Schubert: “Schwanengesang” (Swan Song) | René Pape, Dresden Festival Orchestra, Ivor Bolton

In the six songs set to poetry by Heinrich Heine — drawn from the fourteen compositions of "Schwanengesang" (Swan Song), D. 957 — Franz Schubert proves himself a brilliant composer of some of the darkest nocturnes of the Romantic period. The concert in this video features René Pape (bass) singing with the Dresden Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivor Bolton. The pieces were arranged for orchestra by Stuchasch Dyma. The performance took place at the opening concert of the Dresden Music Festival on May 16, 2019, at the Kulturpalast Dresden.

(00:00) 10. Das Fischermädchen
(02:17) 12. Am Meer
(06:01) 11. Die Stadt
(08:50) 13. Der Doppelgänger
(12:51) 9. Ihr Bild
(15:41) 8. Der Atlas

"Schwanengesang" (Swan Song) were the last piano pieces Franz Schubert (1797–1828) wrote before his untimely death on November 19, 1828. Publisher Tobias Haslinger (1787–1842) found the 14 songs in Schubert’s estate, titled them "Schwanengesang" and published them the following year. Since then, it has often mistakenly been said that "Schwanengesang" was the last song cycle Schubert composed. However, no one knows whether Schubert intended to compose another song cycle after "Die schöne Müllerin," D. 795 (1823) and "Winterreise," D. 911 (1827). These two great Romantic song cycles, both of which are set to text by Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827) are characterized by plots that develop dramatically, which is not the case with the songs of "Schwanengesang," which feature text by three different writers. For this reason alone, it's unlikely that the Austrian composer intended to publish them as a cycle.

On the other hand, Schubert appears to have regarded at least six of these songs as a set: those with text by Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), since he offered them to a publisher (who did not print them). Heine was among the most modern poets of his time. His first major collection, the "Book of Songs," was published in 1827, from which Schubert selected six poems from the section titled "Heimkehr" (Homecoming). He titled the pieces and arranged them in the following order: 1. Der Atlas (The Atlas), 2. Ihr Bild (Her Picture), 3. Das Fischermädchen (The Fisher Girl), 4. Die Stadt (The City), 5. Am Meer (By the Sea), 6. Der Doppelgänger (The Double).

In this concert, Schubert's songs were rearranged in two unique ways: First, the order of the pieces was changed to create a narrative structure that many contemporary performers find more coherent than the original. And second, instead of piano accompaniment, the works have been arranged for orchestra by Stuchasch Dyma, imbuing the works with a wide spectrum of timbres.

The songs tell of the painful, almost pathological experience of unfulfilled love. After hopeful courtship (00:00 Das Fischermädchen) and an apparent idyll, love proves to be poison (02:17 Am Meer). In his pain, the suitor withdraws into his inner world. The city where his beloved was lost appears as a misty image (06:01 Die Stadt), and in front of her house, the unhappy lover encounters his doppelganger (08:50 Der Doppelgänger). In a dream, the image of his beloved appears to him and makes him weep (12:51 Her Image). Finally, his own pain is universalized into world-weariness, and the unhappy lover sees himself as the mythological figure of Atlas, who carries all the pain of the world on his shoulders (15:41 Atlas). Schubert captures the oppressive mood of the poems, which contain a variety of romantic motifs, in congenial musical language — a dramatic monologue that often seems like an operatic recitative, almost as if the song is spoken.

Even in the nineteenth century, Schubert was regarded as an outstanding composer of Romantic song and was likened to Prometheus, having allowed a heavenly spark to flow into Heinrich Heine’s brilliant poems. Among his works, "Der Doppelgänger" was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the darkest nocturnes.

Text: Rita Kass

© 2019 Accentus Music

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