Schwanengesang
Encyclopedia
Schwanengesang is the title of a posthumous collection of songs by Franz Schubert
.
Unlike the earlier Die schöne Müllerin
and Winterreise
, it uses poems by three poets, Ludwig Rellstab
(1799–1860), Heinrich Heine
(1797–1856) and Johann Gabriel Seidl
(1804-1875). Schwanengesang has the number D 957 in the Deutsch
catalogue. Schwanengesang was composed 1828 and published in 1829 just a few months after the composer's death on November 19, 1828.
The collection was named by its first publisher Tobias Haslinger, presumably wishing to present it as Schubert's final musical testament to the world.
In the original manuscript in Schubert's hand, the first 13 songs were copied in a single sitting, on consecutive manuscript pages, and in the standard performance order. All the song titles are by Schubert, as Heine did not give names to the poems. (Reed 259) However, it's not clear that Schubert intended it to be a cycle at all, or if he did, that he completed it before he died. It may have been Tobias Haslinger, Schubert's publisher, who conceived of it as a cycle, or attempted to finish an incomplete work by adding Taubenpost onto the end. So most people consider Haslinger's published version 'the' version, and that's how it's performed today. Taubenpost is considered to be Schubert's last Lied.
Franz Liszt
later transcribed these songs for solo piano.
Schubert also set to music a poem named Schwanengesang by Johann Senn
, unrelated to this collection (number D744 in the Deutsch catalogue).
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
.
Unlike the earlier Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
and Winterreise
Winterreise
Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert , a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two great song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being Die schöne Müllerin...
, it uses poems by three poets, Ludwig Rellstab
Ludwig Rellstab
Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab....
(1799–1860), Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
(1797–1856) and Johann Gabriel Seidl
Johann Gabriel Seidl
Johann Gabriel Seidl was an Austrian archeologist, poet, storyteller and dramatist. He wrote the lyrics to "Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze unsern Kaiser, unser Land!" This was the 1854 version of the Austrian Imperial Anthem, music by Joseph Haydn .Born in Vienna, Johann Gabriel Seidl was the son of...
(1804-1875). Schwanengesang has the number D 957 in the Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch
Otto Erich Deutsch was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of the works of Franz Schubert, first published in 1951 in English, new edition in 1978 in German...
catalogue. Schwanengesang was composed 1828 and published in 1829 just a few months after the composer's death on November 19, 1828.
The collection was named by its first publisher Tobias Haslinger, presumably wishing to present it as Schubert's final musical testament to the world.
In the original manuscript in Schubert's hand, the first 13 songs were copied in a single sitting, on consecutive manuscript pages, and in the standard performance order. All the song titles are by Schubert, as Heine did not give names to the poems. (Reed 259) However, it's not clear that Schubert intended it to be a cycle at all, or if he did, that he completed it before he died. It may have been Tobias Haslinger, Schubert's publisher, who conceived of it as a cycle, or attempted to finish an incomplete work by adding Taubenpost onto the end. So most people consider Haslinger's published version 'the' version, and that's how it's performed today. Taubenpost is considered to be Schubert's last Lied.
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
later transcribed these songs for solo piano.
Schubert also set to music a poem named Schwanengesang by Johann Senn
Johann Senn
Johann Chrysostomus Senn was a political lyric poet of the Vormärz.- Life :Johann Senn was the son of the freedom fighter Franz Michael Senn....
, unrelated to this collection (number D744 in the Deutsch catalogue).
An Uncertain Cycle
In 1828, October 2, Schubert (after the manuscript had been written) offered the Heine set of poems to a Leipzig publisher by the name of Probst. We can assume, then, that Schubert - at least in the beginning - intended to publish the sets separately. In addition to this, the order of the songs as they appear in the manuscript is different from that of the poems as Heine published them, which does create continuity problems. It was customary for Schubert to respect the poet's sequence, which creates the probability that the manuscript may not represent the definite order of the songs and that Heine's arrangement (numbers 3, 5, 4, 6, 2, 1) may be the intended order of performance. The Seidl song, Die Taubenpost, has no connection at all to the rest of the cycle and was appended by Haslinger at the end to round up all of Schubert's last compositions.Content
The songs of Schwanengesang, as found in Schubert's manuscript:- By Ludwig RellstabLudwig RellstabHeinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab....
:- Liebesbotschaft ("Message of love"; the singer invites a stream to convey a message to his beloved)
- Kriegers Ahnung ("Warrior's foreboding"; a soldier encamped with his comrades sings of how he misses his beloved)
- Frühlingssehnsucht ("Longing in spring": the singer is surrounded by natural beauty but feels melancholy and unsatisfied until his beloved can "free the spring in my breast")
- Ständchen ("Serenade"; the singer exhorts his lover to make him happy)
- Aufenthalt ("Dwelling place": the singer is consumed by anguish for reasons we aren't told, and likens his feelings to the river, forest and mountain around him)
- In der Ferne ("In the distance": the singer has fled his home, broken-hearted, and complains of having no friends and no home; he asks the breezes and sunbeams to convey his greetings to the one who broke his heart)
- Abschied ("Farewell": the singer bids a cheery but determined farewell to a town where he has been happy but which he must now leave)
- By Heinrich HeineHeinrich HeineChristian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
:- Der Atlas ("Atlas": the singer, having wished to experience either eternal happiness or eternal wretchedness, has the latter, and blames himself for the weight of sorrow, as heavy as the world, that he now bears)
- Ihr Bild ("Her image": the singer tells his beloved of how he dreamed (daydreamed?) that a portrait of her favoured him with a smile and a tear; but alas, he has lost her)
- Das Fischermädchen ("The fisher-maiden": the singer tries to sweet-talk a fishing girl into a romantic encounter, drawing parallels between his heart and the sea)
- Die Stadt ("The city": the singer is in a boat rowing towards the city where he lost the one he loved; it comes foggily into view)
- Am Meer ("By the sea": the singer tells of how he and his beloved met in silence beside the sea, and she wept; since then he has been consumed with longing — she has poisoned him with her tears)
- Der DoppelgängerDer DoppelgängerDer Doppelgänger is one of the six songs from Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang that sets words by Heinrich Heine for piano and tenor voice. It was written in 1828, the year of Schubert's death.- Text :...
("The double": the singer looks at the house where his beloved once lived, and is horrified to see someone standing outside it in torment — it is, or appears to be, none other than himself, aping his misery of long ago)
- The last song based on a poem written by Johann Gabriel SeidlJohann Gabriel SeidlJohann Gabriel Seidl was an Austrian archeologist, poet, storyteller and dramatist. He wrote the lyrics to "Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze unsern Kaiser, unser Land!" This was the 1854 version of the Austrian Imperial Anthem, music by Joseph Haydn .Born in Vienna, Johann Gabriel Seidl was the son of...
:- Taubenpost ("Pigeon post"; the song that is often considered the last Lied that Schubert ever wrote. The song is included into a cycle by the first editor and is almost always included in modern performances. In it, the singer declares that he has a messenger-pigeon, whose name is "Longing")