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#franzschubert — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #franzschubert, aggregated by home.social.

  1. On 31 Jan 1797: #FranzSchubert, Austrian #composer (Unfinished Symphony), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1828).
    #HappyBirthday #RIP 🪦

  2. 🎶 Franz Schubert — Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D.944 "The Great" 🎶

    IV. Finale - Allegro vivace

    Charles Munch · Boston Symphony Orchestra

    youtu.be/0xPSJLQZwBM

    #music #franzschubert

  3. Jörg Widmann: ‘Schubert sings because he can’t help it’

    Clarinettist and composer Jörg Widmann (1973) cherishes tradition. His Octet for clarinet, horn, bassoon and string quintet is a tribute to Schubert’s piece of the same name. It will be performed by musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the small hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on 10 November 2024.

    Although he composed his Octet as a companion piece to Schubert’s work of the same name, it counts one less movement and lasts half as long. ‘This is purely out of respect,’ says Jörg Widmann. ‘I would never dare compare myself to him. Besides, I thought a structure of five movements and twenty-five minutes was just right. And although my piece is quite tonal, I did not aim for a stylistic copy either.’

    Jörg Widmann (c) Marco Borggreve

    Indeed, the spirit of Schubert constantly shines through the notes, which nevertheless bear Widmann’s own unmistakable stamp. Starting with the opening chords. These are borrowed directly from Schubert’s Octet but immediately take a different, more dissonant and expressionistic direction. Widmann’s piece seems like a Schubert in overdrive.

    Forever singing

    ‘I got to know his Octet relatively late, but was immediately impressed by its incessant singing,’ says the composer. ‘Take those endlessly long lines in the second movement, or the clarinet solo in his Eighth Symphony, the Unfinished. To perform those as a clarinettist was an existential experience.’

    ‘Schubert composed over 600 songs, I have always wondered why he sang all his life. I think this is for the same reason a small child whistles or sings in the forest. It is alone, it is afraid. It sings in order to reassure itself it is still there, it exists. To me, that is the essence of Schubertian singing. Adorno once said: “Before Schubert’s music, the tear falls from the eye without first questioning the soul.” That’s exactly the point. Schubert sings because he can’t help it!’

    Compositional crisis

    While working on the Octet, Widmann experienced a compositional crisis: ‘That was in 2003-4. I felt I could compose anything and everything, but failed to bring instruments to sing. It was a phase of severe self-criticism. I wanted to write about Schubert’s singing and threw myself maniacally into the Octet, and never stopped singing. Hopefully it sounds joyful indeed.’

    Song-like it certainly is, but joyful? Rather, it is desperate and dark. The third movement in particular, ‘Lied ohne Worte’, has an incisive drama. Desolate melodic lines drift from horn to violin, from clarinet to bassoon and to the other strings. Anxiously swelling fortissimi and restrained whispers evoke a deep loneliness. Towards the end, we even seem to hear a plaintive human voice.

    Vulnerable beauty

    ‘Exactly! That’s the double bass playing vertically on the comb, like a saw,’ exclaims Widmann. ‘This is the most important part. It is a sustained weeping, which is why I used so many ‘impure’ microtones. Ever since Monteverdi, a descending minor second has represented sadness, but to make it even sadder I reduced the interval even further. A crying person probably doesn’t sound so pure.’ 

    Yet there are lighter passages too, he stresses. ‘At one point it gets louder and louder, it almost hurts your ears. Suddenly we hear major and minor chords, played in flageolets. These are basically pure and clean, like radiant angel voices, but they are very difficult to intone. I have factored in this impurity; it’s like looking at the world through tear-stained eyes, it’s all about a vulnerable beauty.’

    This is followed by a short but fervent Intermezzo. Widmann: ‘This is for dramaturgical reasons. After the extremely desolate and personal middle section, you quasi light-heartedly say: well, and now on with it!’

    Abyssal singing

    The finale opens with the same chords as the first movement. From these nebulae of sound warble up themes of horn, bassoon and clarinet. Increasingly agitated, the musicians seem to be at each other’s throats. Just before the end, the horn howls like a dog in agony. After this, the string players furiously lash their instruments, ever wilder and wilder. Then the music stops abruptly.

    ‘Actually, it’s an anti-finale,’ Widmann says. ‘Like stumbling upon an abyss at full speed. In terror, your breath falters. For me, that is the essential characteristic of Schubert: there’s no more beautiful singing than abyssal singing. I regard my sudden silence as a big question mark: ‘Why, what for?’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblyC5RNyHY

    This article first appeared in the June 2017 issue of Preludium, the monthly magazine of Concertgebouw and Concertgebouw Orchestra

    #FranzSchubert #JörgWidmann #RoyalConcertgebouwOrchestra

  4. Aktuell in der HörBar: Sommerpause in der HörBar – Extraterristisches

    Pause in der HörBar – Reisezeiten. In dieser Ausgabe reisen wir mal weg von der Erde auf den Mond, auf andere Planeten – kurzum ins Weltall, extraterrestrisch. Unsere sechste Station!

    hoerbar.nmz.de/2024/08/sommerp
    #Jazz #KreuzQuer #NeueMusik #ZeitgenssischeMusik #FranzSchubert #Sommerpause24 #Winterreise

  5. Musical Interlude: How about some more Schubert? Here's a lovely overture to one of his singspiel operas, something you can imagine hearing in a lavish concert hall. And it's a pretty video.

    "Overture to Der vierjahrige Posten (The Four Year Sentry Duty), D.190," composed by Franz Schubert, performed by the Prague Sinfonia.

    youtube.com/watch?v=KSxdv2qkTA

    #MusicalInterlude #FranzSchubert #classicalmusic

  6. Musical Interlude: Time for a little classical, I think. How about a Schubert overture? Something we can imagine hearing at an outdoor concert....

    "Overture in D Major, D. 556," composed by Franz Schubert, performed by L'Orfeo Barockorchester.

    youtube.com/watch?v=SH0UpiabEc

    #MusicalInterlude #ClassicalMusic #FranzSchubert

  7. #Schubert's #Sonata for #Arpeggione and #Piano -- played on an actual arpeggione (an instrument that's like a bowed guitar).

    I looked this up on a whim, and I'm glad I did. The sound is beautifully warm and the music is beautifully wholesome.

    1st movement: youtu.be/do9UgdfwM5Q
    2nd and 3rd movements: youtu.be/JRFQ85SU_qs

    #ChamberMusic #FranzSchubert #ClassicalMusic @classicalmusic

  8. Aktuell in der #HörBar der #nmz: Igor Levit / Fantasia — Noch einmal Fantasien – wenigstens auf dem Cover dieses Doppelalbums. Denn neben der Chromatischen Fantasie und Fuge von Johann Sebastian Bach und Ferruccio Busonis Fantasia contrappuntistica stehen Franz Liszts monumentale Sonate h-Moll wie a

    hoerbar.nmz.de/2024/01/igor-le

    #Barock #EMusik #Romantik #JohannSebastianBach #AlbanBerg #SonyLabel #FranzLiszt #FerruccioBusoni #Fantasie #FranzSchubert #IgorLevit

  9. Aktuell in der #HörBar der #nmz: Igor Levit / Fantasia — Noch einmal Fantasien – wenigstens auf dem Cover dieses Doppelalbums. Denn neben der Chromatischen Fantasie und Fuge von Johann Sebastian Bach und Ferruccio Busonis Fantasia contrappuntistica stehen Franz Liszts monumentale Sonate h-Moll wie a

    hoerbar.nmz.de/2024/01/igor-le

    #Barock #EMusik #Romantik #JohannSebastianBach #AlbanBerg #SonyLabel #FranzLiszt #FerruccioBusoni #Fantasie #FranzSchubert #IgorLevit

  10. Aktuell in der #HörBar der #nmz: Igor Levit / Fantasia — Noch einmal Fantasien – wenigstens auf dem Cover dieses Doppelalbums. Denn neben der Chromatischen Fantasie und Fuge von Johann Sebastian Bach und Ferruccio Busonis Fantasia contrappuntistica stehen Franz Liszts monumentale Sonate h-Moll wie a

    hoerbar.nmz.de/2024/01/igor-le

    #Barock #EMusik #Romantik #JohannSebastianBach #AlbanBerg #SonyLabel #FranzLiszt #FerruccioBusoni #Fantasie #FranzSchubert #IgorLevit

  11. Es tanzen Mond und Sterne
    Den flücht’gen Geisterreih’n:
    Wer wird von Erdensorgen
    Befangen immer sein!

    Du kannst in Mondesstrahlen
    Nun, meine Barke, wallen;
    Und aller Schranken los,
    Wiegt dich des Meeres Schooss.

    Vom Markusturme tönte
    Der Spruch der Mitternacht:
    Sie schlummern friedlich Alle,
    Und nur der Schiffer wacht.

    liederabend.cat/bloc/entrades/

    #músicaclassica #classicalmusic #klassischemusik #kunstLlied #ArtSong @classicalmusic #FranzSchubert

  12. Du Urquell aller Güte,
    Du Urquell aller Macht,
    Lindhauchend aus der Blüte,
    Hoch donnernd aus der Schlacht,
    Allwärts ist dir bereitet
    Ein Tempel und ein Fest,
    Allwärts von dir geleitet,
    Wer gern sich leiten lässt.

    liederabend.cat/ca/bloc/entrad

    #músicaclassica #classicalmusic #klassischemusik #kunstLlied #ArtSong @classicalmusic #FranzSchubert