Auf dem Wasser zu singen
Auf dem Wasser zu Singen (D.774) is a Lieder composed by Franz Schubert in 1823 and based on the poem of the same name by Friederich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg.[1]
The text describes a scene on the water from the perspective of the narrator who is in a boat, and delves into the narrator's reflections on the passing of time.[2] The song's famous piano accompaniment recreates the texture of the shimmering waves (der Freude sanftschimmernden Wellen) mentioned in the third line of the poem and its rhythmic style in the 6/8 meter is reminiscent of a Barcarole. Harmonically, the song as a whole and within each stanza traces a movement from the minor mode to the major mode: the song begins in a flat minor and ends in A Flat Major.[3]
References
- ^ International Music Score Library Project http://imslp.org/wiki/Auf_dem_Wasser_zu_singen,_D.774_(Op.72)_(Schubert,_Franz)
- ^ WikiSource http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Lied_auf_dem_Wasser_zu_singen
- ^ Schafer, Maureen; Illuminating Text: A Macro Analysis of Franz Schubert’s “Auf dem Wasser zu singen” http://www.macromusic.org/journal/volume2/13MusicalInsights.pdf