Classical Music | Baritone

Recorded on 11/27/2007, uploaded on 03/27/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Based on a poem by Ernst Schulze, the protagonist of Franz Schubert's Über Wildemann finds himself traversing the bleak wintry wilderness. He reflects that life would be better in the sunny valley, yet it is there he must not go—his beloved has "locked away her heart." He equates love with springtime and wonders if he will ever escape the icy grasp of winter. Schubert's setting masterfully captures the austere, but wild, landscape of Schulze's poem within the piano accompaniment. The bass, doubled throughout in the lower octave, is mimicked by the right hand with offbeat triplets. Often, these triplets further double the bass in the octave, rendering the harmony even starker. At times, the right hand provides fuller chords as an accompaniment. The vocal melody also moves in unison with the bass, essentially making much of the song an embellishment of a monophonic line. However, the beginning of each of the three middle stanzas, where reference is made to love and spring, the vocal melody moves to a major key (first, D major then A major), the bass remains stationary on a pedal tone and the triplets of the right hand provide a full chordal harmony. However, the bleak landscape returns in the fifth and final stanza bringing the Lied to a desolate close.      Joseph DuBose