Art Song

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Art Song
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Art Song

• Solo voice and piano
• Written to be enjoyed at home, not the concert
  hall

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Art Song

• Music and poetry fused into one
• Favorite German poets
• Goethe
• Heine
• Lied (German for song)
• Lieder

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Art Song

• Passionate reaching out of the soul
• Mood, atmosphere, imagery translated into music
• Piano part contributes to the interpretation of
  the text

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Strophic Form

• Same music repeated for each stanza of poem
• Easy to remember
• Also folk song and popular music

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Through-Composed Form

• Music changes for each stanza to reflect the
  structure and feeling of a poem

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Franz Schubert
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Franz Schubert1797-1828 (31 years)

• Quit as a schoolteacher to compose exclusively
• Didnt make a very good living
• Wrote over 600 lieder
• Symphonies (Unfinished Symphony)
• String Quartets
• Chamber music
• Sonatas
• Short pieces for piano

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(No Transcript)
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Erlkoenig (Erlking) 1815Franz Schubert

• Poem by Goethe
• Tells of father riding on horseback through a
  storm with his sick child in his arms
• Boy has hallucination of the Erlking
• The elf king symbolizes death
• Through composed
• Piano part conveys idea of the horseback gallop

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Erlking

• Boy crying out to his father
• Mein vater, mein vater
• Mounting tension in boys voice goes higher and
  higher

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Introduction

• Piano introduction
• Rapid octaves
• Forte
• Bass motive minor key

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Narrator

• Who rides so late through the night and the wind?
• It is the father with his child
• He folds the boy close in his arms,
• He clasps him securely, he holds him warmly

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Father

• Low register

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

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Son

• Higher register

• Father, dont you see the Erlking? The Erlking
  with his crown and his train?

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Father

• Low Register

• My son, it is a streak of mist.

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Erlking

• Coaxing tune
• Pianissimo
• Higher register
• Major

• Dear child, com, go with me.
• Ill play the prettiest games with you. Many
  colored flowers grow along the shore
• My mother has many golden garments.

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Son

• Outcry
• Forte
• Minor

• My father, my father, and dont you hear the
  Erlking whispering promises to me?

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Father

• Low register

• Be quiet, stay quiet, my child
• The wind is rustling in the dead leaves

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Erlking

• Playful tune
• Pianissimo
• Major

• My handsome boy, will you come with me?
• My daughters shall wait upon you
• My daughers lead off in the dance every night,
• And cradle and dance and sing you to sleep

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Son

• Outcry
• Forte
• Hihger than before
• Minor

• My father, my father, and dont you see there the
  Erlkings daughers in the shadows?

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Father

• Lower register

• My son, my son, I see it clearly
• The old willows look so gray.

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Erlking

• I love you, your beautiful figure delights me!
• And if you are not willing, then I shall use
  force!

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Son

• Outcry
• Forte
• Highest yet

• My father, my father, now he is taking hold of
  me!
• The Erlking has hurt me!

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Narrator

• The father shudders, he rides swiftly on
• He holds in his arms the groaning child,
• He reaches the courtyard weary and anxious

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• Piano stops.
• Recitative

• In his arms the child was dead.