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    Art Song or Lied

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    Nicky Harre
    1. Art song, also known as lied, was a distinctive musical form that emerged during the Romantic period. Lied featured solo vocal performance accompanied by piano. 2. Franz Schubert was a leading composer of lied. One of his early and famous examples is "Gretchen am Spinnrade", setting a poem by Goethe about Margaret pining for her lover Faust. 3. In "Gretchen am Spinnrade", the constant piano figuration represents Margaret's restless spinning, as she dwells on memories of Faust's kiss, touch and smile. The music gradually builds intensity before resolving in the major key, as Margaret dreams of reuniting

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    Art Song or Lied

    Uploaded by

    Nicky Harre
    70 views9 pages
    1. Art song, also known as lied, was a distinctive musical form that emerged during the Romantic period. Lied featured solo vocal performance accompanied by piano. 2. Franz Schubert was a leading composer of lied. One of his early and famous examples is "Gretchen am Spinnrade", setting a poem by Goethe about Margaret pining for her lover Faust. 3. In "Gretchen am Spinnrade", the constant piano figuration represents Margaret's restless spinning, as she dwells on memories of Faust's kiss, touch and smile. The music gradually builds intensity before resolving in the major key, as Margaret dreams of reuniting

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    Art Song worksheet

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    1. Art song, also known as lied, was a distinctive musical form that emerged during the Romantic period. Lied featured solo vocal performance accompanied by piano. 2. Franz Schubert was a leading composer of lied. One of his early and famous examples is "Gretchen am Spinnrade", setting a poem by Goethe about Margaret pining for her lover Faust. 3. In "Gretchen am Spinnrade", the constant piano figuration represents Margaret's restless spinning, as she dwells on memories of Faust's kiss, touch and smile. The music gradually builds intensity before resolving in the major key, as Margaret dreams of reuniting

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    70 views9 pages

    Art Song or Lied

    Uploaded by

    Nicky Harre
    1. Art song, also known as lied, was a distinctive musical form that emerged during the Romantic period. Lied featured solo vocal performance accompanied by piano. 2. Franz Schubert was a leading composer of lied. One of his early and famous examples is "Gretchen am Spinnrade", setting a poem by Goethe about Margaret pining for her lover Faust. 3. In "Gretchen am Spinnrade", the constant piano figuration represents Margaret's restless spinning, as she dwells on memories of Faust's kiss, touch and smile. The music gradually builds intensity before resolving in the major key, as Margaret dreams of reuniting

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    The lied was a solo song form popular during the Romantic period that often dealt with themes of love, nature, longing and the supernatural. It was written for voice and piano and was a common form of music making among amateur musicians.

    The lied focused on the relationship between the solo voice and piano accompaniment. Common themes included unrequited love, nature, and emotions. This reflected the Romantic interest in exploring human emotion and nature.

    Gretchen am Spinnrade by Schubert expresses the theme of unrequited love through the character Gretchen pining for Faust. It gives a vivid musical portrayal of her melancholy and longing.

    Art Song or Lied

    Music for Love

    One of the distinctive forms of music from the Romantic period was the ART SONG. These were also known as LIED
    (pronounced ‘leet’) when German text was used. The plural is LIEDER (pronounced ‘leader’). The lied differed from
    earlier song types because of the importance given to the piano accompaniment. The relationship between the
    voice and piano is often referred to as a marriage, in which both partners are equal.

    Love was a common theme in lied as well as the beauty of nature, longing, and supernatural
    happenings. Often the theme was unrequited love – the type of love where one person loves
    another but the other person doesn’t feel the same.

    The popularity of lied throughout Europe during the nineteenth century


    was due in part to the mass production of the piano. The piano
    became the universal domestic instrument, to be found in the
    homes of most upper and middle class families. Music
    making, by small groups of families and friends in salons and
    drawing rooms, was an important part of life in the
    Romantic period. The lied, including only two people and
    able to be performed by amateurs was tailor-made for such
    intimate surroundings. Equally, they could be sung in large
    concert halls as they still are today.

    ‘Gretchen Am Spinnrade’ – Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

    SCHUBERT was one of the leading composers of this type of solo song. He wrote over 600 lieder, many of which are
    grouped in sets called SONG CYCLES. The texts used by Schubert for his lieder were mainly lyric poems by the
    German Romantic poets, notably Goethe (1749-1856).

    Schubert’s first great song was Gretchen Am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the


    Spinning Wheel). Inflamed by the poetry and passion of Goethe’s Faust, the 17
    year old Schubert composed this song. Gretchen Am Spinnrade is typical of that
    lieder expressing unrequited love. It portrays Margaret (Gretchen) sitting at
    her spinning wheel, dreaming disconsolately of her lover Faust who has
    forsaken her. The emotional Goethe’s poem is given on the next page with a
    literal English translation.

    Listen to Gretchen Am Spinnrade while following the lyrics:

    Meine Ruh ist hin My rest is gone,


    Mein Herz ist schwer; My heart is heavy,
    Ich finde sie nimmer, I’ll find peace no more,
    Und nimmermehr. No never more.

    Wo ich ihn nicht hab, Not to have him,


    Ist mir das Grab, Is like being in a grace,
    Die ganze Welt, The whole world
    Ist mir vergällt. For me has turned sour.

    Mein armer Kopf My poor head


    Ist mir Verruckt, Has lost its senses,
    Mein armer Sinn My poor mind
    Ist mir zerstückt Is shattered.

    Meine Ruh ist hin My rest is gone,


    Mein Herz ist schwer; My heart is heavy,
    Ich finde sie nimmer, I’ll find peace no more,
    Und nimmermehr. No never more.

    Nach ihm nur schau ich I gaze after him only,


    Zum Fenster hinaus, Through the window,
    Nach ihm nur geh ich For him alone,
    Aus dem Haus. I leave the house.

    Sein hoher Gang, His proud walk,


    Sein’ edle Gestalt, His noble figure,
    Seines Mundes Lächein, The smile on his mouth,
    Seiner Augen Gewalt, The power of his eyes,

    Und seiner Rede, And his speech’s


    Zauberfluss, Magic flow,
    Sein Händedrück, The touch of his hand,
    Und ach, sein Kuss! And ah, his kiss!

    Meine Ruh ist hin My rest is gone,


    Mein Herz ist schwer; My heart is heavy,
    Ich finde sie nimmer, I’ll find peace no more,
    Und nimmermehr. No never more.

    Mein Busen drängt My bosom is yearning,


    Sich nach ihm hin: Yearning for him,
    Ach dürft ich fassen Ah, could I but grasp him
    Und halten ihn And hold on to him

    Und küssen ihn, And kiss him,


    So wie ich wollt, The way I would like,
    An seinen Küssen And on his kisses
    Vergehen sollt’! Pass away.

    Listen to Gretchen Am Spinnrade again, this time following the music.


    Answer the following questions:

    1. What is the tonality of the piece at the beginning? Major? Minor?


    2. What would be the significance of using this tonality in relation to the story being told?
    3. What is the significance of the constant semi-quaver movement in the right hand of the piano
    accompaniment? Again, think of the story being told. State two reasons.
    4. Describe the dynamics at the beginning of the piece.
    5. Explain the following terms.
     sempre legato
     sempre staccato
     dim.
     descresc
     acceler.
     sf
     ff
     descresc. e ritard
    6. Explain the time signature
    7. What type of voice is this written for? Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass?
    8. Listen to what happens in the accompaniment and the tonality at bar 58 to 65. State what is happening and
    how this relates to the story being told.
    9. What happens to the accompaniment in piano at bars 66-68? Relate this to what Gretchen is thinking of at
    this time.
    10. What is the significance of the note sung in bar 68?
    11. How does the return of the piano accompaniment in bar 69 differ from that at the beginning. Relate this to
    the story.
    12. What is the tonality from bar 69 onwards? Relate this to the story.
    13. What is the significance of the first note sung in bar 111?
    14. What name could be given to this point of the piece?

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