious Judge', writes Dietrich Fischer- Dislikes as he describes the connection that existed in the Romantic period between composer and poet; many were inspired by the blossoming literature of the time.

Fischer-Disease goes on to write that Schubert variable choice of text is often felt to be uncritical and unliterary, whereas Byrne writes that 'Schubert was blessed with literary greatness... With a genius for understanding the deepest and inmost workings of the human psyche'.

There is therefore a divergence of opinion between different scholars; did Schubert songs interpret the texts with understanding and feeling, or were they simply words on which to hang his music?

M;leer - Schubert reputation

as 'unliterary has arisen from his varying choice of poets; of the 600 songs he wrote, he used work by over 100 poets. Fischer-Disease argues that when studying Lieder, the 'lyric poetry set to music over the period will not be viewed in its literary aspects', and goes on to explain that this is why "such figures as Wilhelm M;leer and Hermann Landlers, who are scarcely noted by literary history, eave continued to live through music".

This seemingly random approach therefore indicates that Schubert was not critical in his choice of poet, and that he did not select texts based upon their literary greatness. Pauline supports this idea too certain extent, arguing that M;leers work does not compare with that of Hein - another of Schubert chosen poets - or with Schubert himself; Wilhelm M;leer is one of those figures in the history of German literature who stand in the shadow of others mightier than themselves. First there is Franz Schubert.

.. Then there is Heimlich Hein.

Others support this view, and Gal goes as far as to argue that Die Suchöen M;leering would be nothing without Schubert genius: 'To see beyond the threadbare texture of these lyrics, the banality of a story which one would call pitiful rather than tragic, one must look with the eyes of Schubert. ' However, not all scholars are so scathing about M;leers work.

Indeed, Erred defends him, arguing that in dismissing the text we do an injustice not only to the poet but to the composer, who is 'condemned by implication for squandering his genius on a subject that nobody now takes seriously.

Hallmark states that in Winterers we

see many examples of apostrophe - apostrophe is the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present. He discusses the 'habit of the poetic persona, the he name's. Schubert expresses this use of apostrophe in his music, changing texture, harmony and melody to indicate the change in the voice.

Hein - 'Since music and literature unite in the art song, it is not surprising it is a matter of importance in music as well, and it is especially important in dealing with settings of that most ironic of poets, Heimlich Hein. Hailed as some of Schubert best songs, the common opinion on them as interpretations of the text is less clear. Mucked said, '[Irony] is intellectual rather than musical, nearer to the mind than to the senses, reflective and self-conscious rather than lyrical and self-absorbed. Its virtues are those of fine prose rather than those of lyric poetry.

It is Whine's characteristic use of irony which makes Schubert interpretations of his texts so difficult to Judge.

Steins writes, that 'none of these [Schubert Hein] songs is in any way a real synthesis of poetry and music. ' However, this is not the only view; Westerns feels that Schubert settings 'came nearest to the spirit of Whine's poetry. ' Schubert Hein settings are often compared with Schumann, and despite disagreeing on Schubert interpretations, both Stein and Western agree that Schumann rarely showed an understanding of Whine's poetry. Sambas concludes that the songs of Disaccharide are not expressions of the original poetry but love songs for Clara.

The general opinion is therefore that Hein is generally harder to set to music, given his

tendency to irony.

Goethe - 'Like another Pied Piper, Goethe cast a magic spell upon a long train of composers, attracting by the siren call of his verses some of the greatest. '11 His poetry has inspired composers from Mozart to Hugo Wolf and subsequently had a huge impact on the German song tradition. However, his attitude towards the music that was set was often negative - he did not accept Schubert gift of poetry in 1816 - and this has led many to declare him unmusical.

Many have claimed that Goethe was an unmusical poet (see discussion), but he was known to be a great connoisseur of the arts, directed many concerts, and wrote several libretti which were never set to music.

In a letter to Played he wrote, 'He who does not love music does not deserve to be called a human being; he who merely loves it is only half a human being; but he who makes music is a whole human being. 12 He therefore did not generally disapprove of music and its being set to music.

However, when it comes to Schubert music - as many scholars agree - he 'still adhered to the eighteenth-century recipe that the musical shaping of the first verse must hold good for the subsequent verses. '13 Stokes's tells us that 'Goethe believed that the accompaniment should be subservient to the poem, that there should be no word-painting in the music and hat songs should be strophic. ' Piano and Word Painting In the Romantic period, composers began to form stronger connections between the words they were setting and the music they were writing.

Schubert

used the development of the piano to his advantage, and often used it as a key part of his Lieder exemplify the finest piano writing for vocal compositions in all music'. Many have argued that the piano parts in Schubert songs should not be called accompaniments as their importance turns the Lied into a duet. In depicting the imagery of the poetry in the piano line, Schubert went against Goatee's belief in a impel folk-style song; indeed, Goethe 5 argued that the words in songs lost their poetic quality through a false Titillate am Inclined' (misplaced concern with detail').

However, as Johnson continues, 'From that moment in October 1814 when Schubert decided to imitate the sound of Gretchen spinning wheel with a whirring, pianist clatter, the Lied was altered forever'. Discussion Schubert songs were revolutionary, and quite different in style and sheer quantity from those of any composers who had gone before him; Gray writes that 'Even the finest songs of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven do not rank in importance or achievement with those of Schubert'.

Schubert gift for seeing the music in words and bringing it out in song can be shown by looking at the collection of Lieder that he wrote.

This essay, however, will examine the extent of his success as an interpreter of the poetry that he set to music. It will investigate three poets who epitomes different aspects of Schubert song writing; M;leer wrote the poems which later became the words of Schubert song cycles, while the six songs set to Whine's poetry have been hailed by many as some of Schubert best.

Schubert used Goatee's poems in some of

is earliest songs, and set his poetry most frequently. Goethe was also a contemporary critic of Schubert.

The essay will go on to discuss Schubert use of the piano in his songs, and how the development of the instrument allowed him to portray the images and themes of poetry that had theretofore been impossible. M;leer/Die suchöen M;leering/Winterers In the Romantic period, composers became more interested in the poetry that they set to music, and Schubert was one of the first to bring out aspects of the poem in the accompaniment.

However, many have argued that his eclectic choice of poets sakes him 'unliterary. While Schubert set poetry by some of the most famous German poets of their time, he also chose to set poems and poets who have since gained less critical acclaim.

Once a poem is set to music it is no longer seen only in its literary aspects, and therefore many poems that would otherwise have been forgotten have been remembered through Schubert songs.

Having been largely forgotten as a poet in his own right, Wilhelm M;leer is Hein, M;leers poems focused on folk themes; his poems formed the song cycles Die suchöen M;leering and Winterers. It is widely accepted that his poetry cannot be imparted with that of Goethe or Hein, despite being of the same era. Pauline writes that Wilhelm M;leer is one of those figures in the history of German literature who stand in the shadow of others mightier than themselves.

First there is Franz Schubert... Then there is Heimlich Hein.

Die suchöen M;leering DODD was the first of the two M;leer-cycles that Schubert composed. The general view of M;leers

poetry is that it is nothing without Schubert musical input; Gal writes, 'To see beyond the threadbare texture of these lyrics, the banality of a story which one would call pitiful ether than tragic, one must look with the eyes of Schubert. ' However, Redder defends M;leer, arguing that in dismissing the text we do an injustice not only to the poet but to the composer, who is 'condemned by implication for squandering his genius on a subject that nobody now takes seriously.

M;leer never heard Schubert settings of his poetry and therefore made no comment on it. However, he did say 'Perhaps there is a kindred spirit somewhere who will hear the tunes behind the words and give them back to me'. 19 Schubert does Just this in TryГenergy DODD No.

0; the song describes the two sitting together by the brook, with warm descriptions of the surrounding nature. The change at the end of the poem could either be seen as a Hein-like anticlimax or a turning point in the story: Ad ginger die Augean Mir ;beer, IM Spiegel so Krause; commit nine Regent, Farewell, I'm going home.

And then my eyes overflowed Ad ward sees And the reflection became blurred See splash: Sees She said: the rain is coming, Add, ICC gee nacho Hausa. The first four verses of the song are set astrophysical, but the short fifth verse is something almost but not quite altogether different.

The first four verses are in the tonic major, with a melody of loveliness and sensitivity, but the fifth and final verse presents a modified version of the melody in the tonic minor - a

harmonic change that completely eclipses the loveliness and sensitivity.

Nor is this harmonic change even prepared or predicted: Schubert does not modulate to the tonic minor; he simply flattens the thirds, thereby turning all the light to darkness. So, far from creating an anti-climax in the music, Schubert enriches and changes the harmony; Mauler's words are quite wooden and banal, we see no reaction from the voice. Interpreted through music however, the M;leeriness words show a turning point in the story of the voice. These major/minor variations are typical of Schubert and reflect a bittersweet mood that comes across only as bathos in Mauler's original.

In Die Winterers, M;leer frequently uses the vocative, both from the start of a few poems to make the whole poem a direct address, and also during several others when the speaker turns from the general reader to speak to a different audience. TryГen DODD No. 3: Governed Trooper fallen Frozen drops fall Von mine Wangle ABA: b sees Mir den entangle Dads ICC genuine hap? Ii TryГen, mine TryГen, Undo seed air gar so luau Dads air reassert z Else, Wee k;heel Enrolment? From my cheeks; Has it then escaped me That I have been weeping?

Ah tears, my tears Are you so tepid That you harden to ice Like cool morning dew? In Govern TryГen, the speaker, realizing that he has been crying, turns to address his tears directly. At this point in the music the piano and vocal parts drop in register, with the texture thinning considerably. The semi-tone interval in the vocal line and the quiet dynamic add to the contrasting effect; Schubert creates a quiet

and personal, almost introspective mood.

Hallmark discusses Schubert treatment of the apostrophe in Die KerrГhe DODD No. 5, in which the voice speaks directly to the crow that encircles him; 'In each instance of turning aside to address the crow, Schubert music provides a contrastive gesture to mark the wanderer's apostrophe. ' Schubert therefore saw the importance in the change of tone in the poetry, and chose to portray it through the music. Therefore the view of Schubert as 'unliterary is a mistaken one.

As Byrne effectively summarizes, Schubert Was blessed with literary greatness too, with a genius for understanding the deepest and inmost origins of the human psyche'.

It is impossible to know whether M;leer would have approved of the latent musicality which Schubert saw in his poetry, but it is true that in Winterers and Die Suchöen M;leering he draws on literary techniques and images from the poems, and expresses them in his poetry. HEIN Many composers struggled to do full Justice to the poetry in their songs. As this essay has shown, Schubert is successful in doing this in his M;leer-lieder, but it is in the Hein songs that the challenge is fully evident. Widely regarded as some of his greatest, the six Hein songs that make up No. To No.

3 of Changelessly DODD were composed in the year of Schubert death. Viewed as interpretations of the words, however, the songs are less successful; as Steiner writes, 'none of the six does justice to the spirit of the Hein texts'. Many of Whine's poems are particularly effective because of their brevity; the techniques of anti-climax, paradox or a surprising pun at

the end of a poem are typical of Whine's work. They therefore do not lend themselves to being set to music, which inherently expands the sense of the first in the group of six songs, is an example of such expansion.

In repeating words that would otherwise be surprising, or climactic, Schubert detracts from essential characteristic of the poem. ICC nuns;cackler's Atlas! Nine Welt, l, unblended Atlas! Die gangs Welt deer Schmoozer mum; ICC target, I carry a world, the entire world of pain ICC trace InertГcliches, undo birchen I bear the unbearable, Will Mir dads Here IM Liable.

And the heart within me wants to break. Du stoles Here, du hast sees Jag Goleta! Proud heart, you have wanted it thus! Du woolliest gal.;click seine, underline gal.;click, happy, Odder underline lend, stoles Here, heart, Undo Jetty ibis du lend.

You wanted to be happy, eternally Or eternally miserable, you proud And now you are miserable.

In his setting of Deer Atlas, Schubert supports the view of Reed that it is 'impossible to achieve the ironical inflexion in sound'. Hein creates an ironic tone in assuming the role of Atlas, and Schubert reading is a serious one. He introduces the song with tremulous chords creating a grave tone; he presents Atlas as an extravagant simplification rather than 'a highly personal self-ironing hyperbole'23 as Hein evidently intended.

However, one can never know whether Schubert did in fact see the poem as ironic or not. It could be argued that the over- dramatic piano part with staggering bass line was in fact Schubert attempt at irony.

Schubert also uses repetition, which does not always work within the

context of the poem. The echo of the second line with the word 'Schmoozer' removed, although consistent with a typical image of Atlas, draws attention away from the egotistical suffering of Whine's Atlas.

This character bears the world of his own pain on his shoulders, and Schubert does not express this ironic view through his music. Similarly, the surprising return of 'lend' at the end of the poem is repeated in the song; although it is an important nine, the repetition prevents the surprise and sudden end to the poem from being as effective.

Just as the repetition of certain lines becomes superfluous, the lack of attention on important lines can also detract from the interest of the poem. Hein sets up a wonderful paradox when he writes, 'ICC trace InertГcliches' - 'I bear the unbearable'.

This is a line which could perhaps be emphasized in music, rather than being skimmed over to lead on to Will Mir dads Here IM Liable', a self-consciously trite comment characteristic of Hein, which becomes the climax of the first verse of the song. Goethe Despite much modern-day criticism of Schubert Hein settings, there is no evidence that Hein ever made a comment on the interpretations of his work.

Goethe, on the other hand, is a composer who famously ignored Schubert gift of settings of his poetry in 1816. This rejection of Schubert music has created an idea of Goethe as unmusical.

Morris Bauer claims that he was a 'man of very limited musical understanding. If Goethe was simply an 'unmusical' person, then his disregard for Schubert work would not be worth considering.

However, his years in Whimper suggest

that, far from unmusical, Goethe was in fact a great lover of the art. An and directed opera performances. Therefore his failure to accept Schubert songs was not due to a lack of musicality. Rolland argues that 'Goethe naturally Judged it from the poet's point of view, meaning that the songs were interpreted in a manner which differed from his original intention.

However, this argument is unconvincing, given that Goethe believed that 'a poem is not complete until set to music'26.

Goatee's views on how Lieder should be written were old-fashioned; Fischer- Distastefully us that Goethe, 'still adhered to the eighteenth-century recipe that the classical shaping of the first verse must hold good for the subsequent verses'. We therefore see that Goethe, who was a contemporary of Haydn and Mozart, favored strophic songs and found it difficult to modernism his musical taste and appreciate the through-composed style of Schubert.

Although he found it difficult to value the songs originally sent to him in 1816, Goethe had a change of heart in 1830 which has not been so widely remembered. When he later heard Wilhelmina Schroeder- Deviant's rendition of Earlönigh DODD he said, 'l had already heard this song, and it meant nothing to me. But sung like this, it conjures up a great picture before my eyes.

"28 Another of the 1816 collection is Gretchen am Spikenard ODL 18, which sets a scene from Faust. Even as a seventeen year old, Schubert indicates in this setting his understanding of emotions and his ability to draw out the essence of the poem.

Seine hoer Gang, Seine' idle Gestalt, Seines Mundane LГChile, Seines Augean Seawall, Undo seines

Red Subsurface, Seine HГunderused, Undo ACH, seine Kiss. His tall walk, His noble figure, His mouth's smile, His eyes' power, And his mouth's Magic flow, His handclasp, And ah, his kiss! The first four stanzas remain held back, with the spinning wheel of the piano building tension. Schubert understands and responds to the passion suggested in the short lines and anaphora of 'seine' as Gretchen describes Faust.

He uses the chromatic rising phrase to reflect the enjambment between the two stanzas as the music becomes more frenetic, and builds up towards the expressive change in mood at 'Undo ACH, seine Kiss. ' The sudden alteration in the accompaniment from running semi-quavers to single chords indicates Gretchen reflection on the ecstasy of the kiss, which is emphasized by the dissonance a move from a dominant to a minimized 7th-- on 'Kiss', before it goes distractedly back to its original spinning.

The last two verses are more frantic, where Goatee's original becomes more sensual, starting with the ominous dominant pedal in the bass creating a menacing tone. 'His kisses I should die! ' is repeated three times before Schubert returns to the refrain. The tension builds up throughout the second half of the song, only to be released with the meditative repetition of the opening verse. The running right hand Schubert use of the piano in Gretchen am Spikenard is not unusual to Schubert rating; this particular song was the beginning of a new era in song writing.

Schubert uses the repetitive accompaniment to represent the spinning of the wheel, Just as he depicts the babbling brook in TryГenergy and the staggering of Atlas under the weight

of the world in his Hein setting. His writing technique was [entirely new], and inspired later composers such as Hugo Wolf to go even further in his attempts to create a totally accurate interpretation of the text. Wolf, for example, imitated the rhythmic nuances of the words. As well as using the piano for descriptive purposes, Schubert occasionally gives the IANA the prominent role of playing the tune, with a simple accompaniment-style vocal line.

In Deer Kruger DODD the melody moves from the vocal line and into the piano part.

The vocal line depicts the monk, who stands still at the window, in contrast with the crusaders of the previous verses. Meanwhile the tune in the piano reflects the more subtle, internal crusade which he describes: Deer Munich sheet am Punster Enoch, The monk stands at the window still, Schist nine nacho Hindus: Gazing out after them: LLC bin, wee air, nine Pilfer doc, "l am, like you, a pilgrim as well, Undo belie ICC sleigh z Hausa. Yet I remain at home all the same.

Des Labels Fart durra Weltering Life's Journey through deceitful waves Undo he;en W;stand, Sees sit Jag such nine Krueger In dads globe Land.

And hot wastelands, It is also a crusade To the promised land. " The vocal line sings a repeated D, leaving the melody for the piano line. This use of the piano is equally descriptive as that in Gretchen am Spikenard or Earlönigh, although far more understated; by giving the vocal line an inner part of the harmony for the rest of the song, Schubert indicates that the monk goes on no outward journey, but that

his contribution to his own faith is a subtler, inner crusade.