Classical Music | Baritone

Franz Schubert

Der Geistertanz  Play

Thomas Meglioranza Baritone
Reiko Uchida Piano

Recorded on 10/12/2004, uploaded on 01/17/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Perhaps drawn to the eerie scene of Friedrich von Matthisson's poem Der Geistertanz ("Ghost Dance"), Franz Schubert set it to music no less than four times between 1812 and 1816—twice in 1812 and once in 1814 for solo voice and piano and again in 1816 as a part song for unaccompanied male chorus.

The spectral scene of Matthisson's poem begins with the ghosts of those deceased dancing above their graves at the stroke of midnight. Piano and voice begin the song in unison, rising and falling along the tonic triad of C minor. This opening figure, which becomes the principal motif of the song, is made all the more eerie by the inclusion of F-sharp before it peaks on the dominant. The dance-like motion of the song is interrupted twice where Schubert masterfully gives musical utterance to the imagery of the poem. First, the "whining" of the dogs is heard at the close of the second stanza followed by the ghosts' inquiry in recitative. Next, the flight of the ravens is heard in quick scalar passages on the piano followed by another recitative. The dance then resumes. A brief consolation is reached in the final two stanzas when the ghosts speak of the torment in their graves below and then happily bid their "deep, dark chambers" farewell. The key of A-flat major is briefly touched on before the beginning of the final stanza and by its close E-flat major is reached. The repetition of the final stanza remains firmly rooted in the key of E-flat before being jolted back to the tonic of C minor at its last "Farewell."     Joseph DuBose

Die bretterne Kammer

Der Toten erbebt

Wenn zwölfmal den Hammer

Die Mitternacht hebt.

 

Rasch tanzen um Gräber

Und morsches Gebein

Wir luftigen Schweber

Den sausenden Reih'n.

 

Was winseln die Hunde

Beim schlafeneden Herrn?

Sie wittern die Runde

Der Geister von fern.

Die Raben entflattern

Der wüsten Abtei,

Und flieh'n and den Gattern

Des Kirschofs vorbei

Wir gaukeln un scherzen

Hinab und empor,

Gleich irrenden Kerzen

Im dunstigen Moor.

O herz, dessen Zauber

Zur Marter uns ward,

Du ruhst nun in tauber

Verdumpfung erstarrt;

Tief bargst du im düstern

Gemach unser Weh;

Wir Glücklichen flüstern

Dir frölich: Ade!

--Friedrich von Matthisson (1761-1831)

Ghost Dance

The boarded chamber

of the dead trembles

when midnight raises the hammer

twelve times.

Quickly we airy spirits

strike up a whirling dance

around graves

and rotting bones

Why do the dogs whine

as their masters sleep?

The scent from afar

the spirits' dance.

Ravens flutter up

from the ruined abbey

and fly past

the graveyard gates

Jesting, we flit

up and down,

like will o' the wisps

over the misty moor.

O heart, whose spell

was our torment,

you rest now,

frozen in a numb stupor.

You have buried our grief

deep in the gloomy chamber;

happy we, who whisper you

a cheerful farewell!

--Friedrich von Matthisson

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