Classical Music | Bass

Recorded on 10/23/2009, uploaded on 01/27/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes
It is appropriate that the greatest representative of the German Lied tradition composed a song dedicated to the "sacred art." Composed in March 1817 and published a decade later, Franz Schubert's An die Musik is, today, one of his most well-known songs. Based on a poem by Schubert's close friend Franz von Schober, the words themselves are, in this case, subordinate to the piece as a whole. Unlike most songs in which the music exists to only bring the expressive meaning of the words into sharper focus, quite the opposite is true of An die Musik. Here, the music itself stands at the forefront and the words form merely a graceful embellishment of musical tones. Indeed, could it even be possible for words alone capture the entire expressive power of music? All this is evident in the song itself for Schubert's setting is quintessentially "artful." The melody is at once lyrical and stately, and, on the whole, is wonderfully balanced—a superb example of beauty from simplicity. The bass line, with its opening hint of the vocal melody, provides a firm harmonic foundation for the entire song. Finally, the accompaniment throughout the entire song consists of nothing more than repeated chords. Yet, nothing is more is needed! Excessive displays of technique or emotion here would have only subtracted from the sublime image. Schubert's setting is the essence of music as an art—beauty and expression tempered by restraint.     Joseph DuBose