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SCHUBERTIADE
Franz Schubert wasn’t destined to see much of his music performed in public venues.
Traditionally, composers had been affiliated with the church, the nobility, or the aristocracy, but
the changing social and political mores of early nineteenth-century Vienna made these modes of
patronage unlikely. Virtuoso performers had a chance of producing a public sensation--as Mozart
and Beethoven had done as pianists in Vienna–but Schubert’s pianistic prowess and personal
temperament were not of that mettle. Opera was another possibility for aspiring composers, and
for several years Schubert tried his hand at composing for the Viennese musical theater–without
conspicuous success. There was, however, a burgeoning musical life in private homes in the
Vienna of Schubert’s day, and it was in such intimate venues that the composer’s music would
be most thoroughly appreciated during his own lifetime. This afternoon’s “Schubertiade” recalls
those private concerts presented by Schubert’s closest friends and admirers.
Drei Klavierstücke. D. 946
The Drei Klavierstücke date from May of 1828, Schubert’s last year. The manuscript
bears no title, although many scholars have conjectured that these “three piano pieces” were
intended as a sequel to the composer’s highly successful publication of two volumes of
Impromptus. The Klavierstücke are similar in scale and structure to the Impromptus, although the
contrasts between various sections seem more dramatic. Johannes Brahms first published the
collection in 1868.
The first Klavierstück in Eb minor presents a rollicking primary theme, somewhat
reminiscent of the Erlkönig’s galloping horse. A central episode in B major provides repose with
its hymn-like chordal texture. A second episode occurs in the autograph, although Schubert drew
a line through it, seemingly indicating his desire to delete the section. Nevertheless, this episode
and a final reprise of the opening material were included in Brahms’s publication, and some
modern-day performers choose to reinstate these sections.
The second Klavierstück provides an appropriate foil to the first. Written in Eb major–the
parallel major of the first Klavierstück’s key–its main theme is essentially a serene barcarolle.
Contrast is provided by two agitated episodes, the first in C minor, the second in Ab minor.
The third Klavierstück, in ABA form like the first, suggests popular influences in its
jaunty, syncopated main theme. Some commentators have discerned elements of the Bohemian
Polka or Sousedská in this section. The hymn-like central episode presents an insistent rhythmic
figure enlivened by subtle decoration and complex phrase elisions.
“Ständchen” from Schwanengesang, D. 957, No. 4
“Auf dem Wasser zu Singen,” D. 774
“Gretchen am Spinnrade,” D. 118
No other musical genre defined Schubert more than the Lied, or German-language art
song. His earliest masterpieces were in this form, and at no point in his career could he resist the
allure of setting the work of his favorite poets. Schubert was not the first great composer of
Lieder–Mozart and Beethoven composed several notable examples—and a few of his
contemporaries were similarly prolific in their song output. Schubert’s unique contribution
resided in his establishment of the piano as a true partner to the singer in these works, playing an
equal part in transmitting his understanding of the poetic text. Also noteworthy was Schubert’s
varied response to the poetry of specific authors, often resulting in a distinctive musical style for
a particular poet’s work.
Written in 1814, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” is generally considered Schubert’s first
masterwork. His setting of this excerpt from Goethe’s Faust juxtaposes the piano’s ongoing
evocation of Gretchen’s spinning wheel with the dramatic shape of the vocal line and the largescale organization of the tonal language. As he did in many of his greatest songs, Schubert both
paints a scene and tells a story.
“Auf dem Wasser zu singen,” a settingfrom 1823of Count Leopold Stolberg’s poem, is
another perennial favorite. Here again the piano part offers the unifying element–in this case the
constant suggestion of lapping waves. Unlike “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” however, the vocal line
is often bound to the piano’s right hand, imparting a seagirt sensation to the entire setting.
The two volumes of Schubert’s settings of poems by Rellstab, Heine, and Seidl, known
as Schwanengesang, were not conceived as a cycle by the composer. Rather, it was the
commercial inspiration of music publisher Tobias Haslinger to present this collection of songs
from Schubert’s last year under the poignant title of “swan song.” Nevertheless, the songs are of
uniformly superlative quality, and “Ständchen”–one of the Rellstab settings–has become
ubiquitous. Throughout, the piano part seems to suggest the plucking of a simple guitar or lute
accompaniment to a melodic line of incomparable grace and expressive power. Typically
Schubertian are the sudden juxtaposition of major and minor modes, justifying in this case the
frequent description of his music as “bittersweet.”
Ballet Music from Rosamunde, arr. by Leopold Godowsky
“Ständchen,” arr. by Franz Liszt
Moment Musical No. 3, arr. by Leopold Godowsky
Transcriptions of vocal and orchestral works for solo piano were much in vogue
throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To some extent, these arrangements
served the practical purpose of making music available for home-consumption in the days before
recordings. In many cases, though, performing composers had the more egotistical motivation of
wanting to replicate the triumphs of opera stars or the heroic impact of a full symphony orchestra
in a solo piano recital. Some transcriptions paraphrased diverse scenes from operas, as a sort of
fantasy or pot-pourri, enabling the composer/pianist to demonstrate creativity as well as
technical virtuosity.
Franz Liszt’s numerous transcriptions fulfill all the categories mentioned above. His
arrangements of Schubert’s Lieder generally adhere closely to the originals, although Liszt takes
a free hand in finding appropriate pianistic figuration to approximate the effect of the human
voice and substitute for the textual diversity in repetitive strophic forms. In the case of his
transcription of Schubert’s “Ständchen,” Liszt adds an extra repeat of the main strophe, and
provides considerable contrast through changes in the melodic register and a fascinating
“duetting” affect in the final section.
Leopold Godowsky enjoyed a distinguished career as a virtuoso pianist, whose
performances were often cited as a model by the likes of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Josef
Lhévinne. Godowsky was also a gifted composer, although posterity remembers him best for his
transcriptions. As the British music critic Ernest Newman put it, “Godowsky is not really
interested in other men’s music unless he wrote it himself.” Godowsky’s complex polyphonic
and chromatic enrichments extended not only to his treatment of vocal and symphonic works,
but even to such original piano compositions as the Chopin Etudes, the difficulties of which he
couldn’t resist amplifying. His transcriptions of two of Schubert’s best-loved works, the Ballet
Music from Rosamunde and the third Moment Musical (once known as “Air russe”) are
comparatively straight forward, although the added harmonic “spice” will have purists up in
arms.
Sonata for Piano in A Minor, Op. 42, D. 845
Schubert had several motivations for composing piano sonatas. As a practical musician,
he was aware of the growing demand for piano music in his native Vienna. By the early
nineteenth century, most Viennese households of reasonable means were equipped with pianos,
and throughout his career Schubert published many works for piano duet. The model of
Schubert’s idolized Beethoven was another powerful factor. With his thirty-two published
sonatas for solo piano, Beethoven had established a standard which must have both inspired and
intimidated the young Schubert. Indeed, between his eighteenth and twentieth years, Schubert
made a number of attempts at composing substantial, four-movement sonatas, many of which he
was unable to complete. After a hiatus of nearly eight years, he returned to the four-movement
sonata in 1825 with the triumphant Sonata in A Minor, Op. 42. His first published piano sonata,
the work met with considerable praise from the start, including a perceptive allusion to its
“suppressed but sometimes violently erupting sombre passion” in the Leipzig Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung.
The first movement is a sonata form which harkens back to the model of Haydn in its use
of limited motivic material to engender contrasting themes. A variant of the main theme appears
in one of the composer’s contemporaneous songs, “Totengräbers Heimweh” (Gravedigger’s
Longing), to the words, “Abandoned by all, cousin only to death, I wait at the brink, staring
longingly into the grave.” Especially noteworthy is the conflict Schubert establishes from the
start between the pitches E and F and the overwhelming resolution he achieves at the
movement’s close.
The second movement is a theme and five variations in C major. For all its seeming
simplicity, the theme itself displays considerable contrapuntal complexity and subtle
embroidering which anticipate the imminent variation process. The variations themselves are
remarkable not only for their increasingly intense decorations, but also for their progression
towards the tragic mode of C minor from the merest hint of this key in the theme. The shift of
key from C to Ab in the penultimate variation imparts a large-scale sense of structural adventure
to what was traditionally a static collection of discrete elaborations. The touching final variation
and coda are quintessentially Schubertian with their distant horn calls and hypnotic triplets.
The scherzo in A minor also begins with Schubert’s signature “horn call summons,”
although the nearly obsessive dactylic rhythm is most likely a reference to the fifth of
Beethoven’s recently published “Thirty-Three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli,” Op. 120. The
serene central episode in F features still further examples of the composer’s beloved “calling
motifs.” Its tonality also relates to the central role of F major within the context of A minor so
powerfully explored in the first movement.
The rondo finale in A minor reveals Schubert’s acquaintance with Baroque compositional
techniques in its relentless motor rhythm, polyphonically-inflected single lines, and instances of
invertible counterpoint. On the other hand, the frequent minor-major alternations, the references
to dance rhythms, and the heroic symphonic outbursts are pure Schubert.
Adam Kent © 2006