Classical Post: "Gretchen am Spinnrade" by Schubert

Happy Saturday, everyone! I've been waiting a month or so to do a post on some good old fashioned German lieder. This is probably one of my 50 top favorite Schubert lieders, and the first he ever wrote.

Franz Schubert, photo courtesy of BoisePhilharmonic.org

Before I say anything else, listen to this piece. Put your headphones on. Ignore your phone, close your Facebook tab, and just let this song wash over you.

You should know that I spent a good 20 minutes trying to decide which fabulous soprano's recording to use. They are all so flawless and beautiful, but I finally chose this recording by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, because you can't beat perfection.

Here's a translation of the lyrics, to give you an idea o context:

My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Where I do not have him,
That is the grave,
The whole world
Is bitter to me.
My poor head
Is crazy to me,
My poor mind
Is torn apart.
For him only, I look
Out the window
Only for him do I go
Out of the house.
His tall walk,
His noble figure,
His mouth's smile,
His eyes' power,
And his mouth's
Magic flow,
His handclasp,
and ah! his kiss!
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
My bosom urges itself
toward him.
Ah, might I grasp
And hold him!
And kiss him,
As I would wish,
At his kisses
I should die!

I'll be the first person to tell you that the Wikipedia article for this song is...less than fantastic. It describes the piano part as "word painting," but you can't have word painting without, well...words. Listen to that accompaniment though. It might not be technically word painting, but it certainly makes you think of the spinning wheel that Gretchen is sitting at while she laments her love life (or lack thereof). The accompaniment is so simple, just little sclalar passages and the only time it wavers is at 2:02, when Gretchen sings "..und ach, sein kuss," translation of "and never more!" Gretchen has lost herself in thought, and she forgot to keep pedaling her spinning wheel. Now listen to what happens next - the piano part "restarts" so to speak, with disconnected fragments of the original accompaniment pattern, until Gretchen get the spinning wheel going again at 2:20.

So, a bit about Schubert. He wrote this when he was 14. FOURTEEN. I was probably still watching Pokemon and whining at my parents about wanting a cell phone at that age, and Franz Schubert was writing this glorious piece of work. Schubert was born in 1797 and only lived for 32 years. That places him solidly in the classical era of music composition. Schubert may have died tragically young from either typhoid fever or syphilis, sources can't agree, but he wrote a massive amount of music. He wrote over 600 lieder alone, not to mention 9 symphonies, liturgical music, chamber music, and more. Legend has it that he slept with his glasses on, so that when he awoke he could start writing immediately. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the time the first thing I do in the morning is check my email and then stumble into the kitchen for some caffeine, and this man was writing music upon first consciousness.

So what makes this piece so moving, so simply touching? We've talked about texture before, but with only a soprano and a piano accompaniment, there isn't much unaccounted for. The running passages in the piano certainly provide texture, but its primary purpose is to drive the tempo forward. Those long, lovely vocal lines that gently rest on this piano part are inclined to drag the tempo if there's nothing pushing it.  Let me take this sentence to give a huge shoutout to Schubert's line leading in this piece. As a vocalist it can be difficult to grab your pitch and get in on time, but this piano part just leads you straight to it. The lieder tradition is for simple but lovely songs to be sung in parlors, and that is exactly what was accomplished here.

So what makes those melodies so lovely? They aren't terribly complicated or catchy. If you listen to this piece again, you'll notice that while Schubert does play around with keys a bit with some borrowed chords here and there, he doesn't add a lot of notes that "don't belong," so to speak. The vocal line does employ some accidentals (the b and # signs next to the notes), but only as a passing tone (from one chord tone to another) or a neighbor tone (chord tone to the accidental and returning). It provides that sentimental, heart rending crunch without distracting your ear from the established patterns.

Listen to this piece again. Remember it. Let it soak into your soul. And the next time you get dumped, press play, because this is one of the original break-up songs.