Nachtstuck – C-moll, Op. 36 Nr. 2, D. 672 (LHS)

Viennese composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) left a vast oeuvre spanning various genres. Lieder represent the majority of his output with over 600 compositions. Schubert was the first to elevate the Lied from a melody with a simple accompaniment to a complex artform, making the text as important as the music itself, while keeping the music independent at the same time. “[…] melodies that accompany me through life, eventful and calm, unsteady and mysterious, gloomy and bright, like life itself” (Johann Mayrhofer: Erinnerungen an Franz Schubert, 1829) “Nachtstück” (Nocturne) for voice and piano was composed in 1819 and is not part of a cycle. The text is a poem by Schubert’s contemporary and good friend Johann Mayrhofer. An introduction creates the scenery for the story (mm. 1-17), and is followed by a song within the song (mm. 18-39) with a very “harpistical” accompaniment (in the original piano version the sustain pedal should be held down to imitate the sound of a harp); the story then concludes with a lively accompaniment, and rapidly shifting tonality in the closing bars (mm. 40-68). The three parts differ in tempo and colour, and should evoke contrasting atmospheres. Since this composition is a song, accompaniment and melody should be clearly separated through articulation or playing position on the string (especially from mm. 41). Schubert’s Lieder are full of hidden messages (e.g. the slowly descending chromatic scale of the opening is a death motif). The correspondence of music and text shows the subject

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