8 Lieder from Schwanengesang D957 (1827-8)

Ständchen

Der Doppelgänger

Die Taubenpost

Schwanengesang is not a song cycle in the same sense as Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are song cycles. Indeed, it is not a song cyle in any sense except that it brings together fourteen Lieder – seven to words by Rellstab, six to words by Heine, the last to words by Seidl – under one title. It was, the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger who issued them in that way, under the title Schwanengesang, shortly after Schubert’s death. It is worth recalling, however, that the publication was made with the agreement of the composer’s brother Ferdinand. There is evidence, moreover, that Schubert intended to publish theRellstab songs as a set. Certainly, Ständchen is well placed as a more or less central interlude to the seven Rellstab settings that open the cycle. Elegantly poised though it is on its guitar-style accompaniment, Schubert’s last word on the serenade is redolent with longing as it vacillates between major and minor from the start to the gratifying but long withheld resolution in favour of the major in the closing bars.

The next six songs in the Schwanengesang cycle are all Heine settings, the last Der Doppelgänger being perhaps the most painful of all Schubert Lieder. Perceptively described by John Reed as “a kind of passacaglia” on the sombre four-note theme that opens the song, it lets in no light until the tonic major chord unobtrusively ventures into the closing bar. The solitary Seidl setting, Die Taubenpost, is such a delightful example of Schubert’s art that one can understand Haslinger wanting to append it to the Rellstab and Heine Lieder. It has an appropriate place here since its inspiration has nothing to do with the pigeon post and everything to do with longing which – as Rellstab might have agreed, if from a different point of view – is “the messenger of faithfulness.”

Liebesbotschaft

Kriegers Ahnung

Frühlingssehnsucht

Ständchen

Aufenthalt

In der Ferne

Abschied

Die Taubenpost

Schwanengesang is not a song cycle in the same sense as Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are song cycles. Indeed, it is not a song cyle in any sense except that it brings together fourteen Lieder – seven to words by Rellstab, six to words by Heine, the last to words by Seidl – under one title. It was, the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger who issued them in that way, under the title Schwanengesang, shortly after Schubert’s death. It is worth recalling, however, that the publication was made with the agreement of the composer’s brother Ferdinand. There is evidence, moreover, that Schubert intended to publish the Rellstab songs as a set. They are certainly interesting from that point of view since, at least as they stand in Schwanengesang, they share the essentially romantic theme of longing (“Sehnsucht”). So it makes perfect sense to perform them as a group and, indeed, to add the by no measn irrelevant Seidl setting, Die Taubenpost.

Accompanied throughout by the cheerful rustling of the stream in the pianist’s right-hand arpeggios, Liebesbotschaft represents a not very serious case of longing. Kriegers Ahnung, on the other hand, is deadly serious. It begins and ends with grim C minor chords in a solemn drum-beat rhythm. Fond memories intervene in A flat major in a quicker tempo but they are dispelled by reality, just as a still quicker, apparently consolatory episode inevitably meets its C minor fate. Frühlingssehnsucht, which follows a strict strophic pattern until the mood briefly changes to the minor, is a restlessly excited but repeatedly wondering expression of the longing aroused by spring.

Assuming that the Rellstab Lieder were intended as a set, Ständchen is well placed as a more or less central interlude. Elegantly poised on its guitar accompaniment, Schubert’s last word on the serenade is redolent, however, with longing as it vacillates between major and minor from the start to the gratifying but long withheld resolution in favour of the major in the closing bars.

Aufenthalt and In der Ferne find the poet close to despair. In the first he finds no comfort amid the persistently percussive triplets in the pianist’s right hand except when, in the third stanza, the harmonies briefly turn to the major and the left hand joins the vocal line in unison. The opening of In der Ferne is as grim in its way as that of Kriegers Ahnung. At the beginning of the third stanza the shuddering piano ritornello leads into an unexpectedly radiant appeal from the poet to nature to convey his longing to the loved one. But, as the subsequent, sometimes painful modulations and the minor-key ending confirm, there is no point. In Abschied, however, resignation brings renewed courage – or rather, in the cheeerfully trotting rhythms of the piano part, a semblance of it. Disorientating changes of harmony clearly indicate that longing has not been dismissed by putting a brave face on things.

The solitary Seidl setting, Die Taubenpost, is such a delightful example of Schubert’s art that one can understand Haslinger wanting to append it to the Rellstab and Heine Lieder. It has an appropriate place in today’s programme since its inspiration has nothing to do with the pigeon post and everything to do with longing which – as Rellstab might have agreed, if from a different point of view – is “the messenger of faithfulness.”

Liebesbotschaft

Kriegers Ahnung

Frühlingssehnsucht

Ständchen

Aufenthalt

In der Ferne

Abschied

Die Taubenpost

Schwanengesang is not a song cycle in the same sense as Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are song cycles. Indeed, it is not a song cyle in any sense except that it brings together fourteen Lieder – seven to words by Rellstab, six to words by Heine, the last to words by Seidl – under one title. And what an ironic title Schwanengesang (Swan-Song) is for a collection of the last songs of a composer who had been singing with little interruption throughout his adult life!

The blame has to be taken, of course, by Tobias Haslinger, the Viennese publisher who issued them in that way, and under that title, after Schubert’s death. It is worth recalling, however, that he did it with the agreement of the composer’s brother Ferdinand. There is evidence, moreover, that Schubert intended to publish the Rellstab songs and the Heine songs, possibly with other settings of verse by the same poets, as coherent sets. The Rellstab songs are particularly interesting from this point of view since, at least as they stand as the first seven items in Schwanengesang, they share the theme of longing (“Sehnsucht”) – either a specific longing, to be somewhere else or with someone else, or a romantically undefined longing. So it makes perfect sense to perform them as a group and, indeed, to add the Seidl setting, Die Taubenpost, which actually celebrates the same poetic theme.

Accompanied throughout by the cheerful rustling of the stream, represented by semiquaver arpeggios in the pianist’s right hand, and encouraged by occasional echoes of the vocal line in the left, Liebesbotschaft presents a not very serious case of longing. Kriegers Ahnung, which is more a dramatic scena than a song, is very serious indeed. It begins and ends with grim C minor chords in a solemn drum-beat rhythm and, although fond memories intervene in A flat major in a quicker tempo, they are soon dispelled by reality, just as a still quicker, apparently consolatory episode inevitably meets its C minor fate. Frühlingssehnsucht, which follows a strict strophic pattern until the mood briefly changes to the minor, is a restlessly excited but, at the end of every stanza except the last, wondering expression of the longing aroused by spring.

Assuming that the Rellstab Lieder were intended as a set, Ständchen is well placed as a more or less central interlude. Here, in Schubert’s last word on the serenade, the singer knows exactly what he wants and addresses the loved one directly without pleading for interecession from a passing stream or breeze, even if he does turn to the nightingales for support. At the same time, in its vacillations between minor and major, it is a serenade redolent with longing from the beginning until the gratifying resolution in favour of the major in the closing bars.

Aufenthalt and In der Ferne find the poet close to despair. In the first he finds no comfort amid the persistently percussive triplets in the pianist’s right hand except when, in the third stanza, the harmonies briefly turn to the major and the left hand joins the vocal line in unison. That gesture of sympathy with his longing proves, however, to be illusory. The opening of In der Ferne is as grim in its way as that of Kriegers Ahnung. At the beginning of the third stanza the shuddering piano ritornello leads into an unexpectedly radiant appeal from the poet to nature to carry his message to the loved one. But, as the subsequent, sometimes painful modulations and the minor-key ending confirm, in this case there is no point. In Abschied, however, resignation brings renewed courage – or at least a semblance of it. The trotting rhythm in the piano part remains the same throughout but not without, between the fifth and sixth stanzas, running into disorientating changes of harmony which clearly indicate that longing has not been dismissed by putting a brave face on things.

Die Taubenpost is such a delightful example of Schubert’s art that one can understand Haslinger wanting to append a solitary Seidl setting to the Rellstab and Heine Lieder in the so-called Schwanengesang collection. It has an appropriate place here, however, because its inspiration has nothing to do with the pigeon post and everything to do with longing which – as Rellstab might have agreed, if from a different point of view – is “the messenger of faithfulness.”