{"id":530,"date":"2015-06-03T22:41:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T22:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/musicx15xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=530"},"modified":"2015-07-14T16:26:34","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T16:26:34","slug":"der-erlkonig","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/odessa-musicapp-medievaltomodern\/chapter\/der-erlkonig\/","title":{"raw":"Der Erlk\u00f6nig","rendered":"Der Erlk\u00f6nig"},"content":{"raw":"Please read this page\u00a0on our first art song: \"Der Erlkonig.\" This piece is one of the best-known lieder of the Romantic era and certainly one of Schubert's most famous compositions. It is through-composed in form and the dramatic text is heightened by the fact that singers generally give the four characters featured in the poem slightly different tone qualities; a bit like an actor playing multiple parts. As the music is so expressive of the poem's text, I'd encourage you to listen to the piece on the playlist as soon as you've read the article.\r\n

Introduction<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_563\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Figure<\/a> Figure 1. \"Erlk\u00f6nig\" illustration, Moritz von Schwind[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/b>\" (also called \"Der Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/b>\") is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking or \"Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>\" (suggesting the literal translation \"alder king,\" but see below). It was originally composed by Goethe as part of a 1782 Singspiel entitled Die Fischerin<\/span><\/i>.\r\n\r\nThe poem has been used as the text for Lieder (art songs for voice and piano) by many classical composers.\r\n

Summary<\/span><\/h2>\r\nAn anxious young boy is being carried home at night by his father on horseback. To what sort of home is not spelled out; German Hof<\/i>\u00a0 has a rather broad meaning of \"yard,\" \"courtyard,\" \"farm,\" or (royal) \"court.\" The lack of specificity of the father's social position allows the reader to imagine the details.\r\n\r\nAs the poem unfolds, the son seems to see and hear beings his father does not; the reader cannot know if the father is indeed aware of the presence, but he chooses to comfort his son, asserting reassuringly naturalistic explanations for what the child see\u2014a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. Finally the child shrieks that he has been attacked. The father makes faster for the Hof<\/span><\/i>. There he recognizes that the boy is dead.\r\n

Text<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u00a0Original German<\/th>\r\nLiteral translation<\/th>\r\nAdaptation<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nWer reitet so sp\u00e4t durch Nacht und Wind?\r\nEs ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;\r\nEr hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,\r\nEr fa\u00dft ihn sicher, er h\u00e4lt ihn warm.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?\" \u2013\r\n\"Siehst, Vater, du den Erlk\u00f6nig nicht?\r\nDen Erlenk\u00f6nig mit Kron und Schweif?\" \u2013\r\n\"Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.\"\r\n\r\n\"Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!\r\nGar sch\u00f6ne Spiele spiel' ich mit dir;\r\nManch' bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,\r\nMeine Mutter hat manch g\u00fclden Gewand.\" \u2013\r\n\r\n\"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und h\u00f6rest du nicht,\r\nWas Erlenk\u00f6nig mir leise verspricht?\" \u2013\r\n\"Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;\r\nIn d\u00fcrren Bl\u00e4ttern s\u00e4uselt der Wind.\" \u2013\r\n\r\n\"Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?\r\nMeine T\u00f6chter sollen dich warten sch\u00f6n;\r\nMeine T\u00f6chter f\u00fchren den n\u00e4chtlichen Reihn,\r\nUnd wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.\" \u2013\r\n\r\n\"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort\r\nErlk\u00f6nigs T\u00f6chter am d\u00fcstern Ort?\" \u2013\r\n\"Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh' es genau:\r\nEs scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. \u2013\"\r\n\r\n\"Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine sch\u00f6ne Gestalt;\r\nUnd bist du nicht willig, so brauch' ich Gewalt.\" \u2013\r\n\"Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fa\u00dft er mich an!\r\nErlk\u00f6nig hat mir ein Leids getan!\" \u2013\r\n\r\nDem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind,\r\nEr h\u00e4lt in Armen das \u00e4chzende Kind,\r\nErreicht den Hof mit M\u00fch' und Not;\r\nIn seinen Armen das Kind war tot.\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/td>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nWho rides, so late, through night and wind?\r\nIt is the father with his child.\r\nHe has the boy well in his arm\r\nHe holds him safely, he keeps him warm.\r\n\r\n\"My son, why do you hide your face in fear?\"\r\n\"Father, do you not see the Elfking?\r\nThe Elfking with crown and cape?\"\r\n\"My son, it's a streak of fog.\"\r\n\r\n\"You dear child, come, go with me!\r\n(Very) beautiful games I play with you;\r\nmany a colourful flower is on the beach,\r\nMy mother has many a golden robe.\"\r\n\r\n\"My father, my father, and hearest you not,\r\nWhat the Elfking quietly promises me?\"\r\n\"Be calm, stay calm, my child;\r\nThrough scrawny leaves the wind is sighing.\"\r\n\r\n\"Do you, fine boy, want to go with me?\r\nMy daughters shall wait on you finely;\r\nMy daughters lead the nightly dance,\r\nAnd rock and dance and sing to bring you in.\"\r\n\r\n\"My father, my father, and don't you see there\r\nThe Elfking's daughters in the gloomy place?\"\r\n\"My son, my son, I see it clearly:\r\nThere shimmer the old willows so grey.\"\r\n\r\n\"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;\r\nAnd if you're not willing, then I will use force.\"\r\n\"My father, my father, he's touching me now!\r\nThe Elfking has done me harm!\"\r\n\r\nIt horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on,\r\nHe holds the moaning child in his arms,\r\nReaches the farm with great difficulty;\r\nIn his arms, the child was dead.\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/td>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nWho rides there so late through the night dark and drear?\r\nThe father it is, with his infant so dear;\r\nHe holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,\r\nHe holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.\r\n\r\n\"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?\"\r\n\"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!\r\nDost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?\"\r\n\"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain.\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!\r\nFor many a game I will play there with thee;\r\nOn my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,\r\nMy mother shall grace thee with garments of gold.\"\r\n\r\n\"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear\r\nThe words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?\"\r\n\"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;\r\n'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves.\"\r\n\r\n\"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?\r\nMy daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care;\r\nMy daughters by night their glad festival keep,\r\nThey'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep.\"\r\n\r\n\"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,\r\nHow the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?\"\r\n\"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,\r\n'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight.\"\r\n\r\n\"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!\r\nAnd if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ.\"\r\n\"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,\r\nFor sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.\"\r\n\r\nThe father now gallops, with terror half wild,\r\nHe grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;\r\nHe reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread, \u2013\r\nThe child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

The Legend<\/span><\/h2>\r\nThe story of the Erlk\u00f6nig derives from the traditional Danish ballad Elveskud<\/i>: Goethe's poem was inspired by Johann Gottfried Herder's translation of a variant of the ballad (Danmarks gamle Folkeviser 47B, from Peter Syv's 1695 edition) into German as \"Erlk\u00f6nigs Tochter<\/span>\" (\"The Erl-king's Daughter\") in his collection of folk songs, Stimmen der V\u00f6lker in Liedern<\/span><\/i>(published 1778). Goethe's poem then took on a life of its own, inspiring the Romantic concept of the Erlking. Niels Gade's cantata Elverskud<\/span><\/i> opus 30 (1854, text by Chr. K. F. Molbech) was published in translation as Erlk\u00f6nigs Tochter<\/span><\/i>.\r\n\r\nThe Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>'s nature has been the subject of some debate. The name translates literally from the German as \"Alder King\" rather than its common English translation, \"Elf King\" (which would be rendered as Elfenk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/i> in German). It has often been suggested that Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/i> is a mistranslation from the original Danish elverkonge<\/span><\/i>, which does mean \"king of the elves.\"\r\n\r\nIn the original Scandinavian version of the tale, the antagonist was the Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>'s daughter rather than the Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span> himself; the female elves or elverm\u00f8er<\/span><\/i> sought to ensnare human beings to satisfy their desire, jealousy and lust for revenge.\r\n

Settings to Music<\/span><\/h2>\r\nThe poem has often been set to music with Franz Schubert's rendition, his Opus\u00a01 (D.\u00a0328), being the best known.\u00a0Other notable settings are by members of Goethe's circle, including the actress Corona Schr\u00f6ter (1782), Andreas Romberg (1793), Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1794) and Carl Friedrich Zelter (1797). Beethoven attempted to set it to music but abandoned the effort; his sketch however was complete enough to be published in a completion by Reinhold Becker (1897). A few other nineteenth-century versions are those byV\u00e1clav Tom\u00e1\u0161ek (1815), Carl Loewe (1818) and Ludwig Spohr (1856, with obbligato violin) and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (Polyphonic Studies for Solo Violin). 21st century examples are pianist Marc-Andr\u00e9 Hamelin's \"Etude No. 8 (after Goethe)\" for solo piano, based on \"Erlk\u00f6nig.\"\u00a0and German rock singer Achim Reichel on his album Wilder Wassermann<\/i> (2002).\r\n

The Franz Schubert Composition<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n

Listen: Erlk\u00f6nig<\/h4>\r\nPlease listen to the following audio file to hear Ernestine Schumann-Heink perform.\r\n\r\n[audio ogg=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/textimgs\/SantaAnaMusic\/Schubert_Erlko%CC%88nig.ogg\"][\/audio]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nFranz Schubert composed his Lied, \"Der Erlk\u00f6nig,<\/span>\" for solo voice and piano in 1815, setting text from Goethe's poem. Schubert revised the song three times before publishing his fourth version in 1821 as his Opus 1; it was cataloged by Otto Erich Deutsch as D.\u00a0328 in his 1951 catalog of Schubert's works. The song was first performed in concert on 1 December 1820 at a private gathering in Vienna and received its public premiere on 7 March 1821 at Vienna's Theater am K\u00e4rntnertor.\r\n\r\nThe four characters in the song\u2014narrator, father, son, and the Erlking\u2014are usually all sung by a single vocalist; occasionally, however, the work is performed by four individual vocalists (or three, with one taking the parts of both the narrator and the Erlking).\u00a0<\/span>Schubert placed each character largely in a different vocal range, and each has his own rhythmic nuances; in addition, most singers endeavor to use a different vocal coloration for each part. The piece modulates frequently, although each character change between minor or major mode depending how each character intends to interact with the other characters.\r\n
    \r\n\t
  1. The Narrator lies in the middle range and begins in the minor mode.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. The Father lies in the lower range and sings in both minor and major mode.<\/li>\r\n\t
  3. The Son lies in a higher range, also in the minor mode.<\/li>\r\n\t
  4. The Erlking's vocal line, in a variety of major keys, undulates up and down to arpeggiated accompaniment, providing the only break from the ostinato bass triplets in the accompaniment until the boy's death. When the Erlking first tries to take the Son with him he sings in C major. When it transitions from the Erlking to the Son the modulation occurs and the Son sings in g minor.The Erlking's lines are typically sung in a softer dynamic in order to contribute to the different color of sound than that which is used previously. Schubert marked it pianissimo in the manuscript to show that the color needed to change.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nA fifth character, the horse, is implied in rapid triplet figures played by the pianist throughout the work, mimicking hoof beats.\r\n\r\n\"Der Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>\" starts with the piano rapidly playing triplets to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse's galloping. The left hand of the piano part introduces a low-register leitmotif composed of successive triplets. The right hand consists triplets throughout the whole piece, up until the last three bars. The constant triplets drives forward the frequent modulations of the peace as it switches between the characters. This leitmotif, dark and ominous, is directly associated with the Erlk\u00f6nig and recurs throughout the piece. These motifs\u00a0continue throughout. As the piece continues, each of the son\u2019s pleas become louder and higher in pitch than the last. Near the end of the piece the music quickens and then slows as the father spurs his horse to go faster and then arrives at his destination. The absence of the piano creates multiple effects on the text and music. The silence draws attention to the dramatic text and amplifies the immense loss and sorrow caused by the son\u2019s death. This silence from the piano also delivers shock experienced by the father upon the realization that he had just lost his son to the elf king, despite desperately fighting to save the son from the elf king\u2019s grasps. The piece is regarded as extremely 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 which contribute to the drama and urgency of the piece.\r\n\r\nDer Erlk\u00f6nig is a through-composed piece, meaning that with each line of text there is new music. Although the melodic motives recur, the harmonic structure is constantly changing and the piece modulates within characters. The elf king remains mainly in major mode due to the fact that he is trying to seduce the son into giving up on life. Using a major mode creates an effect where the elf king is able to portray a warm and inviting aura in order to convince the son that the afterlife promises great pleasures and fortunes.The son always starts singing in the minor mode and usually stays in it for his whole line. This is used to represent his fear of the elf king. Every time he sings the famous line \u201cMein Vater\u201d he sings it one step higher in each verse, starting first at a D and going up to an F on his final line. This indicates his urgency in trying to get his father to believe him as the elf king gets closer. For most of the Father's lines, they begin in minor and end in major as he tries to reassure his son by providing rational explanations to his son\u2019s \u201challucinations\u201d and dismissing the Elf-king. The constant in major and minor for the father may also represent the constant struggle and loss of control as he tries to save his son from the elf king\u2019s persuasion.\r\n\r\nThe rhythm of the piano accompaniment also changes within the characters. The first time the Elf-king sings in measure 57, the galloping motive disappears. However, when the Elf-king sings again in measure 87, the piano accompaniment is arpeggiating rather than playing chords. The disappearance of the galloping motive is also symbolic of the son's hallucinatory state.\r\n\r\nDer Erlk\u00f6nig has been transcribed for various settings: for solo piano by Franz Liszt; for solo voice and orchestra by Hector Berlioz; for solo violin by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.\r\n

    The Carl Loewe Composition<\/span><\/h3>\r\nCarl Loewe's setting was published as Op.\u00a01, No.\u00a03 and composed in 1817\u201318, in the lifetime of the poem's author and also of Schubert, whose version Loewe did not then know. Collected with it were Op.\u00a01, No.\u00a01, Edward<\/i> (1818; a translation of the Scottish ballad), and No.\u00a02, Der Wirthin T\u00f6chterlein<\/span><\/i> (1823; The Innkeeper's Daughter<\/i>), a poem of Ludwig Uhland. Inspired by a German translation of Scottish border ballads, Loewe set several poems with an elvish theme; but although all three of Op.\u00a01 are concerned with untimely death, in this set only the \"Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>\" has the supernatural element.\r\n\r\nLoewe's accompaniment is in semiquaver groups of six in nine-eight time and marked Geschwind<\/span><\/i> (fast). The vocal line evokes the galloping effect by repeated figures of crotchet and quaver, or sometimes three quavers, overlying the binary tremolo of the semiquavers in the piano. In addition to an unusual sense of motion this creates a very flexible template for the stresses in the words to fall correctly within the rhythmic structure.\r\n\r\nLoewe's version is less melodic than Schubert's, with an insistent, repetitive harmonic structure between the opening minor key, and answering phrases in the major key of the dominant, which have a stark quality owing to their unusual relationship to the home key. The narrator's phrases are echoed by the voices of father and son, the father taking up the deeper, rising phrase, and the son a lightly undulating, answering theme around the dominant fifth. These two themes also evoke the rising and moaning of the wind.\u00a0The Elf king, who is always heard pianissimo, does not sing melodies, but instead delivers insubstantial rising arpeggios that outline a single major chord (that of the home key) which sounds simultaneously on the piano in una corda<\/i> tremolo. Only with his final threatening word, \"Gewalt,\" does he depart from this chord. Loewe\u2019s implication is that the Erlking has no substance, but merely exists in the child\u2019s fevered imagination. As the piece progresses, the first in the groups of three quavers are dotted to create a breathless pace, which then forms a bass figure in the piano driving through to the final crisis. The last words, war tot<\/span><\/i>, leap from the lower dominant to the sharpened third of the home key, this time not to the major but to a diminished chord, which settles chromatically through the home key in the major and then to the minor.","rendered":"

    Please read this page\u00a0on our first art song: “Der Erlkonig.” This piece is one of the best-known lieder of the Romantic era and certainly one of Schubert’s most famous compositions. It is through-composed in form and the dramatic text is heightened by the fact that singers generally give the four characters featured in the poem slightly different tone qualities; a bit like an actor playing multiple parts. As the music is so expressive of the poem’s text, I’d encourage you to listen to the piece on the playlist as soon as you’ve read the article.<\/p>\n

    Introduction<\/h2>\n
    \"Figure<\/a><\/p>\n

    Figure 1. “Erlk\u00f6nig” illustration, Moritz von Schwind<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    “Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/b>” (also called “Der Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/b>“) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking or “Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>” (suggesting the literal translation “alder king,” but see below). It was originally composed by Goethe as part of a 1782 Singspiel entitled Die Fischerin<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n

    The poem has been used as the text for Lieder (art songs for voice and piano) by many classical composers.<\/p>\n

    Summary<\/span><\/h2>\n

    An anxious young boy is being carried home at night by his father on horseback. To what sort of home is not spelled out; German Hof<\/i>\u00a0 has a rather broad meaning of “yard,” “courtyard,” “farm,” or (royal) “court.” The lack of specificity of the father’s social position allows the reader to imagine the details.<\/p>\n

    As the poem unfolds, the son seems to see and hear beings his father does not; the reader cannot know if the father is indeed aware of the presence, but he chooses to comfort his son, asserting reassuringly naturalistic explanations for what the child see\u2014a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. Finally the child shrieks that he has been attacked. The father makes faster for the Hof<\/span><\/i>. There he recognizes that the boy is dead.<\/p>\n

    Text<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n
    \u00a0Original German<\/th>\nLiteral translation<\/th>\nAdaptation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    \n
    \n

    Wer reitet so sp\u00e4t durch Nacht und Wind?
    \nEs ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
    \nEr hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
    \nEr fa\u00dft ihn sicher, er h\u00e4lt ihn warm.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?” \u2013
    \n“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlk\u00f6nig nicht?
    \nDen Erlenk\u00f6nig mit Kron und Schweif?” \u2013
    \n“Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.”<\/p>\n

    “Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
    \nGar sch\u00f6ne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir;
    \nManch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
    \nMeine Mutter hat manch g\u00fclden Gewand.” \u2013<\/p>\n

    “Mein Vater, mein Vater, und h\u00f6rest du nicht,
    \nWas Erlenk\u00f6nig mir leise verspricht?” \u2013
    \n“Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
    \nIn d\u00fcrren Bl\u00e4ttern s\u00e4uselt der Wind.” \u2013<\/p>\n

    “Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
    \nMeine T\u00f6chter sollen dich warten sch\u00f6n;
    \nMeine T\u00f6chter f\u00fchren den n\u00e4chtlichen Reihn,
    \nUnd wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.” \u2013<\/p>\n

    “Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
    \nErlk\u00f6nigs T\u00f6chter am d\u00fcstern Ort?” \u2013
    \n“Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh’ es genau:
    \nEs scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. \u2013”<\/p>\n

    “Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine sch\u00f6ne Gestalt;
    \nUnd bist du nicht willig, so brauch’ ich Gewalt.” \u2013
    \n“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fa\u00dft er mich an!
    \nErlk\u00f6nig hat mir ein Leids getan!” \u2013<\/p>\n

    Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
    \nEr h\u00e4lt in Armen das \u00e4chzende Kind,
    \nErreicht den Hof mit M\u00fch’ und Not;
    \nIn seinen Armen das Kind war tot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n
    \n

    Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
    \nIt is the father with his child.
    \nHe has the boy well in his arm
    \nHe holds him safely, he keeps him warm.<\/p>\n

    “My son, why do you hide your face in fear?”
    \n“Father, do you not see the Elfking?
    \nThe Elfking with crown and cape?”
    \n“My son, it’s a streak of fog.”<\/p>\n

    “You dear child, come, go with me!
    \n(Very) beautiful games I play with you;
    \nmany a colourful flower is on the beach,
    \nMy mother has many a golden robe.”<\/p>\n

    “My father, my father, and hearest you not,
    \nWhat the Elfking quietly promises me?”
    \n“Be calm, stay calm, my child;
    \nThrough scrawny leaves the wind is sighing.”<\/p>\n

    “Do you, fine boy, want to go with me?
    \nMy daughters shall wait on you finely;
    \nMy daughters lead the nightly dance,
    \nAnd rock and dance and sing to bring you in.”<\/p>\n

    “My father, my father, and don’t you see there
    \nThe Elfking’s daughters in the gloomy place?”
    \n“My son, my son, I see it clearly:
    \nThere shimmer the old willows so grey.”<\/p>\n

    “I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
    \nAnd if you’re not willing, then I will use force.”
    \n“My father, my father, he’s touching me now!
    \nThe Elfking has done me harm!”<\/p>\n

    It horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on,
    \nHe holds the moaning child in his arms,
    \nReaches the farm with great difficulty;
    \nIn his arms, the child was dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n
    \n

    Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
    \nThe father it is, with his infant so dear;
    \nHe holdeth the boy tightly clasp’d in his arm,
    \nHe holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.<\/p>\n

    “My son, wherefore seek’st thou thy face thus to hide?”
    \n“Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
    \nDost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?”
    \n“My son, ’tis the mist rising over the plain.”<\/p>\n

    “Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
    \nFor many a game I will play there with thee;
    \nOn my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
    \nMy mother shall grace thee with garments of gold.”<\/p>\n

    “My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
    \nThe words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?”
    \n“Be calm, dearest child, ’tis thy fancy deceives;
    \n‘Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves.”<\/p>\n

    “Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
    \nMy daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care;
    \nMy daughters by night their glad festival keep,
    \nThey’ll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep.”<\/p>\n

    “My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
    \nHow the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?”
    \n“My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
    \n‘Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight.”<\/p>\n

    “I love thee, I’m charm’d by thy beauty, dear boy!
    \nAnd if thou’rt unwilling, then force I’ll employ.”
    \n“My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
    \nFor sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.”<\/p>\n

    The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
    \nHe grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
    \nHe reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread, \u2013
    \nThe child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    The Legend<\/span><\/h2>\n

    The story of the Erlk\u00f6nig derives from the traditional Danish ballad Elveskud<\/i>: Goethe’s poem was inspired by Johann Gottfried Herder’s translation of a variant of the ballad (Danmarks gamle Folkeviser 47B, from Peter Syv’s 1695 edition) into German as “Erlk\u00f6nigs Tochter<\/span>” (“The Erl-king’s Daughter”) in his collection of folk songs, Stimmen der V\u00f6lker in Liedern<\/span><\/i>(published 1778). Goethe’s poem then took on a life of its own, inspiring the Romantic concept of the Erlking. Niels Gade’s cantata Elverskud<\/span><\/i> opus 30 (1854, text by Chr. K. F. Molbech) was published in translation as Erlk\u00f6nigs Tochter<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n

    The Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>‘s nature has been the subject of some debate. The name translates literally from the German as “Alder King” rather than its common English translation, “Elf King” (which would be rendered as Elfenk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/i> in German). It has often been suggested that Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span><\/i> is a mistranslation from the original Danish elverkonge<\/span><\/i>, which does mean “king of the elves.”<\/p>\n

    In the original Scandinavian version of the tale, the antagonist was the Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>‘s daughter rather than the Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span> himself; the female elves or elverm\u00f8er<\/span><\/i> sought to ensnare human beings to satisfy their desire, jealousy and lust for revenge.<\/p>\n

    Settings to Music<\/span><\/h2>\n

    The poem has often been set to music with Franz Schubert’s rendition, his Opus\u00a01 (D.\u00a0328), being the best known.\u00a0Other notable settings are by members of Goethe’s circle, including the actress Corona Schr\u00f6ter (1782), Andreas Romberg (1793), Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1794) and Carl Friedrich Zelter (1797). Beethoven attempted to set it to music but abandoned the effort; his sketch however was complete enough to be published in a completion by Reinhold Becker (1897). A few other nineteenth-century versions are those byV\u00e1clav Tom\u00e1\u0161ek (1815), Carl Loewe (1818) and Ludwig Spohr (1856, with obbligato violin) and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (Polyphonic Studies for Solo Violin). 21st century examples are pianist Marc-Andr\u00e9 Hamelin’s “Etude No. 8 (after Goethe)” for solo piano, based on “Erlk\u00f6nig.”\u00a0and German rock singer Achim Reichel on his album Wilder Wassermann<\/i> (2002).<\/p>\n

    The Franz Schubert Composition<\/span><\/h3>\n
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    Listen: Erlk\u00f6nig<\/h4>\n

    Please listen to the following audio file to hear Ernestine Schumann-Heink perform.<\/p>\n


    \n

    Franz Schubert composed his Lied, “Der Erlk\u00f6nig,<\/span>” for solo voice and piano in 1815, setting text from Goethe’s poem. Schubert revised the song three times before publishing his fourth version in 1821 as his Opus 1; it was cataloged by Otto Erich Deutsch as D.\u00a0328 in his 1951 catalog of Schubert’s works. The song was first performed in concert on 1 December 1820 at a private gathering in Vienna and received its public premiere on 7 March 1821 at Vienna’s Theater am K\u00e4rntnertor.<\/p>\n

    The four characters in the song\u2014narrator, father, son, and the Erlking\u2014are usually all sung by a single vocalist; occasionally, however, the work is performed by four individual vocalists (or three, with one taking the parts of both the narrator and the Erlking).\u00a0<\/span>Schubert placed each character largely in a different vocal range, and each has his own rhythmic nuances; in addition, most singers endeavor to use a different vocal coloration for each part. The piece modulates frequently, although each character change between minor or major mode depending how each character intends to interact with the other characters.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Narrator lies in the middle range and begins in the minor mode.<\/li>\n
    2. The Father lies in the lower range and sings in both minor and major mode.<\/li>\n
    3. The Son lies in a higher range, also in the minor mode.<\/li>\n
    4. The Erlking’s vocal line, in a variety of major keys, undulates up and down to arpeggiated accompaniment, providing the only break from the ostinato bass triplets in the accompaniment until the boy’s death. When the Erlking first tries to take the Son with him he sings in C major. When it transitions from the Erlking to the Son the modulation occurs and the Son sings in g minor.The Erlking’s lines are typically sung in a softer dynamic in order to contribute to the different color of sound than that which is used previously. Schubert marked it pianissimo in the manuscript to show that the color needed to change.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      A fifth character, the horse, is implied in rapid triplet figures played by the pianist throughout the work, mimicking hoof beats.<\/p>\n

      “Der Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>” starts with the piano rapidly playing triplets to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse’s galloping. The left hand of the piano part introduces a low-register leitmotif composed of successive triplets. The right hand consists triplets throughout the whole piece, up until the last three bars. The constant triplets drives forward the frequent modulations of the peace as it switches between the characters. This leitmotif, dark and ominous, is directly associated with the Erlk\u00f6nig and recurs throughout the piece. These motifs\u00a0continue throughout. As the piece continues, each of the son\u2019s pleas become louder and higher in pitch than the last. Near the end of the piece the music quickens and then slows as the father spurs his horse to go faster and then arrives at his destination. The absence of the piano creates multiple effects on the text and music. The silence draws attention to the dramatic text and amplifies the immense loss and sorrow caused by the son\u2019s death. This silence from the piano also delivers shock experienced by the father upon the realization that he had just lost his son to the elf king, despite desperately fighting to save the son from the elf king\u2019s grasps. The piece is regarded as extremely 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 which contribute to the drama and urgency of the piece.<\/p>\n

      Der Erlk\u00f6nig is a through-composed piece, meaning that with each line of text there is new music. Although the melodic motives recur, the harmonic structure is constantly changing and the piece modulates within characters. The elf king remains mainly in major mode due to the fact that he is trying to seduce the son into giving up on life. Using a major mode creates an effect where the elf king is able to portray a warm and inviting aura in order to convince the son that the afterlife promises great pleasures and fortunes.The son always starts singing in the minor mode and usually stays in it for his whole line. This is used to represent his fear of the elf king. Every time he sings the famous line \u201cMein Vater\u201d he sings it one step higher in each verse, starting first at a D and going up to an F on his final line. This indicates his urgency in trying to get his father to believe him as the elf king gets closer. For most of the Father’s lines, they begin in minor and end in major as he tries to reassure his son by providing rational explanations to his son\u2019s \u201challucinations\u201d and dismissing the Elf-king. The constant in major and minor for the father may also represent the constant struggle and loss of control as he tries to save his son from the elf king\u2019s persuasion.<\/p>\n

      The rhythm of the piano accompaniment also changes within the characters. The first time the Elf-king sings in measure 57, the galloping motive disappears. However, when the Elf-king sings again in measure 87, the piano accompaniment is arpeggiating rather than playing chords. The disappearance of the galloping motive is also symbolic of the son’s hallucinatory state.<\/p>\n

      Der Erlk\u00f6nig has been transcribed for various settings: for solo piano by Franz Liszt; for solo voice and orchestra by Hector Berlioz; for solo violin by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.<\/p>\n

      The Carl Loewe Composition<\/span><\/h3>\n

      Carl Loewe’s setting was published as Op.\u00a01, No.\u00a03 and composed in 1817\u201318, in the lifetime of the poem’s author and also of Schubert, whose version Loewe did not then know. Collected with it were Op.\u00a01, No.\u00a01, Edward<\/i> (1818; a translation of the Scottish ballad), and No.\u00a02, Der Wirthin T\u00f6chterlein<\/span><\/i> (1823; The Innkeeper’s Daughter<\/i>), a poem of Ludwig Uhland. Inspired by a German translation of Scottish border ballads, Loewe set several poems with an elvish theme; but although all three of Op.\u00a01 are concerned with untimely death, in this set only the “Erlk\u00f6nig<\/span>” has the supernatural element.<\/p>\n

      Loewe’s accompaniment is in semiquaver groups of six in nine-eight time and marked Geschwind<\/span><\/i> (fast). The vocal line evokes the galloping effect by repeated figures of crotchet and quaver, or sometimes three quavers, overlying the binary tremolo of the semiquavers in the piano. In addition to an unusual sense of motion this creates a very flexible template for the stresses in the words to fall correctly within the rhythmic structure.<\/p>\n

      Loewe’s version is less melodic than Schubert’s, with an insistent, repetitive harmonic structure between the opening minor key, and answering phrases in the major key of the dominant, which have a stark quality owing to their unusual relationship to the home key. The narrator’s phrases are echoed by the voices of father and son, the father taking up the deeper, rising phrase, and the son a lightly undulating, answering theme around the dominant fifth. These two themes also evoke the rising and moaning of the wind.\u00a0The Elf king, who is always heard pianissimo, does not sing melodies, but instead delivers insubstantial rising arpeggios that outline a single major chord (that of the home key) which sounds simultaneously on the piano in una corda<\/i> tremolo. Only with his final threatening word, “Gewalt,” does he depart from this chord. Loewe\u2019s implication is that the Erlking has no substance, but merely exists in the child\u2019s fevered imagination. As the piece progresses, the first in the groups of three quavers are dotted to create a breathless pace, which then forms a bass figure in the piano driving through to the final crisis. The last words, war tot<\/span><\/i>, leap from the lower dominant to the sharpened third of the home key, this time not to the major but to a diminished chord, which settles chromatically through the home key in the major and then to the minor.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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