Other sections use less active accompanimental textures, but they are no less evocative for example, at the words “the touch of his hand, and ah, his kiss!” the music shifts suddenly to a halting dotted-quarter–eighth rhythm, as Gretchen luxuriates in the thought of Faust’s embrace. The expression marking is Leidenschaftlich (passionate), and the song begins with rapid 32nd notes, immediately striking a tone of distress, even panic. (You can find the score here.) If Schubert uses the piano to create a sense of anxiety, Franz uses it to create an even greater sense of turmoil. Schubert’s iconic 1814 song “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), with its arpeggiated accompaniment that evokes the spinning of Gretchen’s wheel and the churning of her emotions, is based on the same poem. This song, drawn from Franz’s unpublished manuscripts, is a setting of Gretchen’s monologue from part 1 of Goethe’s play Faust. My hope is that these comments will be useful to those who would like to use her songs in the classroom, the private studio, or the recital hall. Here are some analytical observations about two of the songs featured below. Their piano accompaniments are also richly varied, with textures that respond to the shifting ideas and emotions of the poetry. Indeed, when it comes to harmony and tonality, they are groundbreaking, with a tonal freedom and fluidity that look ahead to late 19th-century music. Which is not to say that her songs are commonplace or uninventive. And their accompaniments are within the reach of an intermediate player (with a few notable exceptions, including ”Meine Ruh’ ist hin,” discussed below). They are thoroughly tonal but with many moments of expressive chromaticism. Franz’s songs are written in a style consistent with many other German Lieder from the middle of the nineteenth century.
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