Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in ...(+)
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, a String Quintet,
the three last piano sonatas, the opera Fierrabras, the
incidental music to the play Rosamunde, and the song
cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. He was
remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in his
short career. His compositional style progressed
rapidly throughout his short life. The largest number
of his compositions are songs for solo voice and piano
(roughly 630).
"Ständchen" (known in English by its first line "Hark,
hark, the lark"), D.889, is a lied for solo voice and
piano by Franz Schubert, composed in July 1826 in the
then village of Währing. It is a setting of the "Song"
in act 2, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. The song
was first published by Anton Diabelli in 1830, two
years after the composer's death. The song in its
original form is relatively short, and two further
verses by Friedrich Reil [de] were added to Diabelli's
second edition of 1832. Although the German translation
which Schubert used has been attributed to August
Wilhelm Schlegel (apparently on the basis of various
editions of Cymbeline bearing his name published in
Vienna in 1825 and 1826), the text is not exactly the
same as the one which Schubert set: and this particular
adaptation of Shakespeare had already been published as
early as 1810 as the work of Abraham Voß, and again
– under the joint names of A. W. Schlegel and Johann
Joachim Eschenburg – in a collective Shakespeare
edition of 1811.
The song is in C major, but we hear the tonic chord in
root position only rarely. So much of it is written
over a dominant pedal that the listener seems suspended
in that dream world, half-sleeping and half-waking, in
which Imogen finds herself. At the repeat of 'Der
Blumenkelche deckt' there is a real modulation to the
dominant, but this yields immediately to the dominant
of the 'Neapolitan' key of A flat major. At 'Der
Ringelblume Knospe schleusst' we are thereby drawn by
this distant tonality into the secret world of flowers,
the composer revelling in the pathetic fallacy with the
same sense of wonder which we hear in some of
Schumann's flower songs, above all in Am leuchtenden
Sommermorgen from Dichterliebe. As the serenade
progresses it gathers momentum and enthusiasm with the
heat of the rising sun. Delicate pleas give way to an
outburst of energy where the invitation to arise
becomes a command. Capell is amusing here: 'Imogen
would have been altogether too startled at being bidden
arise by the interval of a seventh [at 'Steh auf'] and
could only have taken the aubade for a brawl.' This is
perhaps saying too much, for each successive 'auf' is
underpinned by a different bass harmony, and, in never
being grounded on the tonic, the vocal line soars like
a lark in the clear air. The return of the prelude as a
postlude restores the decorum and the sense of
musicians gently tapping on the window to rouse the
stay-abed. Like the serenade to Silvia, this is a
masterpiece of economy and delight.
Source: Hyperion
(https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W1913_GBA
JY9502613)
Although originally composed for Voice & Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "Ständchen" (Serenade -
"Hark, hark, the lark" D.889) for Flute & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).