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Author
Franz Schubert (1797-1828: German)
- born in a suburb of Vienna
- learned the violin from his father and piano from his older brother
- immersed himself in German Romanticism
- died at age 31, dying wish was to be buried near Beethoven
- life was a romantic symbol of the artist's fate
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of the description comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is Lied
- piano with solo male vocal accompaniment
- minor key tonality, with one or two switches to major key
- very dark
- common time, but with lots of triplets.
- text language is German
- extensive text painting; piano is a "character" in the story
Purpose
- entertainment
- lieder were meant to be sung in small settings and not performed on big stages
Reflections
As I noted in one of my concert reports, I love solo piano music. This is close to the same thing (piano and one singer). I like the text painting and minor key usage. For some reason, I seem to like pieces in minor keys more. I hope that doesn't mean that I am a sad person. I think it must be that when people are sad, freightened, or in an otherwise "minor key" mood, their emotions seem to be more sincere.