The choice of Lieder in SchubertAppen.
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118, Op.2
Gretchen, obsessed and unrequited by love to the false Faust, is portrayed in a dramatic vocal part and a most vivid piano accompaniment. The voice reaches its peak and the piano suddenly turns silent when Gretchen remembers Faust’s kiss. When the piano starts over Gretchen returns to the monotony of the spinning wheel and her troublesome reflections. Poetry originates from Goethe’s Faust with Marguerite as Gretchen’s model. Schubert composed the song in 1814.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
was a German author, a poet, and a naturalist. He was the author of the Sturm und Drang* era bestseller ”The Sorrows of Young Werther”. He never took any notice of Schubert and despite the latter’s persistent attempts they never met. Schubert composed 74 songs on Goethe poems such as Erlkönig and Heidenröslein.
*Sturm und Drang was a cultural movement in 1700s Germany that initiated the German romantic era of literature, culture, and philosophy.
