"Die Forelle", Op. 32
About the Work
Franz Peter Schubert was born in Himmelpfortgrund, near Vienna (now part of the city) on January 31, 1797, and died in Vienna on November 19, 1828. He wrote the songs heard at this weekend's concerts between 1814 and 1826.
The six songs performed at this weekend's concerts run a total of approxximately 25 minutes in performance.
The German word Lied (song) has found its way into the English language, denoting a special variety of piano-accompanied song set to German lyrics. The Lied evolved from more modest antecedents into one of the major Romantic genres, largely owing to the genius of a single composer, Franz Schubert. Schubert was able to evoke the most passionate drama in a few minutes of music, and he could achieve transcendence by the simplest means imaginable.
Schubert's songs were not written for the concert hall but for the informal musical evenings so dear to the composer and his friends. At these evenings, Schubert would sit at the piano and accompany singers like Johann Michael Vogl, longtime member of the Court Opera, or such well-trained amateurs as Karl Schönstein. Schubert himself had a pleasant singing voice, having started his career as a choirboy in the Vienna Stadtkonvikt (Imperial and Royal City College).
Schubert wrote more than 600 songs, of which fewer than a third were printed during his lifetime. The songs didn't begin to circulate more widely until decades after the composer's death. If Schubert's music gradually came into its own with performers and audiences, it was largely through the efforts of composers such as Robert Schumann, who discovered the manuscript of the ?Great C-Major" symphony; Felix Mendelssohn, who conducted the premiere; Franz Liszt, who popularized Schubert's music through numerous transcriptions; and Johannes Brahms, who was one of the driving forces behind the publication of Schubert's collected works.
One of the consequences of this newly-found enthusiasm for Schubert was that the songs broke out of the isolation of private homes and entered the world's great concert halls. It was soon realized that because of their great richness in colors, Schubert's piano parts lent themselves admirably to orchestration. Although some of the intimacy of the songs was bound to get lost in the process, the orchestral arrangements enhanced the dramatic power and depth of feeling inherent in the music. They also reveal a great deal about how Schubert was seen by successive generations of composers.
I. Die Forelle, D. 550 (1817)
The Trout
words by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-1791)
orchestrated in 1942 by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
| In einem Bächlein helle, Da schoß in froher Eil Die launische Forelle Vorüber wie ein Pfeil. Ich stand an dem Gestade Und sah in süßer Ruh Des muntern Fischleins Bade Im klaren Bächlein zu. Ein Fischer mit der Rute Wohl an dem Ufer stand, Und sah's mit kaltem Blute, Wie sich das Fischlein wand. So lang dem Wasser Helle, So dacht ich, nicht gebricht, So fängt er die Forelle Mit seiner Angel nicht. Doch endlich ward dem Diebe Die Zeit zu lang. Er macht Das Bächlein tückisch trübe, Und eh ich es gedacht, So zuckte seine Rute, Das Fischlein zappelt dran, Und ich mit regem Blute Sah die Betrog'ne an. |
In a bright little brook a capricious trout shot past in merry haste like an arrow. I stood upon the shore and watched in sweet peace the cheery fish's bath in the clear little brook. A fisher with his rod stood at the water-side, and watched with cold blood as the fish swam about. So long as the clearness of the water remained intact, I thought, he would not be able to capture the trout with his fishing rod. But finally the thief grew weary of waiting. He stirred up the brook and made it muddy, and before I realized it, his fishing rod was twitching: the fish was squirming there, and with raging blood I gazed at the deceived fish. |
(Transl. Emily Ezust)
