Schubert's vocal creativity is briefly the most important thing. Schubert. Vocal creativity (songs). Mendelssohn - "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Overture

Two song cycles written by the composer in the last years of his life (“The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” in 1823, “Winter Retreat” in 1827) constitute one of the culminations of his work. Both were created based on the words of the German romantic poet W. Müller

“The Beautiful Miller's Wife” - a cycle of songs based on poems by W. Müller.

The first romantic vocal cycle. This is a kind of novel in verse, each song is independent, but included in the overall development of the plot. A story about the life, love and suffering of a young miller. During his wanderings around the world, he is hired by a miller, where he falls in love with the owner's daughter. His love does not find a response in the soul of the miller. She prefers the brave hunter. In anguish and grief, the young miller wants to throw himself into the stream and find peace at its bottom.

“The Beautiful Miller's Wife” is framed by two songs - “On the Way” and “Lullaby of the Stream”, which are a kind of introduction and conclusion. The first reveals the structure of thoughts and feelings of a young miller who is just entering the path of life, the last - the mood with which he ends his life's path. Between the extreme points of the cycle is the story of the young man himself about his wanderings, about his love for the daughter of the miller. The cycle seems to fall into two phases: the first of ten songs (before “Pause”, No. 12) are days of bright hopes; in the second there are already different motives: doubt, jealousy, sadness. A consistent change of mood, determined by the movement from joy to grief, from transparent light colors to gradual darkening, forms an internal line of development.

There is a side, but very important line that depicts the life of another “character” - the stream. The young man's faithful friend and companion, the stream is invariably present in the musical narrative. Its murmur - sometimes cheerful, sometimes alarming - reflects the psychological state of the hero himself.

In the development of the plot, the song “Hunter” helps to understand the spiritual turning point that the following songs gradually reveal.

Three songs - “Jealousy and Pride”, “Favorite Color”, “Miller and Stream” - form the dramatic core of the second section. The growing anxiety of the previous songs results in “Jealousy and Pride” in the confusion of all feelings and thoughts.

The song “Favorite Color” is full of a mood of elegiac sadness. For the first time the thought of death is expressed in it; now it runs through the entire further narrative.

“Winter Reise” is, as it were, a continuation of “The Beautiful Miller's Maid,” but the differences in the dramaturgy of the cycle are significant.

In "Z.P." there is no plot development, and the songs are united by the most tragic theme of the cycle, moods.

The more complex nature of poetic images was reflected in the heightened drama of the music, in the emphasis on the internal, psychological side of life. This explains the significant complication of musical language.

Simple song forms become dynamic

The melodious melody is enriched with declamatory and recitative turns, the harmony - with sudden modulations and complex chords. Most songs are written in minor mode

"Winter Reise" consists of 24 songs and is divided into two parts, 12 in each..

The main idea of “Z.P.” is clearly emphasized in the very first song of the cycle, in its first phrase: “I came here as a stranger, I left the land as a stranger.” This song - “Sleep Well” - serves as an introduction, explaining to the listener the circumstances of what is happening.

The hero's drama has already happened, his fate is predetermined from the very beginning. The new idea, naturally, required a different disclosure, a different dramaturgy. In Winterreise there is no emphasis on the plot, the climax,

Instead, there appears to be a continuous descending action, inevitably leading to a tragic outcome in the last song - “The Organ Grinder”

The music of “Winter Retreat” is not one-dimensional: the images conveying various facets of the hero’s suffering are diverse. Their range extends from expressions of extreme mental fatigue (“Organ Grinder,” “Loneliness,” “Raven”) to desperate protest (“Stormy Morning”)

True, the composer emphasizes the illusory, “deceptive” nature of many bright images. They all lie outside of reality

24.Schubert - Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished”)

Written in 1822

The first lyrical symphony, expressed in complete romantic means.

While preserving the basic principles of Beethoven's symphonism - seriousness, drama, depth - Schubert showed in his work new world feelings. An intimate poetic atmosphere and sad thoughtfulness dominate her mood.

The eternal conflict between reality and dream, living in the soul of every romantic, determines the dramatic nature of the music. All clashes unfold in the hero’s inner world.

The lyrical mood of this work, unusual in symphonic music, is associated with images of Schubert's romance. For the first time, romantic vocal lyrics became the “program” of a generalizing symphonic work. Even the most characteristic means of expression of the “Unfinished Symphony” seem to be directly transferred from the sphere of song *.

New lyrical images and the corresponding means of expression did not fit into the scheme of the classicist symphony and led to the transformation of the traditional form. The two-part nature of the “Unfinished Symphony” cannot be considered as a consequence of incompleteness. The relationship of its parts does not at all repeat the patterns of the first two parts of the classicist cycle. It is known that Schubert, having begun to compose the third movement - the minuet - soon abandoned the idea of continuing it. Both parts balance each other as two equal lyrical and psychological paintings.

The unique structure of this symphony showed a tendency to overcome the multi-part nature of the instrumental cycle, which would become characteristic of the romantic symphonism of the 19th century.

The first movement of the symphony begins with a gloomy introduction. This is a small, succinctly presented topic - a generalization of a whole complex of romantic images. Musical means- downward movement of the melody, melodic turns close to speech, question intonation, mysterious, clouded coloring. Containing the main idea of the symphony, the theme of the introduction runs through the entire first movement. In its entirety, this topic serves as an introduction to development and code. Framing the exposition and reprise, it is contrasted with the rest of the thematic material. The development unfolds based on the material of the introduction; The final stage of the first part - the coda - is built on the intonations of the opening theme. In the introduction, this theme sounds like a lyrical and philosophical reflection, in the development it rises to tragic pathos, and in the coda it acquires a mournful character. The theme of the introduction is contrasted by two themes of the exposition: thoughtfully elegiac in the main part, elegant with all the simplicity of song and dance in the secondary part:

The presentation of the main part immediately attracts attention with its characteristic song techniques. A theme is made up of two main components: melody and accompaniment. The main part begins with a small orchestral introduction, which then goes on to accompany the melody of the main part. In terms of musical and poetic image and mood, the theme of the main part is close to works such as a nocturne or elegy. In the side part, Schubert turns to a more active sphere of images associated with dance genres. The moving syncopated rhythm of the accompaniment, the folk-song turns of the melody, the simplicity of the harmonic composition, and the light tones of a major key bring joyful revival. Despite the dramatic breakdown within the side game, the enlightened flavor spreads further and is consolidated in the final game. Both song lyrical themes are given in comparison, and not in collision.

The second part of the symphony is a world of other images. Searching for other, brighter sides of life. It’s as if a hero who has experienced a spiritual tragedy is looking for oblivion

It freely combines the closed structure of the first and second themes with some typical features of the sonata form (The Andante form is closest to the sonata without development. The main and side parts are presented in detail, each has a three-part structure; the peculiarity of the side part is its predominantly variational development.) , fluidity of musical fabric - with a predominance of variations development techniques.

In the second part of the symphony, there is a noticeable tendency towards the creation of new romantic forms of instrumental music, synthesizing the features different forms; in their completed form they will be presented in the works of Chopin and Liszt.

In the “Unfinished” Symphony, as in other works, Schubert placed the life of the feelings of the common man at the center; a high degree of artistic generalization made his work an expression of the spirit of the era.

25.Mendelssohn – “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Overture

In total, Mendelssohn owns 10 overtures.

Overture "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - a concert overture (1826) written for Shakespeare's comedy of the same name.

Mendelssohn was interested in a light fairy tale plot. According to Mendelssohn himself, he outlined in the overture all the images that especially attracted him to Shakespeare's play.

Mendelssohn did not set himself the task of reflecting in music the entire course of events, the combination of various storylines. Regardless of the literary source, musical ideas themselves are quite bright and colorful, and this allows Mendelssohn, in the process of organizing the material, to compare, combine, and develop musical images based on their specific features.

Overture becomes an independent genre

The overture reveals the fabulous life of an enchanted forest on a moonlit summer night. The poetry of the night landscape with its atmosphere of miracles forms the musical and poetic background of the overture, enveloping it in a special fantasy flavor.

The music for the comedy consists of 11 parts, with a total duration of approximately 40 minutes:

1. "Overture"

2. "Scherzo"

3. "March of the Elves"

4. "Chorus of Elves"

5. "Intermezzo"

7. "Wedding March"

8. "Funeral March"

9. "Bergamas dance"

10. "Intermezzo"

11. "Final"

The main theme of the overture begins directly from the introduction. Light and airy (violins on solid staccato), woven from airy passages, it whirls rapidly, then suddenly pauses with the unexpected appearance of the introduction chords. The introduction and the main theme form a general fantastic plan. Other themes of the exposition are of a very real nature. The bright and joyful coloring of the exposition is supported by secondary thematic material- fanfares that accompany the festive second theme, or, otherwise instrumental, sound like bells in a side part.

Despite the apparent contrast of themes - the contrast between the fantastic and the real - there is no internal opposition between the two plans in the overture. All themes organically “grow” into one another, creating an unbreakable chain of musical images. Ultimately, the entire theme of the overture “takes its tone” from the main theme.

The A Midsummer Night's Dream overture, written in his youth, to which Mendelssohn returned again at the zenith of his mastery, anticipated and at the same time generalized best sides his creativity.

PLOT. In the play “A Midsummer Night's Dream” there are three intersecting storylines connected by the upcoming wedding of the Duke of Athens Theseus and the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta.

Two young men, Lysander and Demetrius, seek the hand of one of the most beautiful girls Athens, Hermia. Hermia loves Lysander, but her father forbids her to marry him, and then the lovers decide to flee from Athens to get married where they cannot be found. The enraged Demetrius rushes after them, and Elena, who loves him, rushes after him. In the twilight of the forest and the labyrinth of their love relationships, wonderful metamorphoses occur with them. Due to the fault of the elf Puck, who confuses people, a magic potion forces them to chaotically change objects of love.

At the same time, the king of fairies and elves Oberon and his wife Titania, who are in a quarrel, fly to the same forest near Athens to attend the marriage ceremony of Theseus and Hippolyta. The reason for their quarrel is Titania's page boy, whom Oberon wants to take as his assistant.

And at the same time, a group of Athenian artisans prepares a play about the unhappy love of Thisbe and Pyramus for the wedding celebration and goes to the forest to rehearse.

26.Mendelssohn – “Songs without words”

“Songs without words” is a type of instrumental miniature, the same as an impromptu or a musical moment.

In Mendelssohn's short piano pieces, the tendency of the romantics was clearly evident - to “vocalize” instrumental music, to give it song expressiveness. “Songs Without Words” fully corresponds to its name and purpose. In total, the collection includes 48 songs (8 notebooks of 6 songs each). Each song is based on one musical image, its emotional state is concentrated in the melody (usually the upper voice), the remaining (accompanying) voices form the background. Some program miniatures: “Hunting Song”, “Spring Song”, “Folk Song”, “Song of the Venetian Gondolier”, “Funeral March”, “Song at the Spinning Wheel” and others. But most songs don't have titles. They contain 2 types lyrical images: bright, elegiac-sad, thoughtful or excited, impetuous.

The first ones (Nos. 4,9,16) are characterized by a chord structure. The texture is close to the chordal polyphony of choral songs. Calm movement, leisurely development of the melody. The nature of the lyrical narrative. The line of the singing voice is separated from the accompaniment, the light coloring of the major scale predominates.

In moving, fast plays, a state of lyrical emotion prevails. They are more dynamic, the song beginning gives way to the tendency towards purely instrumental specificity. Images of everyday art also fill this group of plays—hence the intimacy, intimacy, and modest pianism.

Play No. 10 B-moll is impetuous, excited and passionate. The fractional, excitedly pulsating rhythmic figure of the first bars of the introduction gives the tone of the piece and unites it with the continuity of its movement. The impetuous, passionate melody, now rushing upward, now descending towards the original sounds, seems to rotate in a vicious circle. Intensive thematic development dynamizes the form and introduces the features of a sonata into the instrumental miniature. Although in this play there are no deep contrasts, oppositions and, especially, acute conflicts inherent in the dramatic form of the sonata, emotional excitement and its effect affected the relatively active thematic development and the complexity of the form.

The work of the great romantic composer Franz Schubert covers a variety of genres, from piano miniatures to symphonic works. The composer raised vocal creativity to a new level.

Vocal art is considered one of Franz Schubert’s favorite areas of creativity. The artist turns to a genre that combines the life and everyday life of a “little man,” his inner world and state of mind. The composer finds a new lyrical-dramatic style that will meet the artistic and aesthetic requirements of the people of his time. The composer elevated the everyday Austro-German song to a new level of great art, giving this particular genre extraordinary artistic significance. Schubert made German lied equal to other genres of vocal art.

The composer's romances are closely connected with German song, which has been popular in a democratic society since the 17th century. Schubert introduced new properties into vocal creativity that completely changed the song of the past. .

Exquisitely developed images, new features of romantic lyrics - all this is closely connected with German culture of the mid-18th - early 19th centuries. Schubert's artistic and aesthetic taste was based on the standards of literary masterpieces. In the musician’s youth, the poetic foundations of Hölti and Klopstock were alive. After some time, the artist considered Goethe and Schiller to be his senior comrades. Their creative process had a tremendous influence on Schubert. He wrote more than fifty songs based on texts by Schiller and more than seventy songs based on texts by Goethe. During the composer's lifetime, the romantic literary school made itself known. Later, the artist became interested in translations of works by Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Walter Scott, which were very popular in Germany and Austria at that time. F. Schubert ended his career as a song composer with texts by Heine, Relstab, and Schlegel.

The hidden and poetic world, the appearance of nature and everyday life, ballads are the common content of the composer’s texts. He was absolutely not attracted to “rational”, moralizing themes that were typical of the songwriting of the past generation. He rejected texts that bore traces of the “gallant Gallicisms” popular in German and Austrian poetry of the mid-18th century. Deliberate simplicity also did not find a response in the composer’s soul. It is interesting that among the poets of the past, the musician felt a special affection for Klopstock and Hölti. The first proclaimed the emergence of sensitivity in German literature, the second created poems and ballads that are similar in style to folk art.

One of Schubert’s favorite themes of songs is the classic “lyrical confession” for romantics with a full variety of emotional and psychological shades. Like poets who were much closer to him in terms of atmosphere, the artist was very much attracted to love lyrics, where the inner world of the lyrical hero can be fully revealed. Here is the innocent simplicity of the first love's longing (the song "Margarita at the Spinning Wheel" to the words of Goethe), and the dreams of a happy lover ("Serenade" to the words of Relshtab), and elegant humor ("Swiss song" to the words of Goethe), and drama (songs to the words Heine).

The theme of loneliness, which became widespread among romantic poets, was incredibly close to the composer, which was reflected in his vocal lyrics (“Winter Road” to the poems of Müller, “In a Foreign Land” to the poems of Relshtab and others).

“I came here as a stranger.

He left the region as a stranger -...” With these lines, Schubert begins his famous cycle based on the words of Müller “Winterreise”, where the tragedy of inner loneliness is embodied.

"Who wants to be lonely?

There will be only one left;

Everyone wants to live, everyone wants to love,

Why do they need the unfortunate? -” The composer declares in “The Harpist’s Song” to the words of Goethe.

Exaltation of laudatory odes to art (“To Music”, “To the Lute”, “To my Clavier”), folk scenes (Field Rose” to the words of Goethe, “A Girl’s Complaint” to the words of Schiller, “Morning Serenade” to the poems of Shakespeare) , worldview problems (“The Boundaries of Humanity”, “To the Coachman Kronos”) - Schubert reveals all these motives in poetic sound refraction.

Understanding the impartiality of the world and nature is inseparable from the feelings of the romantic poets. Dewdrops on flowers are compared to tears of love (“Praise to Tears” to the words of Schlegel), a stream becomes a link between lovers (“Ambassador of Love” to the words of Relshtab), a shining trout in the sun that fell for the fisherman’s bait has become a symbol of the unreliability of happiness (“Trout "Schubert), the night silence of nature - with a dream of peace ("Night Song of the Wanderer" to the words of Goethe).

Franz Schubert is looking for new means of expression to fully convey vivid images modern poetry. The German lied, in the composer's interpretation, is transformed into a multifaceted genre, namely, a song-instrumental one. For the musician, the piano part acquired the significance of an emotional and psychological background to the vocal part. In this presentation, Schubert attaches great importance to the accompaniment, equivalent to orchestral parts in the vocal and dramatic works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.

The composer’s vocal creativity is at the same time both psychological canvases and tragic scenes. They are based on the emotional experiences of the lyrical hero. The artist embodies the unification of lyrics and external pictures of the world through the fusion of vocal and instrumental parts.

The initial introduction bars of the accompaniment will include listeners in the emotional and psychological environment of the composition. Usually in the piano part on the final bars the final chords are given in the image of the entire romance. The composer uses the method of simple acting in an instrumental line, except if it was necessary to emphasize a certain image (For example, in “Field Rose”).

For the sake of each of his vocal works, the artist seeks his own individual topic, where in every stroke the artistic basis and lyrical-epic state of mind emerges. If the work is not of a ballad type, then the piano part is based on a constant cyclic motif. This method is inherent in the dance-rhythmic foundation, which is characteristic of folk music in most European countries. He gives the composer's songs enormous emotional and psychological naturalness. The composer fills the homogeneous rhythmic pulsation with sharp and bright intonations.

For example, in “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel” to the words of Goethe, after two introductory bars the composer conveys a state of sadness against the backdrop of a whirring spinning wheel. The song practically becomes a scene from an opera. In the ballad “The Forest King”, in the first bars of the piano part, where the sound of hooves is imitated, the composer conveys the emotions of fear, excitement and tension. In “Serenade” to the words of Relshtab, Schubert conveys heartfelt emotions and the plucking of the strings of a guitar or lute.

The musician formed in his vocal creativity the latest pianistic flavor. It positions the piano as an instrument with enormous color and expressive power. Vocal, recitative, sound-visual methods give Schubert's accompaniment something new. Actually, the final coloristic features of Schubert's songs are connected to the instrumental part.

Franz Schubert was the first to realize new literary images in vocal creativity, finding suitable musical means of expression. Vocal text in music was firmly connected with the rethinking of musical language. Thus, the genre of German lieda appeared, which embodied the highest and most distinctive in the vocal art of the “Romantic Age”.

Bibliography:

V.D. Konen. Etudes about foreign music: M.: Muzyka, 1974. – 482 p.

Created throughout my life. His legacy includes more than six hundred solo songs. Of course, they are all far from equal. More than once, Schubert, infinitely delicate, wrote music to texts that little inspired him, which belonged to fellow artists or were recommended by friends and simply acquaintances. This does not mean that he was careless in the selection of poetic texts. Schubert was unusually sensitive to beauty in all its manifestations, be it nature or art; There is a lot of evidence from contemporaries about how the images of real high poetry ignited his creative spirit.

In poetic texts, Schubert looked for echoes of thoughts and feelings that overwhelmed him. He especially paid attention to the musicality of the verse. The poet Grillparzer said that the poems of Schubert’s friend Mayrhofer “always resemble texts to music,” and Wilhelm Müller, on whose words Schubert’s song cycles were written, himself intended his poems to be sung.

Schubert entered the history of vocal lyricism with Goethe's songs and completed his short life songs to words by Heine. The most perfect thing that Schubert created in his early adulthood was inspired by the poetry of Goethe. According to Spaun, addressed to the poet, he (Schubert. - V. G.) owes not only the appearance of most of his works, but to a large extent also to the fact that he became a singer of German songs."

The leading place in Schubert's songs belongs to the vocal melody. It reflected a new romantic attitude towards the synthesis of poetry and music, in which they seemed to change roles: the word “sings”, and the melody “speaks”. Schubert, subtly combining chant and song intonations with declamatory and speech intonations (echoes of operatic influences), creates a new kind of expressive vocal melody, which becomes dominant in the music of the 19th century. It receives further development in the vocal lyrics of Schumann, then Brahms, and at the same time captures the sphere of instrumental music, transforming anew in the work of Chopin. Schubert in his vocal works does not strive to follow every word, does not seek complete coincidence, adequacy of word and sound. Nevertheless, his melodies are able to respond to different turns of the text, highlighting its nuances.

Despite the “privileges” given to the vocal part, the role of the accompaniment is extremely significant. Schubert interprets the piano part as a powerful factor in artistic characteristics, as an element that has its own “secret” of expressiveness, without which the existence of the artistic whole is impossible.

(Schubert was more than once reproached for the supposedly insurmountable difficulties of accompaniment. On modern level pianism, such reproaches seem unfounded, although the accompaniment of “The Forest King” even now requires virtuoso mastery of piano technique. Schubert took into account, first of all, the requirements put forward by a specific artistic task, although sometimes he did not exclude the possibility of a lighter option. The modest performing capabilities of music lovers, who were then mainly addressed by the composer of the song-romance genre, were obliged to do a lot. Often, publishers, in order to increase distribution and accessibility, commissioned piano accompaniment to be translated for guitar. And Schubert himself wrote some vocal works accompanied by this instrument, which is widely used among amateurs.)

Schubert always had a subtle sense of form generated by character, the movement of a musical and poetic image. He often uses the song verse form, but in each specific case he often introduces changes, sometimes significant, sometimes subtle, which makes the closed, “standing” form elastic and mobile. Along with variously implemented, often varied verses, Schubert also has songs-monologues, songs-scenes, where the integrity of the form is achieved through dramatic development. But even in complexly developed forms, symmetry, plasticity, and completeness are typical for Schubert.

The new principles of vocal melody, piano part, song genres and forms discovered by Schubert formed the basis further development, stimulated the entire further evolution of vocal lyrics.

The first collection of sixteen songs, which Schubert’s friends intended to send to the poet in 1816, already contained such perfect works as “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”, “Field Rose”, “The Forest King”, “The Shepherd’s Complaint”. Many beautiful songs based on Goethe's poems were not included in this first notebook. The artlessness of folk song and the exquisite simplicity, plasticity and capacity of the artistic images of Goethe's poetry are endlessly enhanced by the beauty of Schubert's music. Nevertheless, each of the songs created by Schubert has its own concept. Musical images inspired by Goethe's poetry already live their own independent life, regardless of their original source.

Songs based on Goethe's poems show how sensitively Schubert penetrated into the innermost meaning of poetic images, how varied and individual his musical techniques and means of embodiment were. Already in early work Along with a ballad, a dramatic song or just a verse song, there are works that represent a new type of vocal lyricism. This refers to the harpist’s songs based on Goethe’s poems from “Wilhelm Meister” - “Who did not eat bread with tears”, “Who wants to be lonely”. The mournful wisdom put into the mouth of a wandering musician imbued the images of Schubert's songs with the significance of philosophical lyrics. Schubert appears here as a harbinger of a new musical genre- elegies.

A special place in Schubert's vocal lyrics belongs to song cycles.

His predecessor in this new type of vocal music was Beethoven. In 1816, Beethoven's songs “To a Distant Beloved” appeared. The desire to show different moments of one person’s emotional experiences suggested the form of a song cycle, in which several completed songs are united by a common concept.

The development and approval of cyclic forms is a symptomatic phenomenon for romantic art with its craving for self-expression and autobiography. In the literature and poetry of the late 18th century and especially the first third of the 19th century, lyrical stories that have the character of diary entries and large poetic cycles appear. In romantic music, song cycles arise; their heyday is associated with the work of Schubert and Schumann.

The poetic cycles of Wilhelm Müller for Schubert and Heinrich Heine for Schumann were both a creative stimulus and a poetic basis. The very principles of the formation of the romantic cycle are borrowed from poetry - the presence and development storyline. The stages of the plot unfolding are revealed in successively changing songs that convey the thoughts of one character. Usually narrating in the first person, the author introduces a significant element of autobiography into such works. Just as in literature, cycles take on the character of a confession, a diary, a “novel in songs.”

Two cycles of Schubert's songs - “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” and “Winter Reise” - new page in the history of vocal genres.

There is a direct and close connection between them. The poetic text belongs to one poet - Wilhelm Müller. In both cases, one person “acts” - a wanderer, a wanderer; he is looking for happiness and love in life, but constant misunderstanding and human disunity doom him to grief and loneliness. In “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” the hero of the work is a young man who cheerfully and joyfully enters life. In “Winter Retreat” he is already a broken, disappointed person, for whom everything is in the past. In both cycles, human life and experiences are closely intertwined with the life of nature. The first cycle unfolds against the backdrop of spring nature, the second - against a harsh winter landscape. Youth with its hopes and illusions is identified with the blooming spring, spiritual emptiness, the cold of loneliness - with winter nature bound by snow.

The last collection of Schubert's songs was compiled and published by the composer's friends after his death. Believing that the songs found in Schubert's legacy were written by him shortly before his death, friends called this collection "Swan Song". It included seven songs with lyrics by Relshtab, of which “Evening Serenade” and “Shelter” gained the widest popularity; six songs to the words of Heine: “Atlas”, “Her Portrait”, “Fisherman”, “City”, “By the Sea”, “Double” and one song to the words of Seidl - “Pigeon Mail”.

Songs to the words of Heinrich Heine are the pinnacle of the evolution of Schubert's vocal lyrics and in many ways the starting point for the subsequent development of the song-romance genre.

The themes and musical images, compositional principles, means of expression, known from the best songs of “Winter Retreat”, crystallize in songs based on Heine’s words. These are already freely constructed dramatic vocal miniatures, the end-to-end development of which is focused on an in-depth transmission of the psychological state.

Each of Hein's six songs is an incomparable work of art, vividly individual and interesting in many details. But “The Double” - one of Schubert’s last vocal compositions - summarizes his search for new vocal genres.

Two song cycles written by the composer in the last years of his life ( "Beautiful miller's wife" in 1823 , Winter Way" – in 1827), constitute one of the culminations of his work. Both are based on the words of the German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller.

A wonderful miller's wife. The first songs are youthfully joyful and carefree, full of spring hopes and unspent strength. No. 1, “On the Road”(“The miller leads his life in motion”) is one of Schubert’s most famous songs, a real hymn to wanderings. The same unclouded joy and anticipation of adventure are embodied in No. 2, “Where to?”. Other shades of bright feelings are captured in No. 7, "Impatience": a rapid, almost breathless melody with large leaps depicts joyful confidence in eternal love. IN No. 14, "Hunter", a turning point occurs: in the rhythm of the race, melodic turns reminiscent of the sounds of hunting horns, anxiety lurks. Full of despair No. 15, “Jealousy and Pride”; the storm of feelings and mental turmoil of the hero are reflected in the equally stormy murmur of the stream. The image of the stream reappears in No. 19, “The Miller and the Stream”. This is a dialogue scene where the hero’s sad minor melody is contrasted with its major version - the consolation of the stream; at the end, in the confrontation between major and minor, the major is affirmed, anticipating the final conclusion of the cycle - No. 20, “Lullaby of the Brook”. It forms an arch with No. 1: if there the hero, full of joyful hopes, set off on a journey following the stream, now, having gone through a sorrowful path, he finds peace at the bottom of the stream. An endlessly repeated short chant creates a mood of detachment, dissolution in nature, eternal oblivion of all sorrows.

Winter path. Created in 1827, that is, 4 years after “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife,” Schubert’s second song cycle became one of the pinnacles of world vocal lyricism. The fact that Winterreise was completed just a year before the composer's death allows us to consider it as the result of Schubert's work in the song genres (although his work in the field of song continued in Last year life).

The main idea of “Winter Retreat” is clearly emphasized in the very first song of the cycle, even in its first phrase: “I came here as a stranger, I left the land as a stranger.” This song - No. 1, “Sleep Well”– performs the function of an introduction, explaining to the listener the circumstances of what is happening. The hero's drama has already happened, his fate is predetermined from the very beginning. He no longer sees his unfaithful lover and turns to her only in thoughts or memories. The composer's attention is focused on the characterization of the gradually increasing psychological conflict, which, unlike “The Beautiful Miller's Wife,” exists from the very beginning.

The new plan, naturally, required a different disclosure, a different dramaturgy. In Winterreise there is no emphasis on the plot, the climax, or the turning points that separate the “ascending” action from the “descending” one, as was the case in the first cycle. Instead, there appears to be a continuous descending action, inevitably leading to a tragic outcome in the last song - “The Organ Grinder”. The conclusion that Schubert comes to (following the poet) is devoid of clarity. That is why songs of a mournful nature predominate. It is known that the composer himself called this cycle "terrible songs".

Since the main dramatic conflict of the cycle is the opposition between bleak reality and bright dreams, many songs are painted in warm colors (for example, “Linden Tree,” “Memory,” “Spring Dream”). True, the composer emphasizes the illusory, “deceptive” nature of many bright images. All of them lie outside of reality, they are just dreams, daydreams (that is, a generalized personification of the romantic ideal). It is no coincidence that such images, as a rule, appear in conditions of transparent, fragile texture, quiet dynamics, and often reveal similarities with the lullaby genre.

The composer juxtaposes deeply different images with extreme poignancy. The most striking example is "Spring Dream". The song begins with a presentation of the image of spring blossoming of nature and love happiness. Waltz-like movement in the high register, A-dur, transparent texture, quiet sonority - all this gives the music a very light, dreamy and, at the same time, ghostly character. The mordents in the piano part are like bird voices. Suddenly the development of this image is interrupted, giving way to a new one, filled with deep mental pain and despair. It conveys the hero's sudden awakening and his return to reality. The major is contrasted with the minor, the unhurried development with an accelerated tempo, the smooth songfulness with short recitative cues, the transparent arpeggio with sharp, dry, “knocking” chords. Dramatic tension builds in ascending sequences until the climax ff.

"Winter Reise" is, as it were, a continuation of "The Beautiful Miller's Maid." Common ones are:

the theme of loneliness, the unrealistic hopes of the common man for happiness;
The motif of wandering associated with this theme is characteristic of romantic art. In both cycles, the image of a lonely wandering dreamer emerges;
The characters have a lot in common - timidity, shyness, slight emotional vulnerability. Both are “monogamous”, so the collapse of love is perceived as the collapse of life;
both cycles are monologue-like in nature. All songs are statements one hero;
In both cycles, images of nature are revealed in many ways.

The first cycle has a clearly defined plot. Although there is no direct display of action, it can be easily judged by the reaction of the main character. Here, the key moments associated with the development of the conflict (exposition, plot, climax, denouement, epilogue) are clearly highlighted. There is no plot action in Winterreise. The love drama has played out before first song. Psychological conflict does not occur in the process of development, and exists from the beginning. The closer to the end of the cycle, the clearer the inevitability of a tragic outcome;
The cycle of "The Beautiful Miller's Wife" is clearly divided into two contrasting halves. In the more developed first, joyful emotions dominate. The songs included here talk about the awakening of love, about bright hopes. In the second half, mournful, sorrowful moods intensify, dramatic tension appears (starting from the 14th song - “Hunter” - the drama becomes obvious). The miller's short-term happiness comes to an end. However, the grief of “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife” is far from acute tragedy. The epilogue of the cycle consolidates the state of light, peaceful sadness. In Winterreise the drama is sharply intensified and tragic accents appear. Songs of a mournful nature clearly predominate, and the closer the end of the work is, the more hopeless the emotional coloring becomes. Feelings of loneliness and melancholy fill the hero’s entire consciousness, culminating in the very last song and “Organ Grinder”;
different interpretations of images of nature. In Winterreise, nature no longer sympathizes with man, she is indifferent to his suffering. In “The Beautiful Miller's Wife” the life of the stream is inseparable from the life of the young man as a manifestation of the unity of man and nature (a similar interpretation of images of nature is typical for folk poetry). In addition, the stream personifies the dream of a soul mate, which the romantic is so intensely looking for among the indifference that surrounds him;
in “The Beautiful Miller's Maid”, along with the main character, other characters are indirectly outlined. In Winterreise, until the last song, there are no real active characters other than the hero. He is deeply lonely and this is one of the main ideas of the work. The idea of the tragic loneliness of a person in a world hostile to him is the key problem of all romantic art. It was precisely this theme that all the romantics were drawn to, and Schubert was the first artist to so brilliantly reveal this theme in music.
“Winter Way” has a much more complex song structure compared to the songs of the first cycle. Half of the songs in “The Beautiful Miller's Woman” are written in verse form (1,7,8,9,13,14,16,20). Most of them reveal one mood, without internal contrasts. In Winterreise, on the contrary, all the songs except “The Organ Grinder” contain internal contrasts.

Vocal creativity of Robert Schumann. "Poet's Love"

Along with piano music, vocal lyrics belong to Schumann's highest achievements. It perfectly matched his creative nature, since Schumann possessed not only musical, but also poetic talent. He was distinguished by his wide literary horizons, great sensitivity to the poetic word, as well as his own experience as a writer.

Schumann knew well the work of contemporary poets - J. Eichendorff (“Circle of Songs” op. 39), A. Chamisso (“Love and Life of a Woman”), R. Burns, F. Rückert, J. Byron, G. H. Andersen etc. But the composer’s most favorite poet was Heine, on whose poems he created 44 songs, without paying such great attention to any other author (“Circle of Songs” op. 24, “The Poet’s Love”, the song “Lotus” from the cycle “Myrtle” " – a real masterpiece of vocal lyrics). In the rich poetry of Heine, Schumann the lyricist found in abundance the theme that always worried him - love; but not only that.

In his vocal music, Schumann was a Schubertian, continuing the traditions of his musical idol. At the same time, his work is marked by a number of new features compared to Schubert's songs.

The main features of Schumann's vocal music:

greater subjectivity, psychologism, a variety of shades of lyricism (even bitter irony and gloomy skepticism, which Schubert did not have);
clear preference for the latest romantic poetry;
keen attention to the text and creation of maximum conditions for the disclosure of the poetic image. The desire to “convey the thoughts of the poem almost verbatim” , emphasize every psychological detail, every stroke, and not just the general mood;
in musical expression this manifested itself in the strengthening of declamatory elements;
the huge role of the piano part (it is the piano that usually reveals the psychological subtext in the poem).

Schumann's central work associated with Heine's poetry is the cycle "Poet's Love". In Heine, the most typical romantic idea of “lost illusions”, “discord between dreams and reality” is presented in the form of diary entries. The poet described one of the episodes own life, calling it "Lyrical Intermezzo". Of Heine's 65 poems, Schumann chose 16 (including the first and last) - those closest to himself and the most essential for creating a clear dramatic line. In the title of his cycle, the composer directly named the main character of his work - the poet.

Compared to Schubert's cycles, Schumann strengthens the psychological principle, focusing all attention on the “suffering of a wounded heart.” Events, meetings, the background against which the drama takes place are removed. The emphasis placed on spiritual confession causes a complete “disconnection from the outside world” in the music.

Although “The Poet’s Love” is inseparable from images of nature’s spring blossoms, here, unlike “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife,” there is no figurativeness. For example, the “nightingales” that often appear in Heine’s texts are not reflected in the music.

All attention is concentrated on the intonation of the text, which results in the dominance of the declamatory principle.

№№ 1-3 draw short spring love that blossomed in the poet’s soul on a “wonderful May day.” In the poetic texts, images of spring nature predominate, in the music - song lyrical intonations, associated with folk origins in their simplicity and artlessness. There are no sharp contrasts yet: the emotional mood does not go beyond the light lyrics. Sharp major keys dominate.

The opening of the cycle “May song” ( "In the glow of warm May days" ) full of special touchingness and reverence (in the spirit of the play “In the Evening” from “Fantastic Plays”). All shades of the poetic text are reflected in her music - unclear languor, anxious questioning, lyrical impulse. Here, as in most songs, covered with the breath of nature, songfulness and transparent texture, based on melodic-harmonic figuration, dominate. The main mood of the song is concentrated by a piano refrain, which begins with an expressive delay, forming dissonance b.7 (from which the vocal melody is also born). Ambiguity of mood - languor– is emphasized by mode-tonal variability (fis – A – D), an unresolved dominant. The intonation hanging on the introductory tone sounds like a frozen question. The vocal melody with light upbeats and soft endings on weak beats is smooth. Verse form.

№ 2 "Wreath of fragrant flowers" – a miniature lyrical Andante – the first “immersion” into one’s own inner world. Even closer to folk examples, simpler in presentation. The accompaniment contains strict, almost choral chords. In the vocal part (the range of which is limited by the minor sixth) there is a combination of smooth melodiousness and concentrated recitative (repetition of sounds). The form is a miniature two-part reprisal. In none of the sections, including the reprise, does the voice's melody come to a sustained conclusion. This, as well as the unresolved D fis-minor in the middle, makes the second song reminiscent of the touching interrogativeness of “May”.

№ 3 "And roses and lilies" - an expression of genuine ardent delight, a violent outburst of joy, completely unclouded by sadness or irony. The melody of the voice and the accompaniment flow in a continuous, uncontrollable stream, like a single impulse of love confession. The music retains the modesty and artlessness characteristic of the first songs: multiple repetitions of the simplest naive melody, modest harmonization (I – III – S – VII6), ostinato dance rhythm, endless round dance movement, a lightweight piano part without deep bass.

C No. 4 – “I meet the gaze of your eyes” – the main theme of the cycle – “suffering of the heart” – begins its development. The soul is full of love, but the consciousness is already poisoned by the feeling of fragility and fleeting happiness. The music embodies a serious and sublime feeling, in the spirit of elegy. The same chorality, pure diatonic, melodious recitation, severity of chord verticals that convey deep seriousness. The musical climax emphasizes the most important words of the poem; at the same time, Schumann, in purely Heinean style, seems to “swap places” between the music and the text: a harmonic shift and retention appear on the words “I love you,” while the phrase “and bitterly, bitterly I cry” receives a light coloring.

The dialogic presentation used in this lyrical monologue will be developed in No. 13 - “In a dream I cried bitterly.”

№ 5 "In the flowers of snow-white lilies" – the first minor song of the cycle. The main feeling in her is deep tenderness. The music is full of emotional excitement. The charming song melody is surprisingly simple, it is woven from progressive smooth intonations no wider than thirds (the range is limited to a minor sixth). The piano accompaniment is also permeated with song. His upper melodic voice is perceived as a “flower song”, which echoes the hero’s lyrical monologue. Form – period. In the piano postlude, expression sharply intensifies: the melodic lines become chromatic, and the harmony becomes unstable.

№ 6 "Above the Rhine the bright expanse" – stands out for its strict solemnity and the presence of epic, characteristically German motifs. In Heine's poem, majestic images of the mighty Rhine and ancient Cologne appear. In the beautiful face of the Madonna of the Cologne Cathedral, the poet sees the features of his beloved. His soul is directed upward, to the “eternal” sources of spiritual beauty. Schumann's sensitivity to the poetic source is amazing. The song is stylized in an ancient manner, reminiscent of Bach's chorale arrangements. This genre allowed not only to achieve the flavor of antiquity, but also to combine rigor and balance with great passion. The vocal theme is majestically simple and sternly sad. In her unhurried, smooth step there is inflexibility and fortitude. The piano part is very unique, combining dotted rhythm and slow movement of the passacal bass (it is the rhythm that is especially close to Bach).

The significance of this music prepares the next song - a monologue "I'm not angry" (No. 7), which is a turning point in the development of the cycle. His bitterness and sorrow seem to permeate the rest of the songs. The main mood of the poetic text is stubbornly suppressed suffering, despair, which is restrained by an enormous volitional effort. The entire song is permeated by an ostinato accompaniment rhythm - a persistent movement of chords in eighth notes, based on the measured movements of the bass. In the very image of courageous detachment and restrained suffering, as well as in some details of texture and harmony (diatonic sequences), there is a closeness to Bach. It is harmony, first of all, that creates the feeling of tragedy. It is based on a continuous chain of dissonances. The key of C major, very unexpected in a dramatic monologue, here incorporates many minor harmonies (mostly 7-chords) and deviations into minor keys. The flexible, detailed melody of the monologue is characterized by a combination of melodiousness and declamation. Her first phrase, with an ascending fourth, sounds calm and courageous, but immediately the move to the extended bVI, the descending second, reveals melancholy. As we move towards the climax (in the reprise of the 3x-partial form), the melodic movement becomes more and more continuous. It seems that in the waves of ascending sequences (the middle section and especially the reprise) grief is already ready to break through, but again and again, like a spell, the key words of the text are repeated in an emphatically stable and restrained manner.

“I'm Not Angry” divides the cycle into two halves: in the first, the poet is full of hope, in the second, he is convinced that love brings only the bitterness of disappointment. The change is reflected in all musical and expressive elements and, above all, in the type of songs itself. If the first songs developed a single image, then starting from No. 8, an emotional “turn” at the end of the work (in a reprise or more often in a coda), especially noticeable in light songs, becomes characteristic. Thus, in the 8th song (“Oh, if only the flowers had been guessed”), which has the character of a tender complaint, the last words, speaking of the poet’s broken heart, are marked by a sharp, unexpected change in texture. (The same technique is used in the last three songs.) The piano postlude, filled with violent excitement, is perceived as an emotional echo of what was said. By the way, it is in the second half of the cycle that piano introductions and conclusions play a particularly important role. Sometimes they give the song a completely different shade, revealing psychological subtext.

The closer to the end of the cycle, the more deepens the contrast between neighboring songs - 8 and 9, 10 and 11, especially 12 and 13. The darkening of the dark colors is also carried out through the transition from sharp to flat keys.

№ 9 – “The violin enchants with its tune.” Heine's text describes a picture of a wedding ball. One can only guess about the suffering of the poet in love. The main musical content is concentrated in the piano part. This is a waltz with a completely independent melodic line. Its continuously swirling melody conveys both excitement and melancholy.

Very touching and sincere, with transparent accompaniment, song No. 10 - "Can I hear the sounds of songs" – is perceived as an exciting memory of unfulfilled dreams. This is a song about “the song that the beloved sang”, which is described in Heine’s poem. The excitement of the piano postlude is a reaction to the experience, an explosion of melancholy.

Completely different – No. 11 “He loves her passionately.” The poem “in the popular spirit” is written in a mocking, ironic tone. Heine retells a complex love story in a deliberately simplified manner. The last stanza, talking about a “broken heart,” on the contrary, is distinguished by its seriousness. Schumann found a very exact solution. Her musical language is marked by deliberate simplicity: a “dashing” uncomplicated melody, with clear division, modest (T-D) harmony, a slightly awkward rhythm with accents on weak beats, reckless accompaniment in the manner of a dance song. However, the conclusion stanza is emphasized by sudden modulation, slowing down the tempo, sharp harmonies, and a smooth melodic line. And then again - a tempo and dispassionately indifferent piano playing. This creates the main mood of a “funny story” with bitter overtones.

№ 12 – “I meet you in the garden in the morning” – seems to return to the beginning of the cycle, to the freshness of the “morning” mood of the first song. Like her, she is dedicated to contemplating the eternal beauty of nature. The character is light-elegiac, sublime. The melodic pattern is strict and pure, the harmonic colors are surprisingly soft, charmingly gentle, and the accompaniment is “flowing.” The peaceful, soulful piano postlude of this song will sound again at the very end of the cycle, affirming the image of a romantic dream.

Comparison of this song with the next one, No. 13 – “In my dream I cried bitterly” , creates the sharpest contrast in the entire essay. This is the culmination of the cycle (after “I’m not angry”), one of Schumann’s most tragic songs. The stunning tragedy of this monologue is especially acute in contrast to the postlude of the previous song. Declamation here is expressed even more clearly than in “I’m not angry.” The entire song is a recitative, where mournful phrases of the voice alternate with abrupt, dull piano chords in a low register. The development of a melody with an abundance of repetitions of one sound is carried out as if with effort, the downward movement predominates, the ascents are difficult. From this separate The sound creates an absolutely stunning feeling of tragic fragmentation and loneliness. The tragic mood is emphasized by the tonal coloring - es-moll - the darkest of the minors, in which, in addition, lowering alterations are used.

In the song "A Forgotten Old Tale" a romantic picture of a “German forest” with hunting horns and elves appears. This light-fantastic, scherzo aspect of balladry is shaded by another - darkly ironic, revealed in the last song - "You are evil, evil songs". And again, Schumann’s amazing sensitivity to the poetic text: Heine resorts to deliberate hyperbole, exceptional sobriety of comparisons, so there is a sense of great self-control in the music. This is a gloomy march with a precise rhythm, wide, confident melodic moves, and clear cadences. Only at the very end of the song, when it turns out that the poet’s love is being buried, the ironic mask is dropped: in the small Adagio the technique of “emotional shift” is used - the music takes on the character of deep sorrow. And then another shift, this time in the completely opposite direction. The piano develops the music in an enlightened and thoughtful manner. FP image postlude 12 songs - an image of consoling nature and romantic dreams.

Heine's cycle ends on a sharply skeptical note, with a farewell to the “evil songs.” As in No. 11, the drama of the heart is hidden beneath the irony. By deliberately simplifying the complex, the poet turns everything into a joke: he will discard both love and suffering. The exceptional sobriety of comparisons that Heine resorts to allowed Schumann to imbue the song with enormous self-control. The music of the gloomy march is marked by a precise rhythm, wide, confident melodic moves (at first - exclusively along the main steps of the mode), clearly expressed T-D relationships with an emphasized statement of the tonic, clear cadences.

However, at the very end of the song, when it turns out that it is the poet’s love that is being buried, the ironic mask is dropped: in the small but deep Adagio, a variant of a sincere, touching phrase from the first song of the cycle suddenly appears, acquiring the character of deep sorrow (the technique of “emotional shift”). And then another “turn” occurs, this time in the completely opposite direction. Enlightened and thoughtfully, the piano develops the musical image of the piano postlude of song 12 - the image of consoling nature and a romantic dream. It is perceived as an afterword, a word from the author. If Heine completed the cycle, as it were, with the words of Florestan, then Schumann completed it on behalf of Eusebius. Love, which has managed to rise above the evil of the day, is immortal and eternal, and it is beautiful, despite all the suffering.

Piano music by Robert Schumann. "Carnival"

Schumann dedicated the first 10 years of his composing career to piano music - ardent young years full of creative enthusiasm and hope (30s). In this area, Schumann's individual world was revealed first and the works most characteristic of his style appeared. These are “Carnival”, “Symphonic Etudes”, “Kreisleriana”, Fantasia C-dur, “Dances of the Davidsbündlers”, Novellettes, “Fantastic Pieces”, “Children’s Scenes”, “Night Pieces”, etc. It is striking that many of these masterpieces appeared literally 3-4 years after Schumann began composing - in 1834-35. The composer's biographers call these years “the time of struggle for Clara,” when he defended his love. It is not surprising that many of Schumann’s piano works reveal his personal experiences and are autobiographical in nature (like those of other romantics). For example, the composer dedicated the First Piano Sonata to Clara Wieck on behalf of Florestan and Eusebius.

“Carnival” is written in a cyclic form, which combines the principles of a program suite and free variations. Suiteness is manifested in the contrasting alternation of plays of different characters. This:

carnival masks – traditional characters from the Italian comedy dell’arte;
musical portraits of Davidsbündlers;
everyday sketches – “Walk”, “Meeting”, “Confession”;
dances that complement the overall picture of the carnival (“Noble Waltz”, “German Waltz”), and two “mass scenes” framing the cycle at the edges (“Preamble” and the final “March of the Davidsbündlers”).

Let us add that in this cycle Schumann unfolds the form of variations as if backwards: first he carries out the variations, and only then introduces us to the original motives. Moreover, which is typical, he does not insist on the obligation to listen to them (set out in the “Sphinxes” brevises).

At the same time, “Carnival is marked by a very strong internal unity, which is based, first of all, on the variation of one main motif - Asch. He is present in almost all plays, with the exception of Paganini, Pause and the finale. In the first half of the cycle (No. 2–9), the A-Es-C-H variant dominates, with No. 10 – As-C-H.

“Carnival” is framed by solemn and theatrical crowd scenes (somewhat ironic – ¾ marches). At the same time, “March of the Davidsbündlers” creates not only a tonal, but also a reprise-thematic arch with the “Preamble”. It includes selected episodes from the Preamble (Animato molto, Vivo and the final stretta). In the final piece, the Davidsbündlers are represented by the theme of a solemn march, and the Philistines by the old-fashioned “Grossvater”, presented with deliberate clumsiness.

An important unifying factor is also the periodic return of the waltz movement (the waltz genre as a refrain).

Some plays do not have stable endings (Eusebius, Florestan, Chopin, Paganini, Pause). The epigraph to “The Coquette” is a three-bar, which at the same time completes the play “Florestan”. The same three-bar not only completes “Coquette”, but also forms the basis for the next miniature (“Conversation”, “Replica”).

Franz Schubert's vocal cycle "Winterreise"
based on poems by Wilhelm Müller, translated by Sergei Zayaitsky.
Performed by:
Eduard Khil (baritone),
Semyon Skigin - (piano).

History of creation

Schubert created his second vocal cycle in the penultimate year of his life, full of sad events. The composer lost all hope of publishing his works in Germany and Switzerland. In January, he learned that another attempt to get a permanent position in order to have a solid income and create freely was not crowned with success: in the position of court vice-kapellmeister of the Vienna Opera, someone else was preferred to him. Having decided to participate in the competition for the much less prestigious position of second vice-kapellmeister of the theater of the Vienna suburb "At the Carinthian Gate", he could not get it either - either because the aria he composed turned out to be too difficult for the singer participating in the competition, and Schubert refused that -either change, or because of theatrical intrigue.
The consolation was the response of Beethoven, who in February 1827 became acquainted with more than fifty of Schubert's songs. Here's how Beethoven's first biographer Anton Schindler talked about it: “The great master, who did not know even five of Schubert’s songs before, was amazed at their number and did not want to believe that Schubert had already created more than five hundred songs by this time... With with joyful inspiration, he repeatedly repeated: “Indeed, the spark of God lives in Schubert!” However, the relationship between the two great contemporaries did not develop: a month later, Schubert stood at Beethoven’s tomb.
All this time, according to the recollections of one of the composer’s friends, Schubert “was in a gloomy mood and seemed tired. When I asked what was wrong with him, he only answered: “You will soon hear and understand.” One day he told me: “Come today to Schober (Schubert’s closest friend - A.K.). I'll sing you some terrible songs. They bore me more than any other song." And he sang the entire “Winter Reise” to us in a touching voice. Until the end we were completely puzzled by the gloomy mood of these songs, and Schober said that he only liked one song - “Linden Tree”. Schubert only objected to this: “I like these songs best of all.”
Like “The Fair Miller's Wife,” “Winter Reise” is based on poems by the famous German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827). The son of a tailor, he discovered his poetic gift so early that by the age of 14 he had compiled his first collection of poems. His freedom-loving views also appeared early: at the age of 19, having interrupted his studies at the University of Berlin, he volunteered to participate in the war of liberation against Napoleon. “Greek Songs” brought fame to Müller, in which he glorified the struggle of the Greeks against Turkish oppression. Müller's poems, often called songs, are distinguished by their great melodiousness. The poet himself often presented them with music, and his “Drinking Songs” were sung throughout Germany. Müller usually combined poems into cycles related to the image of a heroine (a beautiful waiter, a beautiful miller's wife), a specific area, or the theme of travel, a favorite among romantics. He himself loved to travel - he visited Vienna, Italy, Greece, and every summer he made hiking trips to different parts of Germany, imitating medieval wandering apprentices.
The poet probably came up with the initial plan for the “Winter Road” back in 1815-1816. At the end of 1822, “Songs of the Wanderings of Wilhelm Müller” were published in Leipzig. Winter path. 12 songs." Another 10 poems were published in the Breslau newspaper on March 13 and 14 next year. And finally, in the second book of “Poems from Papers Left by a Wandering Horn Player”, published in Dessau in 1824 (the first, 1821, included “The Beautiful Miller’s Maid”), “Winter Reise” consisted of 24 songs, arranged in a different sequence than before ; the last two written became #15 and #6.
Schubert used all the songs in the cycle, but their order is different: the first 12 exactly follow the first publication of the poems, although the composer wrote them much later than the last publication - they are marked in Schubert's manuscript as February 1827. Having become acquainted with the complete edition of the poems, Schubert continued work on the cycle in October. He still managed to see the first part published, published by a Viennese publishing house in January of the following year; the announcement announcing the release of the songs said: “Every poet can wish himself the happiness of being so understood by his composer, of being conveyed with such warm feeling and bold imagination...” Schubert worked on the proofs of the 2nd part in the last days of his life, using , according to his brother’s recollections, “short glimmers of consciousness” during a fatal illness. The 2nd part of “Winter Retreat” was published a month after the composer’s death.
Even during Schubert’s lifetime, the songs of “Winter Reise” were heard in the homes of music lovers, where, like his other songs, they were popular. Public performance took place only once, a few days before publication, on January 10, 1828 (Vienna, Society of Music Lovers, song No. 1, “Sleep Well”). It is significant that the performer was not a professional singer, but a university professor.