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). Schubert also composed a considerable
number of secular works for two or more voices, namely
part songs, choruses and cantatas. He completed eight
orchestral overtures and seven complete symphonies, in
addition to fragments of six others. While he composed
no concertos, he did write three concertante works for
violin and orchestra. Schubert wrote a large body of
music for solo piano, including eleven incontrovertibly
completed sonatas and at least eleven more in varying
states of completion, numerous miscellaneous works and
many short dances, in addition to producing a large set
of works for piano four hands. He also wrote over fifty
chamber works, including some fragmentary works.
Schubert's sacred output includes seven masses, one
oratorio and one requiem, among other mass movements
and numerous smaller compositions. He completed only
eleven of his twenty stage works.
"Du bist die Ruh" (You are rest and peace D.776 Op. 59
No. 3) is a Lied composed by Franz Schubert
(1797–1828) in 1823. The text is from a set of poems
by the German poet Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866). It
is the third poem in a set of four. This song is set
for solo voice and piano. Rückert's poem was
originally untitled. Schubert used the poem's first
line as the title of the song. Rückert later titled
his poem "Kehr ein bei mir" (Stay with me). Franz Liszt
transcribed many of Schubert's songs for piano,
including "Du bist die Ruh" (S. 558/3). The melody and
harmonies are all Schubert's but with the addition of
Liszt's own interpretation, while still staying true to
the original meaning of Rückert's poem.
The piece is in triple meter (3/8) and is marked
larghetto (fairly slow) and pianissimo (very soft). The
piece is in bar form and its original key is E-flat
major. It starts with both hands playing broken triads
softly and slowly in treble clef. The simplicity of the
melody makes this piece that much more difficult to
sing as it requires perfect legato and breath control.
Any inconsistencies in the sound can disrupt the
'peace' of the poem. Schubert sets tender and gentle
themes to Rückert's words, and the simplicity of the
piano line further enhances the meaning of the song.
The progression of the harmonies repeat with the bar
form, always establishing the key of the piece. With a
pianissimo and larghetto marking and the piano part
light in texture, Schubert sets up the poem for the
first few lines, "You are the calm, the mild peace", in
the introduction.
The piece has five stanzas. The first and second verses
are almost exactly identical to the third and fourth,
with the exception of one note. The fifth (and final)
verse is the start of the B section ("Dies Augenzelt,
von deinem Glanz allein erhellt, o füll es ganz!").
Both the piano and the voice have a marking of
pianissimo up until measure 57, when there is finally a
crescendo. This is in the first few bars of the B
section. In measure 59, Schubert marks forte. Here is
the climax as well as the highest note of the piece
along with a decrescendo. There is then a bar of rest
and Schubert marks the next entrance at pianissimo once
again. Perhaps this is to reinforce the mood of the
song. "What could be more restful than silence?"
Schubert repeats this text, thereby creating a sixth
verse. He then ends the vocal line on the dominant
(B-flat), which leaves the piano to resolve the
harmony. Throughout the piece, Schubert sets words like
"joy" on the tonic, and words like "pain" on the
dominant harmonies.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_bist_die_Ruh%27)
Although originally composed for Voice and Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "Du bist die Ruh" (You
are rest and peace D.776 Op. 59 No. 3) for Flute &
Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
