Schubert's Dramatic Lieder

This book explores the way in which Schubert revolutionised the Lied, transforming folk song into art song through the mixture of dramatic and lyrical vocal genres.

Marjorie Wing Hirsch (Author)

9780521107198, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2009

192 pages, 48 music examples
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.3 kg

This book explores the way in which Schubert revolutionised the Lied, transforming folk song into art song through the mixture of dramatic and lyrical vocal genres. By introducing dramatic poetry and musical traits within solo song settings, he turned the Lied into a highly expressive musical medium capable of conveying the complexities and nuances of the new Romantic poetry. In so doing, he created an art form which attracted nearly every subsequent composer of the period. Schubert's numerous dramatic songs have baffled critics from his day to our own. Their unusual stylistic characteristics - through composed form, progressive tonal structures, declamatory vocal lines, illustrative accompaniments - fly in the face of traditional conceptions of the Lied. Dr Hirsch's discussion and analysis of selected dramatic Lieder illuminate Schubert's compositional innovation.

Introduction
Part I: Dramatic Scenes
Part II. Dramatic Ballads
Part III. Mixed-genre Lieder
Conclusion
Appendix: English translations of song texts
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]