Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
- Composer: Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 -- 19 November 1828)
- Performers: Hans Hotter (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
- Year of recording: 1954
Schwanengesang (Swan Song), song cycle for voice & piano, D. 957, written in 1828.
00:00 - 01. Liebesbotschaft
03:04 - 02. Kriegers Ahnung
07:30 - 03. Frühlingssehnsucht
11:22 - 04. Ständchen
14:54 - 05. Aufenthalt
17:38 - 06. In der Ferne
22:48 - 07. Abschied
26:59 - 08. Der Atlas
28:55 - 09. Ihr Bild
31:32 - 10. Das Fischermädchen
33:37 - 11. Die Stadt
36:31 - 12. Am Meer
40:28 - 13. Der Doppelgänger
44:14 - 14. Die Taubenpost
Before his death in 1828, Franz Schubert had completed portions of two projected song cycles -- one on poems by Ludwig Rellstab, and the other on poems of Heinrich Heine. These cycle fragments, representing a total of thirteen songs, were collected after the composer's death by his brother, Ferdinand Schubert, and one of his publishers, Tobias Haslinger, who then added "Die Taubenpost" and published all fourteen as Schwanengesang (Swan Song) in 1829.
It is impossible to know how much thought these men gave to their hodgepodge; it is likely that their motives were entirely commercial (the Heine songs, in particular, showed promise as moneymakers). So one should not examine Schwanengesang in the same light as Schubert's two earlier cycles, Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, both of which were conceived of as wholes by the composer. Schwanengesang lacks the literal sense of journey that accompanies the other cycles, and so also their sense of interpretive architecture; however, true "cycle" or not (a debatable point), it possesses enormous musical variety and emotional scope. It crystallizes the musical and literary currents present in Schubert's thinking at the time of his death, and hints at the creative paths he might have followed had he enjoyed the luxury of more time. At the very least, Schwanengesang showcases Schubert's flexible response to poetry and revisits the archetypes of song and sentiment that populate his output overall. Here we have "riding" songs and "wandering" songs, the friendly brook and the crashing wave, virtuosity and musical economy, all juxtaposed -- as appropriate a swan song as could be for one of the greatest song composers of all time.
The seven Rellstab poems that form the first half of Schwanengesang were originally given to Beethoven for consideration, but Beethoven died before he had a chance to set them. The composer's secretary then passed them on to Schubert. Schubert's settings magnify the robust and conventional style of Rellstab's language; they exploit the composer's fondness for unusual modulation and active piano figurations, but they rarely challenge one's sense of the normal or expected. The joy of the Rellstab songs lies in their journey from one mood to the next in the seamless way that is so typical of Schubert.
Schubert became acquainted with Heine's Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs) through one of the reading groups that gradually displaced the famous "Schubertiades" (informal concerts of his works) in the last years of the composer's life. The six settings from this collection that are included in Schwanengesang clearly demonstrate the degree to which Schubert rethought musical structure in response to poetry. A conventional setting like "Das Fischermädchen" (The Fisher Girl) -- full of tongue-in-cheek elegance -- finds itself juxtaposed with "Die Stadt" (The City), in which the composer actually departs from functional tonality. These songs are entirely about mood and irony, and they leave traditional concepts of beauty and lyricism behind. In "Der Doppelgänger," Schubert weaves together the archaic technique of ostinato with vocal declamation that comes strikingly close to Sprechgesang ("speech-song") -- a device that was fully a half century ahead of its time.
"Die Taubenpost" (The Carrier Pigeon) is a charming setting of Johann Gabriel Seidl, who provided texts for a number of Schubert's songs ("Der Wanderer an den Mond" is a well-known example). If anything, "Die Taubenpost" is an example of the way Schubert could transform a poem of modest quality into an especially memorable song. Not relating to the rest of Schwanengesang in any way, it was perhaps included to mitigate the very dark sentiment of the Heine settings and end the cycle on an upbeat note.
- Composer: Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 -- 19 November 1828)
- Performers: Hans Hotter (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
- Year of recording: 1954
Schwanengesang (Swan Song), song cycle for voice & piano, D. 957, written in 1828.
00:00 - 01. Liebesbotschaft
03:04 - 02. Kriegers Ahnung
07:30 - 03. Frühlingssehnsucht
11:22 - 04. Ständchen
14:54 - 05. Aufenthalt
17:38 - 06. In der Ferne
22:48 - 07. Abschied
26:59 - 08. Der Atlas
28:55 - 09. Ihr Bild
31:32 - 10. Das Fischermädchen
33:37 - 11. Die Stadt
36:31 - 12. Am Meer
40:28 - 13. Der Doppelgänger
44:14 - 14. Die Taubenpost
Before his death in 1828, Franz Schubert had completed portions of two projected song cycles -- one on poems by Ludwig Rellstab, and the other on poems of Heinrich Heine. These cycle fragments, representing a total of thirteen songs, were collected after the composer's death by his brother, Ferdinand Schubert, and one of his publishers, Tobias Haslinger, who then added "Die Taubenpost" and published all fourteen as Schwanengesang (Swan Song) in 1829.
It is impossible to know how much thought these men gave to their hodgepodge; it is likely that their motives were entirely commercial (the Heine songs, in particular, showed promise as moneymakers). So one should not examine Schwanengesang in the same light as Schubert's two earlier cycles, Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, both of which were conceived of as wholes by the composer. Schwanengesang lacks the literal sense of journey that accompanies the other cycles, and so also their sense of interpretive architecture; however, true "cycle" or not (a debatable point), it possesses enormous musical variety and emotional scope. It crystallizes the musical and literary currents present in Schubert's thinking at the time of his death, and hints at the creative paths he might have followed had he enjoyed the luxury of more time. At the very least, Schwanengesang showcases Schubert's flexible response to poetry and revisits the archetypes of song and sentiment that populate his output overall. Here we have "riding" songs and "wandering" songs, the friendly brook and the crashing wave, virtuosity and musical economy, all juxtaposed -- as appropriate a swan song as could be for one of the greatest song composers of all time.
The seven Rellstab poems that form the first half of Schwanengesang were originally given to Beethoven for consideration, but Beethoven died before he had a chance to set them. The composer's secretary then passed them on to Schubert. Schubert's settings magnify the robust and conventional style of Rellstab's language; they exploit the composer's fondness for unusual modulation and active piano figurations, but they rarely challenge one's sense of the normal or expected. The joy of the Rellstab songs lies in their journey from one mood to the next in the seamless way that is so typical of Schubert.
Schubert became acquainted with Heine's Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs) through one of the reading groups that gradually displaced the famous "Schubertiades" (informal concerts of his works) in the last years of the composer's life. The six settings from this collection that are included in Schwanengesang clearly demonstrate the degree to which Schubert rethought musical structure in response to poetry. A conventional setting like "Das Fischermädchen" (The Fisher Girl) -- full of tongue-in-cheek elegance -- finds itself juxtaposed with "Die Stadt" (The City), in which the composer actually departs from functional tonality. These songs are entirely about mood and irony, and they leave traditional concepts of beauty and lyricism behind. In "Der Doppelgänger," Schubert weaves together the archaic technique of ostinato with vocal declamation that comes strikingly close to Sprechgesang ("speech-song") -- a device that was fully a half century ahead of its time.
"Die Taubenpost" (The Carrier Pigeon) is a charming setting of Johann Gabriel Seidl, who provided texts for a number of Schubert's songs ("Der Wanderer an den Mond" is a well-known example). If anything, "Die Taubenpost" is an example of the way Schubert could transform a poem of modest quality into an especially memorable song. Not relating to the rest of Schwanengesang in any way, it was perhaps included to mitigate the very dark sentiment of the Heine settings and end the cycle on an upbeat note.
