REPRESENTATIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Heidenröslein was written in August 1815, Erlkönig in December. In between came sixty other songs, three choruses, a piano sonata, a set of twelve dances, a cantata, and an opera. By then Schubert was a seasoned composer of dramatic ballads; Erlkönig was his seventeenth essay in that genre. His earlier settings had relied a great deal on operatic devices, particularly the use of recitative for the narrator's lines. In Erlkönig, recitative has shrunk down to just a single line: the horrifying final one in which the child's death is revealed. Elsewhere the momentum is maintained at considerable cost to the poor pianist's right arm, to which the horse's incessant hoofbeats are assigned. (That triplet pulse, although never before so boldly rendered, was already traditional in setting this poem: compare Reichardt in Ex. 3-3.)
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 3 Volkstümlichkeit." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2019. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-003007.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 3 Volkstümlichkeit. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 17 Nov. 2019, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-003007.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 3 Volkstümlichkeit." In Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 17 Nov. 2019, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-003007.xml
