Lorraine
Byrne, Schubert's Goethe Setting (Hampshire,
England: Ashgate, 2003)
Musically,
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) existed between two
worlds--Classicism and Romanticism. Like the
Romantic naturphilosophes of the time, such
as Alexander von Humboldt and Johann Goethe,
Schubert believed on a holistic view of nature
and society in which: "Only the whole of
humanity makes up the true human being and the
individual can only be joyful and happy when
he has the courage to feel himself as part of
the whole."
Schubert was the first composer to mirror Goethe's
development of poetry in musical form, while
expressing his own personality and that of his
society and age--Schubert verified the "reality
of poetry" in a musical world. Although
Schubert was influenced by several poets, he
was attracted to Goethe's verse for throughout
his writing career.
Schubert's his first song cycle Die schone Mullerin
(1823) and his later Winterreise (1827), brought
the German Lied or Art Song to a new level of
sophistication and popularity. It is in the
latter that we can best see how cycles intersect
science and music. |