Introduction to Western Music

Week 9: Recitation 9A Listening & Reading (Neff)

Music and Storytelling

Terms

Miniature: a short composition usually from the 19th century. The miniature is defined by its shorter length; usually only one or two performers are required. We will study the Lied (a song for soloist and piano with a German text; plural is Lieder) and the piano miniature.

Lied: German art song for vocal soloist and piano. Lieder are in one of the following forms:

• Strophic: the same musical setting is used for all of the verses of the poem
• Through-composed: there is no regular pattern of musical repetition with each new verse of the poem
• Modified-strophic: the musical setting begins as if it will be strophic, but changes later in the song.

No matter the formal structure, Lieder composers pay careful attention to the text being set, using the piano to help establish a mood or give deeper meaning to the poem.

Song cycle: a collection of songs which the composer sets as a larger work. Song cycles share a narrative over many individual songs and are intended to be sung as a unit in a specific order.

Listening

Franz Schubert, “Erlkönig” (Lied)

Performed by Thomas Quasthoff, tenor, and Charles Spencer, pianoforte. [Listen on YouTube]

Here is the text and translation:

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind: Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.   „Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?“ „Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht? Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif?“ „Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.“   „Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir; Manch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand, Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.“   „Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?“ „Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind: In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.“   „Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn? Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön; Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Rein Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.“   „Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?“ „Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau: Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.“   „Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.“ „Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!“   Dem Vater grausets, er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not: In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

Who rides by the night in the wind so wild? It is the father, with his child. The boy is safe in his father’s arm. He holds him tight, he keeps him warm.   My son, what is it, why cover your face? Father, you see him, there in that place, The elfin king with his cloak and crown? It is only the mist rising up, my son.   “Dear little child, will you come with me? Beautiful games I’ll play with thee; Bright are the flowers we’ll find on the shore, My mother has golden robes fullscore.”   Father, O father, and did you not hear What the elfin king breathed into my ear? Lie quiet, my child, now never you mind: Dry leaves it was that click in the wind.   “Come along now, you’re a fine little lad, My daughters will serve you, see you are glad; My daughters dance all night in a ring, They’ll cradle and dance you and lullaby sing.”   Father, now look, in the gloom, do you see The elfin daughters beckon to me? My son, my son, I see it and say: Those old willows, they look so grey.   “I love you, beguiled by your beauty I am, If you are unwilling I’ll force you to come!” Father, his fingers grip me, O The elfin king has hurt me so!   Now struck with horror the father rides fast, His gasping child in his arm to the last, Home through the thick and thin he sped: Locked in his arm, the child was dead.

Original poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Translation

From Robert Schumann’s Song cycle, Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love) 

Robert Schumann, “Ich grolle nicht”

Here’s the text and translation:

Ich grolle nicht, und wenn das Herz auch bricht,       Ewig verlor’nes Lieb! ich grolle nicht.       Wie du auch strahlst in Diamantenpracht,       Es fällt kein Strahl in deines Herzens Nacht. Das weiss ich längst. Ich sah dich ja im Traume,       Und sah die Nacht in deines Herzens Raume,       Und sah die Schlang’, die dir am Herzen frisst,       Ich sah, mein Lieb, wie sehr du elend bist.       Ich grolle nicht.

I bear no grudge, though my heart is breaking,       O love forever lost! I bear no grudge.       However you gleam in diamond splendour,       No ray falls in the night of your heart. I’ve known that long. For I saw you in my dreams,       And saw the night within your heart,       And saw the serpent gnawing at your heart;       I saw, my love, how pitiful you are.       I bear no grudge.

Original poem by Heinrich Heine; translation by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Two piano miniatures

Terms

Character piece: instrumental miniature with a descriptive title or one that portrays a particular mood.

Nocturne: “night piece,” title for a 19th-century character piece, especially for piano

Listening

Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne in Db Major, op. 27, no. 2 (nocturne)

Performed by Lang Lang. [Listen on YouTube]

Franz Liszt, “La Campanella” (character piece)

Performed by Evgeny Kissin. [Listen on YouTube]

After listening to these works, be prepared to share on the board TWO characteristics of ONE work that you found most appealing. Be sure to use precise musical terminology.