Observations placeholder
Schubert - Schwanengesang, D 957: no 4 Serenade [vocal and orchestral versions]
Identifier
020625
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Schwanengesang ("Swan song"), D.957, is the title of a collection of songs written by Franz Schubert at the end of his life and published posthumously. It contains settings of three poets, Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860), Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) and Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804–1875). Schwanengesang was composed 1828 and published in 1829 just a few months after the composer's death on 19 November 1828. Serenade is to be found in the set by Ludwig Rellstab:
- Liebesbotschaft ("Message of love"; the singer invites a stream to convey a message to his beloved)
- Kriegers Ahnung ("Warrior's foreboding"; a soldier encamped with his comrades sings of how he misses his beloved)
- Frühlingssehnsucht ("Spring sunshine": the singer is surrounded by natural beauty but feels melancholy and unsatisfied until his beloved can "free the spring in my breast")
- Ständchen ("Serenade"; the singer exhorts his lover to make him happy)
- Aufenthalt ("Dwelling place": the singer is consumed by anguish for reasons we aren't told, and likens his feelings to the river, forest and mountain around him)
- In der Ferne ("In the distance": the singer has fled his home, broken-hearted, and complains of having no friends and no home; he asks the breezes and sunbeams to convey his greetings to the one who broke his heart)
- Abschied ("Farewell": the singer bids a cheery but determined farewell to a town where he has been happy but which he must now leave)
A description of the experience
with words as it was orignally conceived
Schubert Ständchen (Serenade) Peter Schreier
and an orchestral version
Schubert - Serenade