Composers › Franz Schubert › Programme note
Liebe schwärmt auf allen Wegen D239 No6 (1815)
Gerald Larner wrote 2 versions of differing length — choose one below.
Die Männer sind méchant D866 No3
Most of Schubert’s Claudine von Villa Bella, a three-act Singspiel written in 1815 to a text by Goethe, has disappeared. The manuscript having passed after the composer’s death into the ownership of the his friend Josef Hüttenbrenner, the manuscript of the second and third acts was used by Hüttenbrenner’s servant to light a fire during the 1848 revolution in Vienna. Or so the story goes. Anyway, one of the surviving items is Claudine’s short arietta Liebe schwärmt auf allen Wegen which, in the distinction it so vigorously makes between love and constancy, is well placed as a motto at the head of this programme. Whether men are to blame for the fact that love and constancy do not always coincide remains to be seen. That does, however, seem to be the message of Die Männer sind méchant, the third of four folky “Refrain-Lieder” written in 1828 to words by Johann Gabriel Seidl. But for Schubert’s ironic use of minor harmonies, which deflect the satire to the disgruntled maiden, we might even take it seriously.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Männer sind méchant/dif”
Die Männer sind méchant D866 No3 (1828)
Most of Schubert’s Claudine von Villa Bella, a three-act Singspiel written in 1815 to a text by Goethe, has disappeared. The manuscript having passed after the composer’s death into the ownership of the his friend Josef Hüttenbrenner, the sheets of the second and third acts were used by Hüttenbrenner’s servant to light a fire during the 1848 revolution in Vienna. Or so the story goes. Anyway, one of the surviving items is Claudine’s short arietta Liebe schwärmt auf allen Wegen which, in the distinction it so vigorously makes between love and constancy, is well placed as a motto at the head of this programme. Whether men are to blame for the fact that love and constancy do not always coincide remains to be seen. That does, however, seem to be the message of Die Männer sind méchant, the third of four folky “Refrain-Lieder” written in 1828 to words by Johann Gabriel Seidl. But for Schubert’s ironic use of minor harmonies, which deflect the satire to the disgruntled maiden, we might even take it seriously.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Liebe schwärmt D239/6”