Journal articles on the topic 'Schubert, Franz, Songs'

Franz Schubert's "Du liebst mich nicht" (D. 756) has often been discussed as an extreme example of chromatic harmony, but one important possible motivator of the song's extravagance--its representation of one of the most exotic of the Orientalizing texts that Schubert set--has largely been overlooked. By considering the song and its interpretation by several recent critics, this essay suggests that the exotic is here represented not by overtly Orientalistic stylistic features, but rather by a pervasive ambiguity, which parallels the features ascribed to the Oriental in a variety of contemporary sources, including a review by Schubert's acquaintance Matthaus von Collin. Unlike such public evaluative texts, however, Schubert's song directly evokes the patterns of emotion and experience associated with the Orient rather than describing and critiquing from a critical distance. A brief consideration of the other songs of op. 59, "Dass sie hier gewesen" (D. 775), "Du bist die Ruh" (D. 776), and "Lachen und Weinen" (D. 777), reveals that "Du liebst mich nicht" opens the collection with an extreme representation of otherness from which the remaining songs gradually retreat.

Biographical background and musical analysis reveal a remarkable relationship between Franz Schubert’s early lieder ‘An die Geliebte’ and ‘An die Nachtigall’. In ‘An die Geliebte’, tonal ambiguity underscores the indeterminate nature of its narrative, permitting multiple coexistent and contrasting expressive meanings while favouring an ironic interpretation and an intriguing subtext. In ‘An die Nachtigall’, whose introduction and first phrase are similar to the opening of ‘An die Geliebte’, multiple expressive meanings also may be discerned, including an ironic interpretation that emerges when the song is considered in the context of its predecessor. Proceeding from a prior discussion of these lieder by Susan Youens, this essay will reveal unsuspected layers of meaning and a contextual process that unfolds in these unassuming yet engaging songs of Schubert, which uniquely converse with one another and frame an important episode in the composer’s life.

This article presents a multimodal dataset comprising various representations and annotations of Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise . Schubert’s seminal work constitutes an outstanding example of the Romantic song cycle—a central genre within Western classical music. Our dataset unifies several public sources and annotations carefully created by music experts, compiled in a comprehensive and consistent way. The multimodal representations comprise the singer’s lyrics, sheet music in different machine-readable formats, and audio recordings of nine performances, two of which are freely accessible for research purposes. By means of explicit musical measure positions, we establish a temporal alignment between the different representations, thus enabling a detailed comparison across different performances and modalities. Using these alignments, we provide for the different versions various musicological annotations describing tonal and structural characteristics. This metadata comprises chord annotations in different granularities, local and global annotations of musical keys, and segmentations into structural parts. From a technical perspective, the dataset allows for evaluating algorithmic approaches to tasks such as automated music transcription, cross-modal music alignment, or tonal analysis, and for testing these algorithms’ robustness across songs, performances, and modalities. From a musicological perspective, the dataset enables the systematic study of Schubert’s musical language and style in Winterreise and the comparison of annotations regarding different annotators and granularities. Beyond the research domain, the data may serve further purposes such as the didactic preparation of Schubert’s work and its presentation to a wider public by means of an interactive multimedia experience. With this article, we provide a detailed description of the dataset, indicate its potential for computational music analysis by means of several studies, and point out possibilities for future research.

Abstract The lied represents a fundamental form of expression of the cantability and of the relation of the melody with the poetic. And, although the model of the cultural lied could still be heard in the music of the 18th century in the compositions of the Viennese classical school - in Haydn folk songs and, especially, in forms somewhat akin to the aria of Mozart or Beethoven – the landmarks of this genre were established precisely by the romantics of the 19th century, representatives in most of the German school. Schubert, Schumann, Franz, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf etc. transformed the song into a cultural art form, incorporating images of popular origin into literary-musical structures for voice and piano making use of technical possibilities and expressiveness specific to romanticism.

Johann Herbeck (1831–1877) served in his native Vienna as conductor of the leading choral and instrumental organizations. He showed his devotion to the legacy of Franz Schubert in his performances and also in his edition, published by C.A. Spina and successors, of 51 selected works of the master for men’s, women’s and mixed chorus. Originally conceived as part-songs for ensembles of soloists, this repertoire had become choral music by Herbeck’s time. Included also are arrangements by Herbeck and others of pieces originally written for different performing media. Surviving copies of numbers in the edition, as well as two additional publications, reveal startling inconsistencies in editorial technique, ranging from a lack of intervention to a much freer approach, including liberal sprinkling of unauthentic markings and other deviations from the originals. In the latter category, the editor’s additions may be said to document the performance practice of these works during his time. His choice of sources was also inconsistent, in some cases resulting in faulty versions of the works presented. This study also documents the production and reception history of Herbeck’s edition.

Certain anomalous events in the history of Franz Schubert's family raise the possibility that he and his family inhabited a more tumultuous and conflict-ridden domestic universe than has been suspected. Among these are a series of painful losses in his mother's early life, the out-of-wedlock conception of Schubert's eldest brother, Ignaz, and Ignaz's subsequent omission from a schedule of heirs to some family property, along with his extended relegation to the lowly post of assistant teacher for more than a quarter century, until the death of his father, Franz Theodor Schubert, in 1830. In the background of these anomalies is the young Franz Theodor's unexpectedly rapid rise to prosperity in his profession, in which he and his sons had the decisive support of Bishop Josef Spendou, Vienna's superintendent of elementary schools, who was regarded as their "benefactor." Spendou's remarkably extensive devotion to the family's interestsÑincluding supplying a "scholarship" for Ignaz and a valued schoolteacher's post for young FerdinandÑopens for inspection several possibilities--that he may have been Ignaz's biological father, and that he and Schubert's parents may have entered into an arrangement whereby he furnished material and professional support to them in exchange for their raising his son as their own. Ultimately, when Franz Theodor died, Ignaz became the sole inheritor of the family's prosperous school, perhaps thereby closing the circle of pledges and obligations that bound Bishop Spendou and the Schuberts together. Left unexamined here are the potential reactions of Schubert and his siblings to their presumed knowledge of these veiled arrangements.

The printed version of Franz Schubert's song shows two main improvements over the draft. The aesthetic principles that become visible in a comparison of the two versions of the song surprisingly are not at all unfamiliar to Beckett scholars. Hence, the link between Beckett and Schubert can be established on a philological basis.

When Franz Schubert's friend Franz von Bruchmann returned to Vienna in 1821 from his studies in Erlangen, he brought with him August von Platen's Ghaselen just off the press. Soon after, Schubert set two Platen texts. A reviewer for the Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung singled out "Die Liebe hat gelogen" as particularly incomprehensible, in part because he found Schubert's radical harmony to be unmotivated by the text. The daring harmonic language of the second Platen song has struck even recent critics as excessive, yet none have addressed the textual motivation for Schubert's extreme expression. Both poems concern ill-fated homosexual love, "Du liebst mich nicht" most explicitly, if obliquely: the poem is a veiled reflection on the myth of Narcissus, a myth Platen frequently drew on as a symbol for his own homosexuality.

Abstract This article examines the significance of music and musical performance in Teleny, or the Reverse of the Medal (1893), an anonymous pornographic novel attributed by some scholars to Oscar Wilde. It draws upon historical material on late-Victorian concert venues, queer literary sub-cultures and sexology to illuminate the representation of musical spaces in the text. Teleny exists in two different versions: an English text, which is set in Paris, and a French text, which is set in London. The opening section of the article suggests that Teleny’s dynamic engagement with cosmopolitan cultural exchange between Paris and London is brought into sharper focus by situating the musical performances in the novel in the precise built environment of London’s Queen Hall. The second section explores the novel’s concern with queer geographies (the Orient, Eastern Europe) in the context of other texts that address music and homosexual identity in the period. The third section examines the significance of space in the novel’s presentation of musical listening, arguing that its focus on the materiality of sound and the haptic transmission of desire responds to sexological conceptions of embodied musical response by homosexual subjects. The significance of this sensory experience of listening is understood in the light of Sara Ahmed’s theorization of ‘queer phenomenology’. Finally, the article traces the significance of musical allusions to songs by Franz Schubert to show how they form part of the novel’s broader concerns with the spatial articulation of same-sex desire and the representation of queer urban geographies.

In the summer of 1828, Franz Schubert composed his one and only piece in Hebrew: an excerpt of Psalm 92, set for four-part choir and Solo Baritone. The main sources available until now for this composition, a manuscript in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (A-Wgm Sammlung Witteczek-Spaun Bd. 31) and a printed version in Salomon Sulzer’s compendium of Viennese synagogal music, Schir Zion (Song of Zion), date to 1834/35 and 1839/40, respectively. A newly discovered manuscript, dating from 1832, represents an early stage in the compilation of Schir Zion and contains the earliest known source of Schubert’s piece. New variant readings with regard to pitch, ornamentation and text underlay suggest that Schubert’s lost autograph may not be the immediate parent of the best sources known until now. With its title in Hebrew calligraphy, moreover, this manuscript was clearly intended for Jewish use; it thus challenges the authority of Schir Zion with regard to the underlay of the Hebrew text. The manuscript demonstrates a starting point in the adaptation by later editors, including Salomon Sulzer’s son Joseph, of Schubert’s Hebrew composition from the living, essentially oral performance tradition of an expert cantor to the formal written requirements of publication for a far-flung audience.

Scholars have traditionally analyzed Lieder from a perspective of relative objectivity, despite a longstanding recognition of the situated character of hermeneutic work within musicology and music theory. This research essentially suppresses the personal aspects that may condition it: for example, a scholar’s background in performance and tendency toward co-performance, or repeated encounters with a song, recording, and a specific singer’s voice. There has been one additional omission resulting from this tendency to project objectivity in Anglo-American scholarship. Native Anglophones have neglected to explore how our varied but pervasive roles as second-language readers or speakers inflect the way that we hear and write about German song. In response to these lacunae, this article offers a close reading of the song “Am Feierabend” from Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin (D. 795) in relationship to a 1971 recording by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore. I examine the role that my linguistic identity—as an Anglophone who enjoys an unsteady fluency in German—plays in an essentially co-performing understanding of the song’s poem, musical details, and the particular vocal decisions of Fischer-Dieskau. Beginning in conversation with Roland Barthes’s “The Grain of the Voice,” the essay introduces perspectives from literary theorists, linguists, musicologists, and music theorists to clarify the issues of materiality, meaning, linguistic identity, and rhythm that correspond to the experience of sung German poetry that the analysis traces. The analysis then focuses on the prominence of the German word “merkte” in Müller’s poem, Schubert’s setting, and Fischer-Dieskau’s rendering of the song. This account reevaluates traditional analytical practices concerning song, as well as past scholarship on Barthes’s claims within the “Grain” essay, by focusing on the issues of identity, linguistic materiality, meaning, and the love of the foreign in listening to Lieder.

This brief study is a tribute to Greta Kraus who taught for many years in the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. It is a personal interpretation of a single song, "Der Neugierige" from Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, following the linear approach developed by Heinrich Schenker, with whom Greta studied many years ago in Vienna. Greta had maintained her interest in Schenker's ideas, particularly their practical application to performance issues, throughout her long and industrious teaching career.

Franz Schubert's song cycle Die schöne Müllerin makes enormous demands not only on the performers but also on its audience, a factor that shaped the early performance history of the work. In this article, the pioneering complete performances of Die schöne Müllerin by the baritone Julius Stockhausen (1826–1906) will be explored, as well as the responses of his audiences, collaborators, and critics. The circumstances surrounding the first complete performance in Vienna's Musikverein on 4 May 1856, more than three decades after the cycle was composed in 1823, will be traced. A survey of subsequent performances reveal two things: within Stockhausen's concert career at least, it was no foregone conclusion that the complete cycle should always be performed; and a performance of the “complete cycle” meant many different things in his day. Stockhausen's artistic idealism jostled against the practical forces that necessarily influenced his approach to recital programming, leading to a multifaceted, untidy performance history for this cycle.

Statement of the problem. Within the frameworks of interpretology, the performing style appears as the relation of two subjects (the performer and the subject of the music itself, recorded in the text), a meeting of the composing and performing thinking. It is every performance by Jonas Kaufmann, a prominent singer of the present, that becomes this meeting. According to the singer’s words, the «chamber form» invented by him and called Liederabend is the favourite form of his expression. Liederabend always demonstrates the singer’s outstanding acting skills, stage presence, strong voice and impeccable technique. Among the outstanding events there are the performances of G. Mahler’s chamber opuses (romances, «Song of the Earth», «Songs of the Dead Children», R. Strauss; Liederabends in Bamberg, Munich and the Metropolitan Opera with F. Liszt’s songs «Three Sonnets of Petrarch», G. Mahler, A. Dupark (including on Heine’s and Goethe’s verses), R. Wagner (Five Songs on Matilda Wesendonk’s verses), B. Britten (Seven Sonnets by Michelangelo). The singer’s attention to the AustrianGerman repertoire is the special trait of such chamber evenings. Analysis of recent publications on the topic. The main material on J. Kaufmann’s creative work is contained in numerous interviews, official site materials, Thomas Voigt’s book called «Meinen die wirklich mich», nonfiction articles and reviews on the performance of, in particular, Liederabends (T. Belova, T. Yelagin, E. Shapinska, Tim Ashley, and Christie Franke). From the studies of chamber and vocal performance (I. Gersamiya, T. Madysheva, T. Lymareva), the classification of dialogue quality (E. Stepanidina) in chamber music is involved. The systematic approach allows (based on G. Tsypin’s research) to identify the phenomenon of J. Kaufmann’s creativity. The purpose of the study is the formulation of the basic parameters of his performing style based on the analysis of J. Kaufmann’s Liederabends. Presentation of the main research material. In «The Winter Way» the singer resorts to such expressive means as a little exaggerated, chanted diction of the initial phrases («Sleep quietly»), radically contrasting dynamics of opera ff and subtle pp («Flood»), extremely slow tempo and filigree breathing («Inn»), «performance on the verge» of sound and silence («Loneliness», «Grey Hair», «Crow», and «Last Hope»). The centre of the performance concept is «Loneliness» (according to the singer himself). K. Frank sees the performance by Kaufmann as a rich spectrum of emotions; many listeners note the introversion of his expression. Concerning the conceptual dimension of J. Kaufmann’s interpretation of “The Winter Way”, the following facts were noted: the integrity and the construction of the performance form; the conscious avoidance of unnecessary expressiveness, monologue quality (the master connects the songs, creating an extended monologue), and artistry. Conclusions of the study. The analysis of Liederabends made it possible to find the components of J. Kaufmann’s performing style that characterize his individuality. 1. Intellectualism, conceptual design and «cyclicality» of the embodiment. For Liederabends the singer always chooses sophisticated programs, dominated by song cycles, or even the evenings devoted to the creative work of one composer. From the point of view of dramaturgy, the singer combines several songs into a kind of a micro-cycle, which enhances the monologue of the expression (dialogue «I-I»); the performance by the singer of any composition or cycle is always integral and intends for the catharsis. 2. The system of vocal expressive means that allow the singer to simulate different facets of images. Liederabends reflect the main features of J. Kaufmann’s style, which can also be noted in terms of opera interpretations: the economy of the performer, the singer’s commitment to conducting the cantilena, the role of the rhythmic component in the vocal score, the ability to tune his voice in different vocal ensembles, brilliant piano and mezzo voce, the brightness of forte, the filigree diminuendo and more. Kaufmann’s outwardly restrained manner of performance allows conveying the shades of poetic and musical text, reaching the heights peculiar to him as the performer of the tragic roles of the opera repertoire. In the chamber performance, some things sound even more pronounced. This applies to timbre (the singer can choose the desired colour of the voice, in particular, a matte or «steel» hue), the dynamic hue of ppp (sometimes a barely audible sound of the voice in the vocal cycle by F. Schubert gave a sense of boundary between the worlds, which is as if crossed by the lyric hero), diction (the singer speaks words clearly, and sometimes even sings in a recitative manner, in particular F. Schubert’s «Warrant»), and rhythm (he has a specific «acuteness» with certain disturbances of a uniform course, which has a powerful influence on the audience). Analysing the method of J. Kaufmann’s work with the author’s musical material, it is noted that he respectfully treats the text of the performed compositions, never exaggerates with “liberties” (agogic deviations, text notes, and fioritures). In terms of behavioural characteristics, J. Kaufmann’s performance always prevails in masculinity; from the point of view of the dialogue of the vocal and piano parties in J. Kaufmann’s Liederabends, the monologue quality is of great importance. All of the above allows us to identify another feature of Kaufmann’s performing style – his artistry. Due to his unstoppable artistic energy, which is felt by the listeners and visitors of Liederabends, the singer creates vivid, conceptual song evenings that are generally distinguished by the thoughtfulness of interpretations and which will surely be included in the collection of the world chamber performance. The prospect of further study of the topic is related to the study of J. Kaufmann’s performing style from the standpoint of interpretology.

Franz Liszt's transcription of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique has long been recognized for its innovative approach to musical reproduction——that is, its remarkable ability to recreate the sonic nuances of its model. However, the 1830s were a period of intense artistic and professional collaboration with Berlioz, and the genesis of the Symphonie fantastique transcription can thus also be interpreted as emblematic of this developing relationship. In particular, a gestural analysis of the work's content, as it can be recreated in part through Liszt's meticulous performance notation, indicates that the transcription served to reinforce a public perception of Berlioz as composer and Liszt as performer, whereby Liszt guides his audiences through Berlioz's enigmatic compositions by means of kinesic visual cues. Investigation of heretofore unknown manuscript materials suggests that this dynamic was further emphasized in Liszt's other renderings of Berlioz's orchestral works from the period. For various reasons, the transcription's inherently collaborative nature failed to impress audiences outside of Paris. As Liszt embarked in earnest upon a solo career toward the end of the decade and his concert appearances with Berlioz became less frequent, interest in the work waned on the part of both arranger and audience. Moreover, it was in the late 1830s that Liszt began adding several new works to his public repertory, especially opera fantasies, Schubert song arrangements, and weighty compositions by German composers. This decision effectively removed his earlier material——including the all-too-French Symphonie fantastique——from on-stage circulation. Indeed, when Liszt revised the transcription in the 1870s, he eliminated many of extraordinary collaborative elements found in the 1834 version, thereby disassociating it from the arena for which it was created.

Franz Peter Schubert adalah seorang komponis terkenal kelahiran Vienna karena karya lagu seni (art song) berbahasa Jerman yaitu lieder. Pembawaan karya lieder-nya sering disalah interpretasikan selain karena masa hidupnya yang singkat dan berada pada era transisi Klasik menuju Romantik, juga karena minimnya informasi mengenai pembawaan lagu karyanya sendiri. Pendekatan historis dan musikologis digunakan untuk menemukan gaya pembawaan lieder berdasarkan semangat yang dibangun saat pengkomposisiannya. Berdasarkan penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa keunikan lieder Schubert merupakan hasil dari pengaruh komponis sebelumnya yaitu Beethoven, Mozart, dan Haydn. Kondisi ekonomi membuatnya dekat dengan lingkaran temannya dan mengembangkan gaya yang intim dalam karya lagunya. Gayanya tercermin dalam penggunaan melodi yang bergaya folksong yang sederhana, perpaduan yang seimbang antara piano dan vocal, serta beberapa ciri pemilihan sukat yang variatif, tempo yang cenderung sedang, penggunaan caesura, modulasi, dan harmonisasi serta pola ritmis iringan yang menyesuaikan dengan gambaran puisinya. Berdasarkan ciri khas tersebut ia lebih tepat disebut sebagai komponis Era Klasik daripada anggapan yang beredar luas sebagai komponis Era Romantik. The Unique Style of Franz Schubert’s Lieder. Franz Peter Schubert, one of the well-known Vienna’s composer, is recognized by his greatest number and melodious Germany art songs called lieder. His short life-span (from 1797 until 1828) was expanded in the transition era from Classic to Romantic and by then his lieder is frequently being misinterpreted by the reason of the transition of that musical era and because of the lack of performance information from him. Based on historical and musicological approach, this research tried to figure out the former style of Schubertlieder. The characteristic of Schubert’s lieder is the result of many influences from the well-known composer such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn. The economic situation made him closed to his circle of friend and formed his intimate style of composing. He used the simple melodious folksong style, perfect balance between piano and voice, the medium tempo and various meter, caesura, modulation,simple harmonization and particular rhythmical pattern to build his lieder style. His composition is actually closer to Classical style than the Romantic one and he is more precisely known as the Classical composer.

Abstract:James Joyce uses in his short story ‘The Dead’, included in the collection Dubliners (1914), different literary motives that contribute to construct the subject of the story, which is not other than the fragility that exists between death and life. Among these motives there is the Linden tree that probably Joyce adapted from the song ‘Lindenbaum’ written by Franz Schubert and included in the song cycle Winter Journey (1828). This article attempts to investigate the parallelisms that exist between both works of art and to explain how Joyce succeeds in creating the necessary atmosphere that masterly illustrates the subject of the story.Keywords: Literary motif, Linden tree, death, Winter Journey, ‘The Dead’, James Joyce.Título en español: The Linden Tree en “The Dead”, por James JoyceResumen:James Joyce utiliza en su relato ‘Los muertos’, incluido en la colección Dublineses (1914), una serie de motivos literarios que contribuyen a construir el tema del relato, que no es otro que la frágil línea divisoria que existe entre la vida y la muerte. Entre estos motivos se encuentra el árbol de tilo, que muy probablemente Joyce tomó de la canción ‘Lindenbaum’ incluida en el ciclo de canciones Viaje de Invierno (1828) de Franz Schubert. Este artículo pretende indagar en los paralelismos que existen entre ambas obras y demostrar como Joyce consigue crear la atmósfera necesaria para ilustrar con brillantez el tema del relato.Palabras clave: motivo literario, árbol de tilo, muerte, Viaje de Invierno, ‘Los muertos’, James Joyce.

The process of rehearsing and performing a choral piece involves numerous decisions by the conductor. One part of this decision-making is related to the sung text and includes aspects of diction that are not indicated by Western musical notation, for instance the exact instant of articulation of initial consonants. Although choices related to diction have consequences for elements such as clearness of enunciation, rhythmic precision, or intonation, only a few writings on choral conducting are explicit about them. This paper aims to discuss conductors’ choices concerning the instant of articulation of initial consonants in choral performances of works sung in German. It compares conductors’ theoretical suggestions with analyses of six recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s movement Trotz dem alten Drachen, BWV 227/5, and four recordings of Franz Schubert’s part-song An die Sonne, D439. Methods include analyses of writings on choral conducting, interviews with conductors, and analyses of recordings using the software programme Sonic Visualiser. Similarities are observed between the theoretical suggestions of conductors and the analysed recordings, however there are some striking differences, including conductors’ underestimations of the actual duration of consonants. Analyses of the recordings reveal that initial consonants are nearly always anticipated (i.e., articulated ahead of the beat to which they are assigned). Exceptions to this concern the plosive [kʰ] and the second consonant of a cluster on occasion. Analyses of recordings also point to the impact on timing anticipation due to the consonant’s surroundings and from the ability or otherwise for the sound of a consonant to be lengthened (i.e., its “lengthenability”). Evidence from the recordings is discussed in relation to conductors’ varying theoretical suggestions on the articulation of consonants, flagging up inconsistencies as well as considering practicalities, and providing insights for choral conductors into the nuances of consonant articulation with ramifications for conducting pedagogy and future research.