Thursday, May 7, 2009

Schubert "Heidenröslein, D. 257 (Op.3/3)" - Second Open Listening


Even without acknowledging the text, the song feels like a story with Schubert and Fritz Wunderlich as the narrators.  As story teller, Wunderlich emphasizes the emotions of each character in his voice.  He is a sympathetic commentator - the dramatic changes in the countour of his voice both within and between phrases reflect both the attitudes of each character and of his own opinions/observations (which is really Goethe's third person commentary, but it functions as the vocalist's commentary in this setting.) Additionally, each time the song repeats, it is in a different context as the lyrics are at a different point in the poem.  Wunderlich reflects this in changing the character of his voice completely with each repeat.  And finally, there is Schubert; the puppet master behind Wunderlich's narration, he composed the piece to reflect the tone of the characters and the conflict that make up the poem.

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