Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 03/22/1987, uploaded on 02/10/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Schubert's first successful Lied, Gretchen am Spinnrade, was composed in 1814. It sets a selection of text from Goethe's Faust. In the song, Gretchen is singing while sitting at her spinning wheel, lost in daydreams about Faust. Schubert's setting is ingenious and shows his masterly skill in capturing both mood and imagery in his songs. Throughout the song, the piano accompaniment depicts Gretchen's spinning wheel. The motion of the revolving wheel is imitated by the consistent sixteenth notes in the right hand, while the back and forth motion of the foot treadle is heard in the eighth notes of the left. At the climax of the song, when Gretchen is lost in the thought of Faust's kiss, the spinning wheel stops and the moto perpetuo of sixteenth notes comes to a sudden halt. Realizing she has become overly distracted, Gretchen hesitantly begins again.      Joseph DuBose

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