Erlkönig - Schubert
Basic Facts
● Composer - Schubert
● Poet - Goethe
● Year - 1815
● Style Period - Classical/Romantic
● Genre - Art Song (German Lied)
The Art Song
● Also known as a Lied
● Composed for solo voice and piano
● The piano as more than an accompaniment to the singer (act as partners)
● Usually set to poetry
● Schubert composed more than 600 lieder
Art Song Forms
● Strophic - same music for each stanza
● Through-composed - different music for each stanza
● Modified Strophic - a mix of strophic and through-composed
Song Cycle
A group of art songs that are connected by a musical/poetic idea
Erlkönig and the Romantic Period
● Discusses nature, the supernatural, death, love
● Program Music - based off a poem
● Dissonant and chromatic harmonies
● Miniature form (popular in Romantic period)
Plot
● A father and his sick son rush home on horseback
● The son is delirious due to fever
● The son imagines the Erlking (who represents death) calling to him
● The father tries to keep his son awake and sane
● When they arrive home, the son is dead
Musical Analysis
● Form - through-composed
● Key - G minor
● Time signature - 4/4
● Tempo - fast (schnell)
● Texture - homophonic
Basic Facts
● Composer - Schubert
● Poet - Goethe
● Year - 1815
● Style Period - Classical/Romantic
● Genre - Art Song (German Lied)
The Art Song
● Also known as a Lied
● Composed for solo voice and piano
● The piano as more than an accompaniment to the singer (act as partners)
● Usually set to poetry
● Schubert composed more than 600 lieder
Art Song Forms
● Strophic - same music for each stanza
● Through-composed - different music for each stanza
● Modified Strophic - a mix of strophic and through-composed
Song Cycle
A group of art songs that are connected by a musical/poetic idea
Erlkönig and the Romantic Period
● Discusses nature, the supernatural, death, love
● Program Music - based off a poem
● Dissonant and chromatic harmonies
● Miniature form (popular in Romantic period)
Plot
● A father and his sick son rush home on horseback
● The son is delirious due to fever
● The son imagines the Erlking (who represents death) calling to him
● The father tries to keep his son awake and sane
● When they arrive home, the son is dead
Musical Analysis
● Form - through-composed
● Key - G minor
● Time signature - 4/4
● Tempo - fast (schnell)
● Texture - homophonic
