The first of the songs on poetry of Heinrich Heine, Der Atlas opens the second half of Schwanengesang with a return to despondency and suffering. Likening himself to the primordial titan who held up the world, the narrator feels the heaviness of his sorrow like the crushing weight of the celestial sphere. However, he recognizes that his current unhappy state is of his own proud heart’s doing. From Heine’s lyric, it is apparent the unnamed man gambled on love and lost, and he is now left to bear the burden of rejection.
In G minor, Schubert begins Der Atlas with a virile melody in the low register of the piano, accompanied above by melodramatic tremolandi that conjures the image of the mighty titan struggling beneath the weight of the earth. Throughout the first stanza, the vocal melody follows closely the bass provided by the piano, which combined with the continued tremolandi of the accompanying chords creates a stark, yet dramatic, musical landscape. The second stanza begins the central episode of Schubert’s tripartite setting. Modulating into a distant B major, the narrator here revisits the mischance that has led to his suffering. Though the mode is now major, there is hardly a consoling moment in the following music. From B major, Schubert passes to E minor before effecting an ingenious modulation back to the tonic as the vocalist sings “stolzes Herz, und jetzo bist du elend” (“Proud heart, and now you are miserable”). To complete the song’s three-part form, Schubert reprises the first two lines of the first stanza. The music of the opening is recalled, though at first in varied fashion. Following the authentic cadence at the close of the second line, Schubert inserts a final repetition of the second line which builds to a grief-stricken climax on the flattened second of the key but then falls exhaustively back to the tonic. Joseph DuBose
This recording of Schwanengesang was made in the 1950s.
Classical Music | Baritone
Franz Schubert
Der Atlas, from Schwanengesang Play
Recorded on 12/31/1969, uploaded on 01/22/2014
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Der Atlas
The first of the songs on poetry of Heinrich Heine, Der Atlas opens the second half of Schwanengesang with a return to despondency and suffering. Likening himself to the primordial titan who held up the world, the narrator feels the heaviness of his sorrow like the crushing weight of the celestial sphere. However, he recognizes that his current unhappy state is of his own proud heart’s doing. From Heine’s lyric, it is apparent the unnamed man gambled on love and lost, and he is now left to bear the burden of rejection.
In G minor, Schubert begins Der Atlas with a virile melody in the low register of the piano, accompanied above by melodramatic tremolandi that conjures the image of the mighty titan struggling beneath the weight of the earth. Throughout the first stanza, the vocal melody follows closely the bass provided by the piano, which combined with the continued tremolandi of the accompanying chords creates a stark, yet dramatic, musical landscape. The second stanza begins the central episode of Schubert’s tripartite setting. Modulating into a distant B major, the narrator here revisits the mischance that has led to his suffering. Though the mode is now major, there is hardly a consoling moment in the following music. From B major, Schubert passes to E minor before effecting an ingenious modulation back to the tonic as the vocalist sings “stolzes Herz, und jetzo bist du elend” (“Proud heart, and now you are miserable”). To complete the song’s three-part form, Schubert reprises the first two lines of the first stanza. The music of the opening is recalled, though at first in varied fashion. Following the authentic cadence at the close of the second line, Schubert inserts a final repetition of the second line which builds to a grief-stricken climax on the flattened second of the key but then falls exhaustively back to the tonic. Joseph DuBose
This recording of Schwanengesang was made in the 1950s.
Courtesy of YouTube
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Impromptu Op 90 N° 3
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