Lieder der Goethezeit für Gesang und Harfe
Begriff und Geschichte der Vertonung in the Goethezeit –
The German song: historic concept
Historische Entwicklung – Historic development
The genre of the German song has suffered profound changes throughout its almost 300 years of history. After a blossoming time in the 17th century, a period of decay followed during the Aufklärung, as it was thought that music was the most irrational art. The thinker and composer Gluck started composing music for Klopstock’s odes and poems, which caused a revival of this genre.
We must distinguish two different composing schools in Germany: The First Berlin School based on Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s motto “back to nature” or “Zurück zur Natur”. It seeked a song with popular features and natural simplicity. The Second Berlin School was represented by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814) and Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832). It looked for more musical expression and considered that music should serve the poets’ aims. Music would therefore be subordinated to literature, this is the reason why this school preferred the strophic lieder. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was an admirer of this composing school and often had his poems put into music by Reichardt and Zelter, his favourite composers. He also expressed his own theories about what a lied should be in the letter WA 7/33 addressed to C. F. Zelter and signed on 2nd May 1820:
Die reinste und höchste Mahlerey in der Musik ist die, welche du auch ausübst, es kommt darauf an, den Hörer in die Stimmung zu versetzen, welche das Gedicht angiebt, in der Einbildungskraft bilden sich alsdann die Gestalten nach Anlaß des Textes, sie weiß nicht wie sie dazu kommt. Muster davon hast du gegeben in der Johanna Sebus, Mitternacht, Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh, und wo nicht überall? Deute mir an, wer außer dir dergleichen geleistet hat. Töne durch Töne zu mahlen: zu donnern, zu schmettern, zu plätschern und zu patschen, ist detestabel.
It is therefore wrong to consider Gretchen am Spinnrade, composed by Franz Schubert (1797-1828), the first German song ever. It is true that Franz Schubert’s songs were revolutionary: music got more independence from the text in order to better illustrate it. Excellent examples to illustrate this point are The Erlkönig and Gretchen am Spinnrade itself. The German songs were usually written for the king instrument of the 19th century, the piano. However, there are many compositions for other polyphonic instruments like the harp or the guitar. The genre of the German song flourished throughout the 19th century. In the works of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Robert Schumann or Johannes Brahms, music gradually reached more independence from the text. Goethe did not like this trend and insisted on the importance of the text itself. In a letter to Wenzel Johann Tomaschek written on 6th August 1822, he pointed out:
Ich kann nicht begreifen, wie Beethoven und Spohr das Lied gänzlich mißverstehen konnten, als sie es durchcomponirten; die in jeder Strophe auf derselben Stelle vorkommenden gleichen Unterscheidungszeichen wären, sollte ich glauben, für den Tondichter hinreichend, ihm anzuzeigen, daß ich von ihm bloß ein Lied erwarte. Mignon kann wohl ihrem Wesen nach ein Lied, aber keine Arie singen.
Music was now a literary interpretation of the text made by the composer, as can be found in the songs by Hugo Wolf or Richard Strauss: “The abandoned fragment and the mysterious understatement, the very stuff of Romantic poetry, could be ideally amplified and elucidated through musical means; as the 19th century progressed, Germen writers (Novalis, Hölderlin, the Schlegel brothers, Heine, Müller, Mörike, Kerner) ploughed the depths of neurotic instrospection in verse, and composers followed in their footsteps reaping a musical harvest of unprecedented riches.” (Sadie 2001/2002).
In the 20th century, the song genre ceased to be popular, partly due to the invention of the gramophone and the radio, which made home music-making almost disappear. However, even in the 21st century there are composers like Ernst Keutzer (Fünf Lieder für mittlere Stimme und Harfe, 2000) or Harald Genzmer who keep on putting poems into music wth success.
