The Development of the German Lied in Nineteenth Century

Introduction

Lied is a genre of song. It is originally is a German word which means song, generally employed to illustrate romantic songs laying down German poems of somewhat more literary aspirations, particularly in the nineteenth century, starting with Carl Loewe along with Heinrich Marschner, and the great master of Lied Franz Schubert and ended with Hugo Wolf. Lied is often termed with art song interchangeably among English speakers to include works that have traditionally got inspirations in other languages. The basis for Lieder was established on poetry that generally focused upon themes relating to a pastor, or themes of romantic love.

Lieder are usually set up for a solo singer and piano. A later development in Lied was the orchestral accompaniment. "Der Tod und das Mädchen" means Death and the Maiden is one of the most famous Lieder of Schubert. "Gretchen am Spinnrade" is also one of his literary piece. Lieder are sometimes assembled in a Liederkreis that is song cycle. Liederkreis is a string of songs, three or more in general, linked by a single idea or theme, for instance Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise of Schubert, or Frauenliebe und -leben and Dichterliebe of Schumann. Both Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann have close association with this genre of music, essentially expanded in the Romantic era.

Discussion

History of German Lied

The term Lied has a long history for the German speakers extending from twelfth century to the twentieth century. It undergoes numerous phases in the long run of time that is from Minnesang; the troubadour songs to Volkslieder; the folk songs and then from the Kirchen lieder that is the church rhymes to the protest songs; the Protest lieder or Kabarett lieder.

The most primitive supposed lieder emerged in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and are the efforts of minnesingers that were poets and singers of courteous love that is Minne. Many existing Minnelieder are sign of southern German origins and are composed in a set of manuscripts of a bit later date. In that era, Lieder were monophonic that is based on single melody line while in the preceding centuries, they transformed from monophonic to polyphonic and then in the sixteenth century Lieder were influenced by Italian origin madrigals. The retrieval of Lied production by the German composers was observed in the 19th century. (Britannica, 2012)

The great era of song came in Germany, in the nineteenth century. Though composers of Germany and Austria had composed music for vocals with keyboard before the advent of this form of music, but in the Classical and Romantic eras, it was with the flourishing of German literature that composers established high stimulation in poetry that flicked the genre acknowledged as the Lied. The foundations of this tradition are viewed in the songs of Mozart and Beethoven, but a new balance between words and music is set up by Schubert who gave a new feeling to the genre; the collaboration of the words and tones. Schubert contributed Lied with more than ...