Sample played by London Brass

10008 – An Die Musik

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Arranged by Roger Harvey

Difficulty: Easy

Price: £20

Programme notes:

Schubert wrote over 600 songs during his short life. With help from the extraordinary outburst of late 18th century lyric poetry he effectively established the German lied as a new art from to be taken up and developed by Schuman, Brahms and Wolf. ‘An Die Musik’ was composed in 1817 to words by Franz von Schober and illustrates the simplicity with which Schubert could portray expressive ideas. Surely the reason for the abiding popularity of his songs is the direct appeal if his melody and his ability to portray the spirit of the lyric so accurately and with a minimum of fuss.

How blest the art that in my moods of sorrow,

When all life is sunk in darkest night,

Can kindle joy once more within my bosom,

And waft to me a world of heavenly light.

Oft from your harp there breathes a sound of gladness,

A heavenly chord that fills my heart with bliss;

I glimpse a world that never knew life’s sadness,

O wondrous art, my thanks to you for this.

Performance notes:

The repeated quaver pattern in the accompaniment should be played as gently as possible: tenuto with a soft articulation to give a very gentle throbbing effect. The melody in the flugel should be as cantabile as possible, dolce but not over-expressive. The complementary bass line should also be considered as a melody line and played smoothly and expressively, warmly but without vibrato. The unison trumpet line in the 2nd verse should continue in the same warm but not over-expressive vein. Make sure the tuning is accurate especially the low B in bar 8. It is conventional and desirable to make the final quaver of bar 20, 21 and 22 a focus for the sequence, leaning and dwelling slightly on each of them within the bounds of good taste.