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.
"Der Musensohn" (The son of the muses D.764 Op. 92 No.
1) was created in December 1822 marked a new enthusiasm
for the texts of Goethe. Der Musensohn is the first of
the five songs by this poet which Schubert composed
within a month. As always in these matters relating to
Schubertian tempi, a compromise is called for which
avoids extremes. Thus the song should not be dazzlingly
fast in virtuoso manner, and neither should it be
self-consciously meaningful; it is still meant to set
the toes tapping and to excite the listener with its
irrepressible gaiety. The secret, as always with this
composer, is to be guided by the time-signature:
Schubert writes 6/8, thus two-in-a-bar in the manner of
a folksong. A fast tempo, where we are conscious of
only one beat per bar, misses the poise of text and
music; and a slow tempo when we can hear six beats, or
a leaden two, denies us the piquancy. One learns that
when the composer writes something like ‘ziemlich
lebhaft’ he means us to tread the middle way, curbing
our excitement without suppressing it.
The construction of the song is relatively simple.
Goethe’s five verses are set alternately in G major
and B major. The change into B major is without the
preparatory niceties of modulation. At the beginning of
the second verse this sudden change has the
heart-stopping effect of implying a sudden and
momentary dalliance as we are taken into the poet’s
confidence: at ‘Ich kann sie kaum erwarten’ the
change of key helps to depict a feeling of suspense and
impatience as he reflects on the beauties of spring; at
the loving repetitions of ‘sing ich noch jenen
Traum’ he might be closing his eyes (the incessant
quavers in the accompaniment have temporarily quietened
down to a gentle throb) as he dreams of imaginary
sights and fragrances, the very things that will
inspire him to new melody and which keep him ever
youthful. And suddenly we are off again – the second
appearance of the G major strain – and the words of
the third verse have a breadth and majesty which give
to the bewitching creator of rhymes and melody a
bird’s-eye view of the whole world. Here we have a
timeless perception of the changing seasons and of the
cyclical nature of life itself. Another quick change
into B major and we zoom in on the village green, as if
accompanying the swooping descent of an aerial camera
in a documentary about small-town life. Here even the
most provincial of yokels, and the most inhibited of
girls, are animated by the singer’s powers, almost
despite themselves. The pianist can have fun in
characterising the clod-hopping antics of the
‘stumpfe Bursche’, the left hand slightly accented
as the boy earnestly goes through his paces.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schubert)
Although originally composed for Voice and Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "Der Musensohn" (The son
of the muses D.764 Op. 92 No. 1) for Flute & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).