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Analysis Paper: Die Krähe
Skyler Klein
Musicianship II
Dr. Helvering
Franz Schubert was born in 1797, and died in 1828 to syphilis. Though not
during his own lifetime, about a generation after his death he finally achieved large
recognition for his compositions and musical triumphs. Thus playing into the cliché,
romantic story of the tragic composer that does not live to see his success, Schubert
became one of those stories. Largely considered by many to be the last great
classical composer, and the first of the romantic composers, Schubert is recognized
as having changed the course of music in Vienna, as well as the Western canon as a
whole. Specifically, his contribution to German art song is perhaps more astounding
than any other composer of that tradition.
Schubert came from the modest background of an ordinary schoolmaster’s
child. He showed early musical potential, which his father recognized before
proceeding to give him violin lessons while Schubert’s older brother gave him piano
lessons. After some further private lessons, Schubert went on to become a choirboy
in the Court chapel, automatically granting him admittance as a student to the
Imperial and Royal City College. During that time, he studied with such famous
names as composer Antonio Salieri, and Phillip Korner. While at the college,
Schubert also first became exposed to the work of composers Ludwig van
Beethoven, and Wolfgang Mozart. After leaving the college, Schubert began to teach
at his father’s school, which did little for his composition and musicianship.
After some time, Schubert left the school to pursue music full-time, and his
compositional prowess increased. He continued on to write a considerable number
of pieces; the most prolific of which not achieving success until much after his death.
In early 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven passed away to the dismay of Schubert. In the
period following, he published a huge number of lieder. The lieder spread across the
German-speaking countries, while his major instrumental achievements were still
unknown beyond his friends. By the end of 1827, he completed “Die Winterreise,”
with all the weighty emotion of the music and the austere complexity of the text.
Upon sharing the songs of Die Winterreise with his inner circle in 1828, they
expressed mixed reactions to the cycle. His longtime friend Josef von Spaun in
particular is noted for saying, “We were quite dumbfounded by (their) gloomy
mood.” Though he later decided “More beautiful German songs probably do not
exist.” On his deathbed in November 1828, Schubert made final revisions to Part II
of Die Winterreise, which was then published posthumously.
Though individual songs from Die Winterreise were performed sporadically
for some time, it was not until the onslaught of recordings that Die Winterreise
could reach the masses, and assure its place in music. In 1928, Viennese baritone
Hans Duhan developed the first full recording of Die Winterreise for public
distribution.
Die Winterreise tells the story of a traveller, embarking on a long, and
arduous winter journey. Unlike other song cycles like Die schöne Müllerin, Die
Winterreise does not act as a narrative, and the plot is comparatively ordinary. By
contrast, Die Winterreise is the musical adaptation of the traveller’s inner thoughts,
emotions, and challenges. The persona and perspective of the traveller is fairly
constant throughout the cycle, and does not dramatically change. Through the
complexity of the text, feelings of desperation, frustrations of travel, ice, snow,
death, and sadness are conveyed to the listener.
Though the text tells of the ardors of unrequited love, the protagonist is
instead shown to be a romantic hero, opposing fate itself. He braves the cold, illomens, and most of all self-doubt. The listener follows the traveller, and his inner
musings of his surrounding, motivation throughout his journey, and the nature of
his desire are expressed in the individual events that are the separate songs of the
cycle.
In “Die Krähe,” the traveller remarks upon a crow that has followed him out
of a town that he has left. The crow circles him, which makes him uneasy throughout
his trek. He perceives the action on the part of the crow as an ill-omen, and as such
he fears for his life. Begrudgingly, he decides to accept this notion and its
implications; without breaking stride, angrily, he despairs in the misfortune of his
life and his journey.
Die Krähe
“Eine Krähe war mit mir
Aus der Stadt gezogen,
Ist bis heute für und für
Um mein Haupt geflogen.
Krähe, wunderliches Tier,
Willst mich nicht verlassen?
Meinst wohl, bald als Beute hier
Meinen Leib zu fassen?
Nun, es wird nicht weit mehr geh'n
An dem Wanderstabe.
Krähe, laß mich endlich seh'n,
Treue bis zum Grabe!”
The original text of Die Krähe by Willhelm Müller. For the sake of
understanding for the English speaker, the text can be interpreted such as in the
following translation by Arthur Rishi.
The Crow
“A crow was with me
From out of the town,
Even up to this moment
It circles above my head.
Crow, strange creature,
Will you not forsake me?
Do you intend, very soon,
To take my corpse as food?
Well, it is not much farther
That I wander with my staff in hand.
Crow, let me see at last
A fidelity that lasts to the grave!”
Musically, this text is set to voice and piano accompaniment, where the piano
accompaniment mostly acts to outline the chords of the main melody sung by the
vocalist. The piece begins in the key of c minor, with the piano playing on its own.
The piano arpeggiates chords in the left hand in triplets, while the right hand
foreshadows the melody in the voice by playing it as an introduction in the higher
register of the piano. This sets the mood, with the piano playing at a piano dynamic
and outlining the melody. The meter is in 2/4, emulating the walking pace of the
traveler as well as his heartbeat. The effect achieved is a musical portrayal of the
traveller walking wearily and cautiously against a cool, winter breeze, played up in
arpeggios in the left hand.
The theme played in the piano through the introduction is the exposition of
the theme which mostly recurs throughout the piece in some variation or another:
In roman numeral analysis it is i, V4/2, i6, V6 / iv, iv, ii half-diminished 7, i, N, VI6,
V6, V7, VI, N6, i64, V7, i. After which, the piano arpeggiates up into becoming the i
chord again, this time introducing the voice part. From here, the piano switches
from triplets to a 1/8th note bass line, and the right hand outlines the rest of the
chords. The voice sings the main melody, dumbly expressing the traveller’s
weariness of the crow that has followed him continuously.
After the first line has been sung, it begins again with a slight variation about
halfway through; when it reaches the ii half-diminished 6/5 chord, it moves to a
minor v chord, and then makes use of a common chord modulation to use the i
chord as a pivot chord, modulating to E ♭Major, on the vi chord. By switching to the
relative major key like that, the music begins to shift to a representation of inner
turmoil inside the traveller. The next verse subtly changes to g minor without
actually landing on a g minor chord, and shifts between a V sub6 and VI chords of
that key. The sequence is then repeated over and over again, each time in a new key.
It shifts to C Major, only to shift to D Major, to g minor again, only to return finally to
c minor. This ambiguous section acts as a realization of the traveller’s racing
thoughts; his stream of consciousness is progressing forward and he thinks
rationally, but the feelings lurking behind his thoughts are leaping and bounding
unrestrained. Finally, accepting his misfortune, the traveller bursts into an outrage,
singing into a musical climax over the original chord progression, only to switch
briefly to f minor, and transitioning back to a variation on the original theme and
progression in c minor.
Works Cited
Classical Net - Basic Repertoire List - Schubert. (n.d.). Classical Net - Basic Repertoire
List - Schubert. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/schubert.php
Franz Peter Schubert - Life and Music. (n.d.). Franz Schubert. Retrieved April 25,
2014, from http://www.franzpeterschubert.com/die_winterreise.html
Schubert Biography. (n.d.). Bio.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
http://www.biography.com/people/franz-schubert9475558#awesm=~oCGwgMo0YvfMzd
The crow (Müller, set by Reiner Bredemeyer, Franz Peter Schubert, Johannes
Wolfgang Zender) (The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: Texts and
Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music). (n.d.).
The crow (Müller, set by Reiner Bredemeyer, Franz Peter Schubert, Johannes
Wolfgang Zender) (The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: Texts and
Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music).
Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=11845