Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in ...(+)
Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian
composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast
oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works
(mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of
piano and chamber music. His major works include the
art song "Erlkönig", the Piano Trout Quintet in A
major, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the
"Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, a String Quintet,
the three last piano sonatas, the opera Fierrabras, the
incidental music to the play Rosamunde, and the song
cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. He was
remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in his
short career. His compositional style progressed
rapidly throughout his short life. The largest number
of his compositions are songs for solo voice and piano
(roughly 630).
This song has some of the pulsating magic of Nähe des
Geliebten written a few months earlier. The glory of it
lies in the impassioned and taut vocal line (which
irresistibly recalls Ungeduld from Die schöne
Müllerin) and the chromatic vigour of the underpinning
bass. The movement of the rich and significant inner
voices in the postlude brings Nähe des Geliebten, as
well as the opening of Memnon, to mind). There is
rapture and pain here a-plenty with wrenching
modulations which make this seem very much a young
man's music. A picture of Körner himself is obviously
in the composer's mind. Having captured his essence,
Schubert set about writing another song on the same day
which is equally evocative of Körner's mercurial
personality, Sehnsucht der Liebe.
Although originally composed for Voice & Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "Liebesrausch" (Rush of
love D.179) for Flute & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).