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Art songs were such an integral part of the Romantic repertoire, particularly that of Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. Because so many art songs in a Romantic style were composed by German composers, we often use the German word for songs, “lieder,” when studying this genre. An art song is defined as a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical tradition. It is used to refer to the genre of songs of a musical setting of an independent poem or text, “intended for the concert repertory” “as part of a recital or other relatively formal social occasion.  Art songs have been composed in many languages, and are known by several titles. The German tradition of art song composition is perhaps the most prominent one; it is known as Lieder.

Strophic, modified strophic, through composed: If all of the poem’s verses are sung to the same music, the song is strophic. If the vocal melody remains the same but the accompaniment changes under it for each verse, the piece is called a “modified strophic” song. In contrast, songs in which “each section of the text receives fresh music” are called through-composed. Some through-composed works have some repetition of musical material in them.

Performance of art songs in recital involves special collaboration for both the singer and pianist. The piano is integral in the performance of the art song. The degree of intimacy “seldom equaled in other kinds of music” requires that the two performers “communicate to the audience the most subtle and evanescent emotions as expressed in the poem and music. Often the piano plays before the vocalist at the beginning of the song to establish  mood. It often plays at the end of the  song  to  preside over the the ending.

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Two Listening examples are presented below : The  “Erlkonig by Schubert 

 “Erlkönig”  Schubert
This piece is one of the best-known lieder of the Romantic era and  one of Schubert’s most famous compositions. It is through-composed in form.  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.

“Erlkönig” (also called “Der Erlkönig“)  – is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  depicting  the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being: the Erlking or “Erlkönig”
An anxious young boy is being carried home at night by his father on horseback.  The son  sees  and hears a “supernatural”  being talking to him which his father does not. The listener cannot know if the father is aware of this or not.  He comforts  his son, asserting reassuringly naturalistic explanations for what the child is  seeing and hearing. —  a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. Finally the child shrieks that he has been attacked. The father makes faster for home. There he recognizes that the boy is dead.

Text

“Der Erlkönig” starts with  triplets in the piano to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse’s galloping. The left hand 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 triplets drive forward  with  frequent modulations as it switches between the characters. This leitmotif  recurs throughout the piece – dark and ominous –  is directly associated with the Erlkönig.  As the piece continues, the son’s 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. The silence from the piano at the end dramatizes the 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’s grasps.

Listen to the Erlking. Below are descriptions of the piano and voice parts and the translations:
(The Narrator part lies in the middle range and begins in the minor mode. The four characters in the song—narrator, father, son, and the Erlking—are usually all sung by a single vocalist with each character’s part  placed in a different vocal range, with his own rhythmic nuances; and different vocal coloration for each part. Each character part  changes  between minor or major mode depending how each character intends to interact with the other characters.)

(“Der Erlkönig” 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.”Der Erlkönig” 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.)

Original German with English translation below each stanza:
Narrator (minor mode – middle range)
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He holds the boy in the crook of his arm
He holds him safe, he keeps him warm.

Father (low range)
“Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?”

“My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously?”

Son high range
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?”

“Father, do you not see the Elfking?
The Elfking with crown and cloak?”

Father – low range
“Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.”

“My son, it’s a wisp of fog.”

Erlking – major mode
“Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir;
Manch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.”

“You lovely child, come, go with me!
Many a beautiful game I’ll play with you;
Some colourful flowers are on the shore,
My mother has many golden robes.”

Son – high range, frightened
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?”

“My father, my father, can’t you hear,|
What the Elfking quietly promised me?”

Father  – low range, calming
“Sei ruhig, bleib ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.”

“Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind rustles through dry leaves.”

Erlking –  (major mode, cajoling –  The Erlking’s lines are typically sung in a softer dynamic in order to contribute to the different color of sound).
“Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehen?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn,
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.”

“Do you want to come with me, dear boy?
My daughters shall wait on you fine;
My daughters lead the nightly dances
And will rock and dance and sing you to sleep.”

Son high range – dissonant outcry
(Every time he sings the famous line “Mein Vater” he sings it one step higher in each verse)
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?”

“My father, my father, can’t you hear,
the Elfking’s daughters in the shadows?”

Father – low range reassuring
“Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.”

“Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind rustles through dry leaves.”

Erlking – loving,  then insistent
“Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.”

“Do you want to come with me, dear boy?
If you are not willing, I will use force. 

Son  – high voice  terrified
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!”

My father, my father, now he is touching me
The Erlking has done me harm

Narrator middle register, speechlike
Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Er reicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

The father shudders; he rides swiftly,
He holds the moaning child in his arms.
He can hardly manage to reach his farm;
In his arms, the child was dead.

Literal Translation  License  Standard YouTube License

Power Point Slide show – Early Romantic Styles and Forms

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Here is the powerpoint study guide for early Romantic music. It focuses on art song  (1-13) , piano  (14-22 – Check especially slide #20 and the term Rubato ) character pieces, and program music including the Overture, Program Symphony, and Hector Berlioz.(23-33) .

Note :Slide  Number 13  (below)  suggests  Du Ring an Minem Finger  (below).

Other selections suggested in the slide show are discussed in the other topics  in this module

 

 Robert Schumann – In the Lovely Month of May

This beautiful art song by Schumann is from his  Song cycle: Dichterliebe –  (A Poet’s Love) composition of  sixteen songs composed to poems written by Heine in 1840.  You can view the  words and the  translation as you view the video. Obviously this art song is far less intense and dramatic than the Erlking.
Listen for the  “poetic” depiction of  spring in the vocal part and the part the piano plays in setting the mood at the beginning and its extended playing at the end.

Listen to the art song  (Du Ring an mienem Finger presented in the previous page  Go through the power point relating to Art song  (pages 1-14)