These two images represent two of Schubert's most famous song journey's comprised of many lied, Swan Song and Winter Journey.
|
WHAT IS A LIED?
Lied means "song" in Germany (the plural of lied is lieder). Lieder are songs that combine poetry and music into one; it is essentially a sung poem. They usually are voice with piano accompaniment and can be found in three different forms. The first is strophic meaning that music is identical for each strophe (or each stanza of the poem). The next is cyclic and uses an A-B-A format where the music from the first section's music is identical to the third section. And the last is through composed, where each idea of the poem is treated separately and thus the music is different in accordance. SCHUBERT'S CAREER
Though Schubert lived a short life (dying when he was only 31), Schubert had great success with his musical career. He was born and raised in Vienna where he began writing pieces of music. When he was about 17, he had already written a few piano pieces, string quartets, a symphony, and an opera. From there his music career began, though there were some highs and lows among the way. During his short but prolific life, he produced a lot of chamber and piano music, operas, sacred music, and seven complete symphonies. But what Schubert was most famous for was his lieder, producing over 500 of them. And while he was not too popular during his life, his became famous posthumously and is considered one of the last classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. SCHUBERT'S LIEDER
Schubert's lieder are emotional and personal in content, often dealing with love and romance, and in some cases unrequited love. In many of his lieder, he uses nature as a way to express his feelings and emotions. His lieder are short in time, lasting only a few minutes and creates catchy choruses that stick with the audience, interspersed with verses that tell the story of his love and heartbreak. Schubert also had several 'journeys' in which he combined many lieder together to tell a story. THE POEMS IN THE SCHUBERT'S LIEDER
Since the essence of lieder is poems set to music, there had to be a poet that inspired and served as the lyrics with which to write the music to. While Schubert used many poets' work for his music, ranging from well known to locally known poet, a majority of his lieder were set to the poems of Goethe's poems. Goethe was a German writer, playwright, novelist, and many other titles. His most famous his work, Faust, is a two part drama that did not become fully published until after his death. He served as an inspiration for the power and originality of his pieces and inspired approximately 1 out of every 10 lied that Schubert wrote. |