Schubert's relationship with the poetry of Goethe first flared up in October 1814 with Gretchen am Spinnrade. By the summer of 1816 the nineteen-year-old composer had produced forty-five Goethe settings, many among the world's greatest and best-loved songs. What excited Schubert about this poetry was its spontaneity of feeling, its richly sensuous imagery and its ecstatic eagerness to seize and glorify the moment. Goethe's sheer range, too, was dazzling, embracing folk idiom and ballad, love lyrics, nature poetry and verses like Ganymed, An Schwager Kronos and Prometheus that exult in the poet's quasi-divine powers. Then there was the uniquely musical quality of Goethe's verses: poems like Der Fischer and Schäfers Klagelied demand to be sung; and indeed, several songs in this recital, including Nähe des Geliebten, An den Mond and the exquisitely chaste, tender Nachtgesang are settings of verses that were directly inspired by pre-existing tunes.
Goethe's conception of the Lied was very much that of the late eighteenth century, as exemplified in the settings of his friend, Carl Zelter: a straighforward, often folk-like melody, simply accompanied, with the same music used for each verse. What the poet called "a false interest in detail" was to be deplored. When, in April 1816, Schubert sent fair copies of his Goethe songs to the great poet-sage in Weimar, the package was returned unacknowledged. But if Goethe had bothered to look at them he would have found that two, Heidenröslein and Der Fischer, accorded closely with his views on verse setting - indeed, a more elaborate treatment would have been inappropriate for these piquant folk ballads, wich make much of their effect through the cumulative power of repetition. ...
Goethe's conception of the Lied was very much that of the late eighteenth century, as exemplified in the settings of his friend, Carl Zelter: a straighforward, often folk-like melody, simply accompanied, with the same music used for each verse. What the poet called "a false interest in detail" was to be deplored. When, in April 1816, Schubert sent fair copies of his Goethe songs to the great poet-sage in Weimar, the package was returned unacknowledged. But if Goethe had bothered to look at them he would have found that two, Heidenröslein and Der Fischer, accorded closely with his views on verse setting - indeed, a more elaborate treatment would have been inappropriate for these piquant folk ballads, wich make much of their effect through the cumulative power of repetition. ...
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Andreas Haefliger,
Decca,
Lied,
Matthias Goerne,
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