Abstract:
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was one of the most gifted and prolific composers of the 19th century. He composed over 600 songs with texts by over ninety poets, such as Pietro Metastasio and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Schubert's melodies and piano accompaniments reveal a sense of musical drama, which impacted other German composers during the Romantic era and beyond. This creative project will explore Schubert's musical style in his lieder. Different compositional characteristics of his music will be studied and discussed. I will first discuss the musical style of Schubert's lieder, by analyzing text, melodic phrases, expressional markings, harmonic and rhythmic structures. Some musical examples from my graduate recital program will be selected. Next, I will interpret the singing style of various recordings, sung by well-known singers, made in different time periods and a comparison chart including contrasts of tempi will be made. Finally, I will develop innovative information for singers to better understand how Schubert stressed the texts by shaping his expressive vocal phrases as well as changing the dynamic power in his piano parts, which will strengthen the collaboration between singers and pianists and will allow an artistic interpretation of Schubert's lied to evolve.