Franz Schubert was born in 1797 with innate musical ability. His family was supportive of his gifts and his older brother and Father both helped him receive proper teachings on music. By 1808 he was enrolled at Stadtkonvikt as a choir boy but his fortune would run out in 1812 when his voice broke. This inclined him, as well as pressure from his family, to join a teaching college under his father. He continued as a schoolteacher until 1818 when he decided to pursue his musical interests. Up to this point in his life, Schubert had created numerous piano pieces, string quartets, symphonies and a 3 act opera.
He wrote music to Karl Von Leitner's poem Drang in die Ferne, translating to Drawn to the Distance a.k.a. Longing to Escape, in 1823, originally appearing in the newspaper Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst. This vocal waltz-like song is introduced with urgency at a lively pace, starting in the first verse with A minor. The song is in strophic form, having ten verses in all. Given the new practice of music being put to poems, Schubert does not take away from the value of the poem by having eccentric and complex improvisations. He follows the sincerity and longing of the singer with the piano, which acts by insinuating physical body gestures in support of the singer's pleas of freedom in nature. This in turn brings about lively articulation and ends the third verse in A major. Following the romantic pleading to explore the world, the song shifts with even more sincerity at verse six when the singer asks for a "parting kiss" from his parents, whom he is leaving. Schubert then builds up even more sincerity by chromatically expressing and exploring F major all before the seventh verse. Once more this technique is used in the ninth verse, giving rise to the idea that the singer perhaps will never see his family again. But he rejoices in the thought of finding a happier place and the singer ends in A major. The piano goes on and doubts the claims and ends in A minor, adding a personal expressive thought provoking ending to the story, parallel to the markers of Romanticism.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTA7QyLaJJo
http://www.biography.com/people/franz-schubert-9475558
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2086_GBAJY9301811
I love how the music does help the meaning in which it is fast like a person wanting to escape. I feel like this supports the title of the piece.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that he writes the accompaniment in strophic form but still uses the piano to express the lyrics and enhance the meaning of the song. I also really like how Schubert gives a dramatic role to the piano in a lot of his songs instead of just making it the accompaniment.
ReplyDeleteSchubert's music is very meaningful, and often times the piano parts of his songs play an equal role of importance as the vocalist. Like Erin mentioned, it plays a dramatic role rather than just a background noise. His songs are way different than most of the time as they often contain conversations, or two leading roles (voice and piano), rather than just a soloists. Makes me glad that he decided to go on with music and composition rather than just teach for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about how it's good that Schubert continued to compose rather than just teach. His unique style was so influential in the 19th century, although long after his untimely death.
DeleteIf Schubert, in his time, was able to get away from Vienna and his domestic music would he have been more successful than he was, or would he have been considered an outsider and turned back to his home?
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