Classical Music | Baritone

Recorded on 12/31/1969, uploaded on 01/31/2014

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

1828, Schubert’s final year in his all-too-brief life, saw the creation of some his richest and most profound compositions—the Mass in E-flat major, the colossal String Quintet in C, the last three piano sonatas, and the ethereal and haunting song cycle, Schwanengesang. Schubert’s health was significantly waning in his last years, and to some extent he must have been aware that his time on earth was possibly drawing to an end. Yet, he remained optimistic, scheduling lessons with the famed counterpoint teacher Simon Sechter to further his knowledge of harmony. But, his sickness took its toll, and Schubert died on November 19, leaving behind a vast wealth of musical treasures that would slowly be uncovered throughout the remainder of the 19th century. The fourteen songs of Schwanengesang are among the last of Schubert’s compositions. Unlike his previous cycles, Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, Schwanengesang is not based on the poetry of a single poet, but instead three: Ludwig Rellstab (Nos. 1-7), Heinrich Heine (Nos. 8-13) and Johann Gabriel Seidl (No. 14). However, Schubert’s intentions for the cycle remain unclear. All but the last song were copied out in the composer’s hand on consecutive manuscript pages and in the traditional performance order, which is an indication that Schubert may have regarded them all as a single coherent work. However, in early October, Schubert offered the Heine songs to the Leipzig publisher Probst, a contrary move that at least shows he either thought those songs separable from the preceding ones based on the poetry of Rellstab, or was willing to divide the work for purposes of publication. Since Schubert’s ultimate intentions for these songs will never be known, or quite possibly was never fully decided upon by the composer himself, the task of organizing the cycle for publication was left up to Tobias Haslinger, who published the songs, as well as Winterreise, not long after Schubert’s death. Haslinger respected Schubert’s order as presented in the manuscript, but appended the lone Siedl song, Die Taubenpost, believed to be Schubert’s last completed work. Regardless of whatever may have been Schubert’s intentions for the ordering and structure of Schwanengesang, Haslinger’s edition makes a compelling case for its current representation as a complete cycle of fourteen songs. The Rellstab songs, which make up the first half of the cycle, are overall more pleasant in nature, touching only briefly on darker, forlorn subjects. The first of these songs (Liebesbotschaft) opens the cycle in G major. From there, the following six pass through a fairly logical progression of keys to the last song (Abschied), which closes the first half in E-flat major, a choice of key that would have pleased any Romantic. The six Heine song that make up the bulk of the second half, however, deal with far gloomier moods and plunge deeper into the dreary recesses of the human heart. Der Atlas opens the second half in G minor, a shadow of the cheery G major that began the cycle. From thence, each song begins in a key related to the last—the sole exception being the tragic and haunting Der Doppelgänger in B minor following the serene C major of Am Meer. Though quite different in tone, Die Taubenpost provides at least a proper structural close, even if its sudden cheerful mood seems out of place following the immense weight of the Heine songs. In G major, it echoes the confident love of Liebesbotschaft, bringing the cycle, in terms of key and theme, to an adequate close. Joseph DuBose Recordings made in 1950s. courtesy of YouTube