Taking the Lied.Pdf

G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED

TAKING THE

LIED

STARTER ACTIVITY – LISTENING FOR ACCOMPANIMENTS Franz Shubert (shown right) is widely regarded as the greatest songwriter of the early nineteenth century and you are going to listen to the opening of one of his songs called ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’ (or “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”). The words are taken from Faust by German poet Goethe (1749-1832), where it is sung by the girl Gretchen as she sits at her spinning wheel. She has been seduced by Faust and then abandoned by him. Here are Gretchen’s opening words given in the original German with an English translation

Meine Ruh ist hin My peace is gone Mein Herz ist schwer My heart is heavy Ich finde, ich finde sie nimmer I shall never find peace und nimmermehr never again

As you listen to the opening of the song, see if you can answer the questions below. The opening score of this song is shown at the bottom of the page.

1. What instrument is playing the accompaniment to the song?

2. What TYPE of female voice do you think this song is written for?

3. How would you describe the RIGHT HAND part of the piano accompaniment? (the highest pitched part)

4. What do you think this is describing within the song? Next, listen again to this extract but this time focusing on the LEFT HAND part of the piano accompaniment (the bass line) and answer the following questions.

5. How does the LEFT HAND part of the piano accompaniment differ from the right hand part?

6. What do you think this is describing within the song?

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G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED Learning Objectives  Learn about the lied as a type of song for solo voice with accompaniment (AoS 3 & 5)  Learn about features of lieder such as word painting and strophic and through-composed structures (AoS 2, 3, 4 & 5)

LEARNING ABOUT LIEDER

The song you listened to during the starter activity – “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”, was an example of a type of song for solo voice and accompaniment called a LIED. The word LIED is German for “song” (plural LIEDER – “songs) but used especially to describe songs, usually with piano accompaniment, by 19th century German composers (in particular, Schubert, Schumann (pictured left) and Brahms). An important aspect of most Lieder is that the piano is far more than a mere “accompaniment for the voice”. Instead, voice and piano are brought together in equal partnership.

Schubert used another of Goethe’s poems, "Erlkönig“ (or The Erlking) for another lied for solo voice and piano in 1815. The story of the poem revolves around a young boy, being carried home at night by his father on horseback. During the journey, the son seems to see and hear beings his father does not, the father asserts reasuring reasons for what the boy sees and hears: a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. Finally, the boy shrieks that he has been attacked, the father makes for home and realises the boy is dead. There are four characters in the song, all performed by the same singer. See if you can hear these different characters as you watch and listen to a performance of The Erlking on Video 1. 1. The Narrator lies in the middle range and is in minor tonality 2. The Father lies in the low range and sings in both major and minor tonalities 3. The son lies in a high range (you can hear his shouts to his father on the words Mein Vater) 4. The Erlking’s vocal line is in a major key to an undulating arpeggio piano accompaniment

Listen out for the character of the horse, shown by rapid triplet figures played by the pianist throughout the work, mimicking the hoof beats and for the dramatic ending with a perfect cadence.

LEARNING ABOUT WORD PAINTING WORD PAINTING is the musical technique of writing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song and is a common musical feature of many LIEDER. For example, ascending scales could be used to accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music could accompany lyrics about death. Both “The Erlking” and “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel” use word painting to bring out the meaning of the song – repeated accompaniment patterns and arpeggios, representations of horses hooves etc.

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G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED

1. Look at the following example of word painting taken from a Tenor aria from Handel’s Messiah. The words used are:

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain (Isaiah 40:4)

a) What technique does Handel use on the word “mountain”?

b) What happens on the words “made low”?

c) The word “plain” is extended over several bars in a series of long notes. What is the musical term for this?

2. Listen to another example of word painting, again from Handel’s Messiah in which the choir is accompanied by an orchestra and follow the text below (‘Glory to God’ is repeated twice).

Glory to God in the highest

And Peace on Earth

a) How does Handel use word painting in the music to reflect the contrasting meanings of the words in each line?

3. Word painting is a device not only used by earlier composers and composer of lieder. Many popular songs make use of this feature of “bringing out the meaning of the words”. Listen to four short examples taken from popular songs and see if you can pick on the examples of word painting.

1. Extract 1 - “Friends in Low Places” by Country & Western singer Garth Brooks – listen out for how Brooks sings the word “low” on a very low note. 2. Extract 2 – “Smash the Mirror” by The Who – listen out for each repetition of the word “rise” being a semitone higher than the last 3. Extract 3 – “What Goes Around” by Justin Timberlake – The lyrics “What goes around, goes around, goes around, Comes all the way back around” descends an octave and then returns back to the upper octave, as though it was going in around in a circle. 4. Extract 4 – “Up Where we Belong” – Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes – listen out for the melody rising in pitch during the words “Love lift us up where we belong”.

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G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED

4. Let’s look again at Schubert’s word painting in his lied “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”. Listen to another extract from this lied, taken from the middle of the song, following the words below:

Sein hoher Gang, His fine gait, Sein’ edle Gestalt, His noble form, Seines Mundes Lächeln, The smile of his lips Seiner Augen Gewalt, The power of his eyes

Und seiner Rede And the magic flow Zauberfluss, Of his words, Sein Händedruck, The pressure of his hand, Und ach, sein Kuss! And, ah, his kiss!

How does Schubert use word painting here, both in the voice part and piano accompaniment?

LEARNING ABOUT SONG STRUCTURES

Composers of lieder, such as Schubert, often chose poems to set to music as a basis for their songs. There were an abundance of poems by poets such as Goethe which dealt with subject matter popular in the “Romantic” period in which Schubert and other lieder composers were writing music. Matters such as love, death, horror and terror and images of nature were all popular subjects on which to write poetry and, in turn, to set to music as a lied. One of the decisions a lieder composer had to think of was how to STRUCTURE their song. There were two main structures of lieder:

STROPHIC – using the same melody for successive stanzas or verses, a method also used in hymns, folk songs and the blues

THROUGH-COMPOSED – different music is composed and used for each verse or section throughout the song.

1. Listen to ‘Heidenröslein’, yet another song by Schubert based on another of Goethe’s poems. The poem tells a story of a young boy who goes to pick a rose in the heather. The rose objects, threatening to prick the boy, but he picks it anyway. This poem is allegorical in the fact that the rose is his female love, who rejects him. Follow the score of this song on page 5 as you listen and then decide whether you think the structure of this song is STROPHIC or THROUGH-COMPOSED and why.

I think the structure of ‘Heidenröslein’ is

Because

2. Next, listen to ‘Rastlose Liebe’, another lied by Schubert following the lyrics given on page 5 as you listen and then decide whether you think the structure of this song is STROPHIC or THROUGH- COMPOSED and why. (Also listen out for excellent examples of WORD PAINTING in this lied!)

I think the structure of ‘Rastlose Liebe’ is

Because

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G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED

‘Heidenröslein’ (Wild Rose) - Schubert

‘Rastlose Liebe’ (Restless Love) - Schubert

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G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED

GCSE-STYLE LISTENING QUESTION Areas of Study: Harmony & Tonality/Texture & Melody/Timbre & Dynamics/Structure & Form Total for this question: 9 marks

1 You will hear the following piece of music played twice. It is a song setting of the words by the German poet, Heine. An English translation is given below. You may find it helpful to tick a box each time you hear the excerpt.

1. Far out upon the spacious sea 3. I saw them falling upon your hand, the sunset’s rays were shining; and then I knelt before you; we sat by the fisherman’s lonely hut, and from your white and trembling hand we sat alone and were silent. I drank those falling tear-drops.

2. The mist arose, the waters swelled, 4. And since that moment my body’s consumed the seagull skimmed high above us; my soul dies of desiring. and from your eyes so full of love, that woman, weeping and forlorn, tear-drops were gently falling. has poisoned me with her sad tears.

1a What type of MALE voice sings the melody to this song?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark)

1b What instrument in playing the accompaniment to this song?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark)

1c Is verse 1 in a major key, or a minor key?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark)

1b How does the accompaniment part set the mood and atmosphere for the opening words of verse 2?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (2 marks)

1e What is this device of matching the melody and accompaniment to the meaning of the words called?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark)

1f How would you best describe the STRUCTURE of this song? (circle your answer)

STROPHIC 32 BAR SONG FORM THROUGH-COMPOSED VERSE AND CHORUS

(1 mark)

1g This is an example of a Romantic art song for solo voice and accompaniment. What is the name for this type of song?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark)

1h Suggest a suitable composer who may have written this song

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… (1 mark) Page 6 of 7 WWW.MUSICALCONTEXTS, CO.UK

G C S E A Q A M U S I C – S T R A N D 1 - WESTERN CLASSICAL TR A D I T I O N STUDY GUIDE SUB - S T R A N D 3 – MUSIC FOR VOICES - STUDY SESSION 9 – TAKING THE LIED PLENARY - REVISING LIEDER

Read the following information on lieder and fill in the missing words from the box below.

There was a rich flowering of songs during the century, also called the period in music. The German (plural ) for solo voice and was particular popular. There are two main kinds of lieder. In the first, the same music is repeated for each verse of the poem. This is called form. In the second kind, different music is used for each verse throughout the song. This is called form. Using this latter form, composers can more faithfully match the voice-part and accompaniment to the changing moods and dramatic events of the poem. The words of a lied are of particular importance and composers have often used these to reflect the meaning of the song through music. This device of picking out certain features of the lyrics and representing these through music is called . An important aspect of most lieder, is that the piano accompaniment is far more than a mere “prop” for the voice. Instead, they are brought together in . The first great Romantic composer of lieder was , who in his brief lifetime, composed more than 600 songs, touching on every possible mood and . Other important lieder composers were Schumann, Brahms, and later, Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss. Occasionally, a composer might set a whole group of linked to the same idea, perhaps even sketching a story. A sequence of songs linked together in this way is called a . Examples include Shubert’s Winterreise (Winter Journey) and Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben (Woman’s Love and Life).

Schubert through-composed word painting Romantic lieder Nineteenth

emotion song cycle strophic equal partnership piano lied poems

SELF ASSESSMENT

KEY WORDS – Accompaniment, Arpeggio, Chordal Homophonic Texture, Equal Partnership, Homophonic Texture, Legato, Lied(er), Lyrical Melody, Major, Melisma(tic), Melody & Accompaniment Homophonic Texture, Minor, Modulation, Rich and Colourful Harmonies, Romantic Period, Schubert, Solo, Song-Cycle, Staccato, Stanza, Strophic, Syllabic, Through-Composed, Tonality, Word Painting I know that a lied is a type of song for solo voice and piano accompaniment popular in the nineteenth century/Romantic period I understand word painting as a device used by composers to enhance the literal meaning of a song and identify basic examples (such as words denoting pitch ‘high’ ‘low’) when listening I know that a lied is a type of Romantic art song where solo voice and piano accompaniment are in equal partnership with one another I can identify more complex examples of word painting, such as changes in mood and emotion when listening to lieder I can comment on the relationship between solo voice and accompaniment when listening to a variety of lieder in different moods I can correctly identify structures of lieder as either strophic or through-composed when listening

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