Musical image in the work of Franz Schubert. In the history of vocal music, Schubert occupies the same position as Beethoven in the field of instrumental music. Musical image in the work of Franz Schubert

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1. Who is Franz Schubert? 2. When and where was Schubert born? 3. Who were Schubert's parents? 4. Where did Schubert receive music education? 5. At what age was Schubert accepted into the court chapel? 6. At what age did Schubert start composing? 7. Which works became most famous during Schubert's lifetime? 8. How many songs did F. Schubert write? 9. What role does piano accompaniment play in Schubert’s songs? 10. Which singer began to promote Schubert's work? 11. What kind of person was Schubert? 12. What were they called? musical meetings Schubert with friends? 13. Which composer did Schubert idolize? 14. Representative of which musical direction was Schubert? 15. When did Schubert achieve real success? 16. How many years did Schubert live?

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At the age of eleven years In the church singing school - konvikt School teacher and the daughter of a mechanic January 31, 1797 in Austria Austrian composer

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The songs were performed by singer Michael Vogl. The piano accompaniment is of a figurative nature and participates in the creation of the musical image. Wrote about 600 songs. Genre of the song. At the age of thirteen.

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Only 31 years old Shortly before his death Representative of the musical romanticism of Ludwig van Beethoven "Schubertiad" Shy, reserved, avoided praise

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Musical image in the work of Franz Schubert

What feelings does the music express? What image did the composer convey in his music? - Who performs this piece of music?

Slide 8

SONG – BALLAD - a solo musical work of a narrative nature with elements of fantasy

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Musical image in the work of Franz Schubert

The real in a ballad is combined with the fantastic The event described is often of a dramatic nature Landscape and dialogue play a large role in a ballad The author’s feelings and emotional mood, which are conveyed to the listener, are especially important in a ballad The ballad is distinguished by a predilection for miracles, the terrible, for that which is not subject to logic and reason

Slide 10

Slide 11

How was Schubert able to convey tragedy, pain and scream human soul? - How does the plot develop in a ballad? -What role does the piano play in the piece?

Slide 12

I. V. Goethe V. A. Zhukovsky

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“We found Schubert in a completely heated state, loudly reading from a book of The Forest King. He walked with the book several times back and forth across the room, suddenly sat down, and at the very short time the ballad appeared on paper. That same evening, “The Forest King” was performed and received with delight.”

Slide 14

7. What is the overall character of the ballad? A). Quiet and calm B). Excited and anxious B). Cheerful and mischievous 6. Which character is characterized by a smooth, rounded, melodious melody? A). Father B). Son B). Forest King 5. How does the speech of the author, father and son sound? A). Excitedly B). Interesting B). Insinuatingly 7. What images influenced the construction of everything piece of music? A). Love and Hate B). Life and death B). War and Peace 6. What does the musical accompaniment of a ballad help you feel? dramatic image? A). Dotted rhythm B). March rhythm B). The rhythm of a mad ride 5. Which character’s speech in the ballad sounds affectionate, insinuating, soft, enticing? A). Father B). Forest King B). Son 4. How many characters are there in the ballad song “The Forest King”? A). 4 B). 5 V). 6 4. What is the image in the ballad song “The Forest King”? A). Lyrical B). Dramatic B). Epic 3. Who is the author of the German ballad text? A). Schiller B). Goethe V). Shakespeare 3. Who did the best translation of the ballad? A). Pushkin B). Lermontov V). Zhukovsky 2. How many songs did F. Schubert write? A). 600 B). 500 V). 400 2. At what age did F. Schubert write “The Forest King”? A). 28 B). 23 V). 18 In what country was Franz Schubert born? A). France B). Italy B). Austria How old did Franz Schubert live? A). 27 B). 31 V). 37

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The lesson was conducted according to the program of D.B. Kabalevsky, is used by the educational complex “Music. 7th grade" T.I. Naumenko, V.V. Aleeva.

Lesson type: lesson on learning new material

Teaching methods used:

• verbal;
• visual;
• practical;
• problem-search;
• independent work;
• working with a textbook;
• design;
• oral control;
• testing;
• mutual control.

Teaching techniques used:

• explanation;
• practical tasks;
• problematic situation;
• analysis and synthesis;
• compare and contrast.

Forms of organization of cognitive activity:

• individual;
• pair-group;
• collective;
• frontal.

Learning Tools:

• mp3 with a recording of a piece of music;
• textbook and didactic materials to the lesson;
• computer and multimedia projector;
• presentation for the lesson.

Quarter theme: Musical image.

Objective of the lesson: the formation of an emotionally conscious perception of a musical image using the example of the ballad “The Forest King” by F. Schubert.

Tasks:

• educational– introduce the concept of “musical ballad”, the biography of F. Schubert, identify the musical image in the ballad “The Forest King”;
• developing– develop communication skills, skills in independent work with information, the ability to analyze and synthesize the information received;
• educational– nurturing a personal attitude towards music and aesthetic taste.

Musical material: F. Schubert ballad song “The Forest King”, inserted into the presentation.

Equipment: computer, video projector, musical instrument.

Additional material: presentation for the lesson, a printed version of the table for filling out according to the options and biography of F. Schubert with questions, T.I. Naumenko, V.V. Aleev music textbook 7th grade.

Lesson progress

I. Organizational moment. State the topic and purpose of the lesson.

Slide 1

– Good afternoon, dear guys, dear guests. Today in the lesson we will get acquainted with a very famous work by the composer Franz Schubert, we will define the musical image that the composer Schubert conveyed in his song.

II. Repetition of what has been covered.

– What images exist in music? (Lyrical, epic, dramatic).

Slide 2 (Click on the ovals after a hand appears on them).

– Which works of Franz Schubert are you already familiar with and what image predominates in them? (“Ave Maria”, “Barcarolle”, “Trout” - lyrical image).

III. Learning new material.

1) – What kind of person was Schubert if he could create such lyrical works? We will be able to answer this question after we independently familiarize ourselves with the composer’s biography. I will provide each desk with a printed text and questions for you to answer.

(Complete the task at their desks. Each pair reads the composer’s biography and answers 3-4 questions, which are distributed by the teacher on separate pieces of paper with a version of the biography).

Slide 3

2) Questions to check the completion of the work.

1. Who is Franz Schubert?
2. When and where was Schubert born?
3. Who were Schubert's parents?
4. Where did Schubert receive his musical education?
5. At what age was Schubert accepted into the court chapel?
6. At what age did Schubert start composing?
7. What works were most famous during Schubert's lifetime?
8. How many songs did F. Schubert write?
9. What role does piano accompaniment play in Schubert's songs?
10. Which singer began to promote Schubert's work?
11. What kind of person was Schubert?
12. What were the names of Schubert's musical meetings with friends?
13. Which composer did Schubert idolize?
14. What musical movement was Schubert a representative of?
15. When did Schubert achieve real success?
16. How many years did Schubert live?

(The teacher, calling out the serial number, asks questions. Each student answers his question in order, and from the answers a biography of Schubert is built. All answers appear on the slide.)

Slides 4-6 (Click on each question after a hand appears on it).

3) Listening to the ballad “The Forest Tsar” by F. Schubert in Russian.

– Listen to one of the most famous works Schubert and answer the following questions:

Slide 7

– What feelings does music express?

– What image did the composer convey in his music?

– Who performs this piece of music?

(Listening to a ballad. Children’s answers to the questions posed.)

– What is the name of this work?

– What is a ballad?

Slide 8

– This is a solo narrative song with elements of fantasy. In it, the composer created a living picture in which the subtlest shades of human feelings are revealed.

Slide 9

- How many characters in a ballad?

– What is the theme of each character?

– What intonation prevails in the characters’ speech?

– What did you hear in the accompaniment?

– Let’s summarize our findings using the text in the textbook on page 42. Fill out the table that you see on the slide.

Slide 10

– You will work according to the options: option 1 characterizes the speech, melody and accompaniment of the father, son and narrator, and option 2 – the Forest King.

(A fragment of the table is distributed according to the options. Children fill it out using the textbook (p. 42). Check the completion of the table on the slide.)

Slide 10 (Click on each square after a hand appears on it).

– Listen to the ballad again, follow the text (text on page 40 in the textbook) and answer the following questions:

– How was Schubert able to convey the tragedy, pain and cry of the human soul?

– How does the plot develop in a ballad?

– What role does the piano play in the piece?

Slide 11

(Listening to a ballad in Russian with a lecture. Children’s answers to questions.)

– Franz Schubert’s ballad “The Forest King” is an example dramatic work. It represents a whole scene with the participation of various characters.

4) The history of the creation of the ballad “The Forest King” by F. Schubert.

– The ballad is written based on a poem by the German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe.

Slide 12

– The best translation of Goethe’s ballad into Russian was made almost two centuries ago by Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, a contemporary of A. S. Pushkin, a unique, very subtle, deeply lyrical poet.

– F. Schubert was enchanted by the poetry of V. Goethe. She excited and captivated the imagination, mind, and soul of the young composer. Schubert composed the ballad “The Forest King” when he was only 18 years old.

Slide 14

– This is how one of Schubert’s friends describes the birth of this song: “We found Schubert in a completely heated state, loudly reading from the book “The King of the Forest.” He walked with the book several times back and forth across the room, suddenly sat down, and in a very short time the ballad appeared on the paper. That same evening, “The Forest King” was performed and received with delight.”

IV. Consolidation.

– At the end of our lesson, I suggest you take a test on the options. You have pieces of paper on your desk on which you will write down the answers to my questions.

Slide 14 (Click on the questions one by one).

(Execution test tasks according to options. Mutual check.)

Slide 15

Answers for mutual verification: 7 – “5”, 6 – “4”, 5 – “3”, 4 – “2”.

V. Lesson summary.

– What work of Franz Schubert did we learn about in class today?

– What is the image in the ballad song “The Forest King”?

Slide 16

– What in the music helped us feel the dramatic image created by the composer?

(Assessing student work. Giving grades for work in class.)

VI. Homework.

– Draw a picture that matches the character of the ballad “The King of the Forest” by F. Schubert.

- Thank you for your creative work. Goodbye.

In the field of vocal lyricism, Schubert's individuality, the main theme of his work, manifested itself earliest and most fully. Already at the age of 17, he became an outstanding innovator here, while early instrumental works are not particularly strikingly new.

Schubert's songs are the key to understanding his entire work, because... The composer boldly used what he gained while working on the song in instrumental genres. In almost all of his music, Schubert relied on images and means of expression, borrowed from vocal lyrics. If we can say about Bach that he thought in terms of fugues, Beethoven thought in sonatas, then Schubert thought « songlike".

Schubert often used his songs as material for instrumental works. But using a song as material is not everything. The song is not only a material, songfulness as a principle - This is what significantly distinguishes Schubert from his predecessors. The widely flowing stream of song melodies in Schubert's symphonies and sonatas is the breath and air of a new worldview. It was through songfulness that the composer emphasized what was not the main thing in classical art - man in the aspect of his immediate personal experiences. The classical ideals of humanity are transformed into the romantic idea of ​​a living personality “as it is.”

All components of a Schubert song - melody, harmony, piano accompaniment, formation - are truly different. innovative character. Most outstanding feature Schubert's song is its enormous melodic charm. Schubert had an exceptional melodic gift: his melodies are always easy to sing and sound great. They are distinguished by great melodiousness and continuity of flow: they unfold as if “in one breath.” Very often they clearly reveal a harmonic basis (movement along the sounds of chords is used). In this, Schubert's song melody reveals commonality with German and Austrian melody folk song, as well as with the melody of composers of the Viennese classical school. However, if in Beethoven, for example, movement along chord sounds is associated with fanfare, with the embodiment heroic images, then in Schubert it is of a lyrical nature and is associated with intra-syllabic chant, “ruladity” (in this case, Schubert’s chants are usually limited to two sounds per syllable). Singing intonations are often subtly combined with declamatory and speech intonations.

Schubert's song is a multifaceted, song-instrumental genre. For each song he finds an absolutely original solution for piano accompaniment. Thus, in the song “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel,” the accompaniment imitates the whirring of a spindle; in the song “Trout”, short arpeggiated passages resemble light bursts of waves, in “Serenade” - the sound of a guitar. However, the function of accompaniment is not limited to figurativeness. The piano always creates the necessary emotional background to the vocal melody. For example, in the ballad “The Forest King,” the piano part with an ostinato triplet rhythm performs several functions:

• characterizes the general psychological background of the action - the image of feverish anxiety;
• depicts the rhythm of “jumping”;
• ensures the integrity of the entire musical form, since it is preserved from beginning to end.

The forms of Schubert's songs are varied, from simple verse to through, which was new for that time. The cross-cutting song form allowed for the free flow of musical thought and detailed following of the text. Schubert wrote more than 100 songs in a continuous (ballad) form, including “The Wanderer”, “The Warrior’s Premonition” from the collection “Swan Song”, “The Last Hope” from “Winter Reise”, etc. The pinnacle of the ballad genre - "Forest King", created in early period creativity, shortly after “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel.”

"Forest King"

Goethe's poetic ballad “The Forest King” is a dramatic scene with a dialogue text. Musical composition relies on the refrain form. The refrain is the child's cries of despair, and the episodes are the Forest King's appeal to him. The text from the author forms the introduction and conclusion of the ballad. The excited few-second intonations of the child contrast with the melodious phrases of the Forest King.

The child’s exclamations are carried out three times with an increase in the tessitura of the voice and a tonal increase (g-moll, a-moll, h-moll), as a result - an increase in drama. The phrases of the Forest King sound in major (I episode - in B-dur, 2nd - with a predominance of C-dur). The third passage of the episode and refrain is set out by Sh. in one music. stanza. This also achieves the effect of dramatization (contrasts come closer together). The last cry of the child sounds with extreme tension.

In creating the unity of the end-to-end form, along with a constant tempo, a clear tonal organization with a tonal center of g-minor, the role of the piano part with an ostinato triplet rhythm is especially great. This is a rhythmic form of perpetuum mobile, since the triplet movement first stops only before the final recitative 3 bars from the end.

The ballad “The Forest King” was included in Schubert’s first song collection of 16 songs based on Goethe’s words, which the composer’s friends sent to the poet. I came here too "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel", marked by genuine creative maturity (1814).

"Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel"

In Goethe's Faust, Gretchen's song is a small episode that does not pretend to be a complete depiction of this character. Schubert puts into it a voluminous, comprehensive description. The main image of the work is a deep but hidden sadness, memories and dreams of unrealistic happiness. The persistence and obsession of the main idea causes a repetition of the initial period. It takes on the meaning of a refrain that captures the touching naivety and simplicity of Gretchen’s appearance. Gretchen's sadness is far from despair, so there is a touch of enlightenment in the music (deviation from the main D minor to C major). The sections of the song (there are 3 of them) alternating with the refrain are of a developmental nature: they are marked by the active development of the melody, varying its melodic-rhythmic turns, changing tonal colors, mainly major, and convey an impulse of feeling.

The climax is built on the affirmation of the memory image (“...shaking hands, his kiss”).

As in the ballad “The Forest King,” the role of the accompaniment, which forms the end-to-end background of the song, is very important here. It organically merges the characteristics of internal excitation and the image of a spinning wheel. The theme of the vocal part follows directly from the piano introduction.

In search of subjects for his songs, Schubert turned to the poems of many poets (about 100), very different in terms of talent - from such geniuses as Goethe, Schiller, Heine, to amateur poets from his immediate circle (Franz Schober, Mayrhofer). The most persistent was his attachment to Goethe, to whose texts Schubert wrote about 70 songs. WITH youth The composer also admired Schiller's poetry (more than 50). Later, Schubert “discovered” the romantic poets - Relshtab (“Serenade”), Schlegel, Wilhelm Müller and Heine.

Piano fantasy “Wanderer”, piano quintet in A-dur (sometimes called “Trout”, since the IV part here presents variations on the theme of the song of the same name), quartet in d-minor (in the II part of which the melody of the song “Death and the Maiden” is used).

One of the ronda-shaped forms, which develops due to the repeated inclusion of a refrain in the end-to-end form. It is used in music with complex figurative content, depicting events in verbal text.

Franz Schubert. Songs and dances

The Austrian composer Franz Schubert, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert lived very little - only 31 years. But his legacy is enormous. During his short and, moreover, difficult life, Schubert managed to create more than a thousand works and in them he gifted humanity with real scatterings of musical treasures.

These are, first of all, his songs for voice and piano, of which he wrote more than six hundred, raising the genre to unprecedented artistic heights. There are many masterpieces among his other works - symphonies, piano sonatas and plays, chamber instrumental ensembles.

However, his most popular compositions remain songs and piano pieces. None of the young musicians passed by the waltzes or his other piano dances.

It is a pity that the composer lived such a short life. But the way he lived it makes us talk about a real creative feat.

Young Franz Schubert still in school years began composing music, and he did it so professionally that it alarmed his father. Schubert's father knew well how difficult the path of musicians was, even internationally recognized ones, such as Mozart and Beethoven. The father wanted to protect his son from a similar fate, and his efforts resulted in a serious quarrel with his son, as a result of which young Schubert was forced to leave home.

Throughout his life, the composer did not have his own corner. He lived either with one of his friends or with another. For the most part he lived in the capital of Austria - the city of Vienna. And the Viennese came to know and love his music. Mainly his songs. The secret of their expressiveness was their closeness to folk ones - Austrian, Hungarian, Slavic.

Songs occupied the main place in Schubert's work. It is interesting to note that in his works Schubert brings out a new hero - a simple modest person, who talks through music about his little ones life events, about episodes of happiness or suffering. In a word, Schubert's songs tell about what every person usually faces in life.

Often the only friend of Schubert's hero is nature. He entrusts his thoughts, hopes and sorrows to nature. Therefore, the songs contain images of a stream, a forest, flowers, birds, and the expanse of the night. These artistic images surround the hero of the songs, share his wanderings, joys and sorrows.

One of the songs is called “On the Road.” This song opens up a whole musical cycle Schubert entitled "The Beautiful Miller's Wife". A young miller sets out on a journey in search of happiness. This is a story about the first meeting on the journey of a wanderer - a joyful meeting, in tune with his mood.

The musical accompaniment of the song “On the Way” depicts the play of water in a gentle and welcoming stream. A water mill with spinning wheels and running water creates an image of cheerful movement. A simple, ingenuous melody very well conveys the joyful mood of the miller.

Schubert's song "Trout" is one of his most popular works. The song talks about how the poet watches the play of a cheerful silver fish in a mountain stream. But the fisherman, fishing for the fish to catch it, muddied the water in the stream, and the poor trout fell for his fishing rod. The poet sympathizes with the poor fish, describing the fisherman’s gloating: “He took it with a smile, I gave free rein to tears.” The melody of the song sounds against the background of fast upward sliding phrases, reminiscent of splashes of water.

Eternal material insecurity and continuous failures in life took a heavy toll on Schubert’s health. However, none of his friends noted that Schubert fell into a gloomy mood. Small in stature, stocky, stocky and short-sighted, Schubert turned meetings with friends into real musical celebrations, which were even nicknamed “Schubertiades.” On such evenings, the composer did not leave the piano, composing his wonderful waltzes in front of the public.

But at the same time, the composer was a great hard worker. He worked hard, systematically, day after day. He himself said so: “I compose every morning. When I finish one play, I start another.” There were days when he composed up to ten songs a day!

Schubert could also write several different melodies for the same words. Thus, he once composed seven different melodies for one version of the text. Musical thoughts visited him even during sleep. Then he woke up and tried to write them down as quickly as possible. That's why he even slept with glasses on! And his friends tried to help him buy music paper.

A real pearl of vocal lyrics is “Serenade” by F. Schubert. Songs called serenades were usually performed by young men in love under the windows of their lovers. They were sung in the evening or at night. Serenade performers accompanied themselves on guitar or mandolin. Schubert's Serenade is full of bright, dreamy moods. Its melody flows smoothly and unhurriedly, and it is written in a soft waltz rhythm. The piano accompaniment of the serenade reminds us of the sound of a guitar.

“Ave, Maria” is one of the brightest and most lyrical vocal works F. Schubert. The unearthly beauty of this music made the prayer to the Virgin Mary Schubert's most popular religious composition. "Ave Maria" - initial words Catholic prayer addressed to the Holy Virgin Mary, whom we call the Mother of God.

Schubert took the text for this song from the poem “The Virgin of the Lake” English writer Walter Scott - author of Ivanhoe and many other fascinating novels. In the poem, which takes place in the 16th century, these are the words of a song sung by a young girl, Ellen. Together with her father, a brave warrior slandered before the king of Scotland and expelled by him, and a faithful old bard, she hides in the remote wilds - the land of wild rocks, dark forests and crystal lakes. (In medieval Scotland, traveling poet-singers were called bards.) In her song, which the bard accompanies on the harp, Ellen turns to the Virgin Mary, asking for protection from her cruel persecutors.

Schubert's song captivates with the beauty of its smooth melody, combining lyrical expressiveness, femininity and sublimity of mood.

A musical moment is a small instrumental piece in which different human experiences can be expressed: slight sadness and sadness-sorrow, excitement and anxiety. For the first time in music, this name - a musical moment - appeared in Franz Schubert.

“Musical Moment” in F minor is extremely popular. It represents one of the few examples of lyrically poeticized Czech folk dance- polkas. Ten years after the appearance of this charming little play by Schubert, the polka began to become widely known in many European countries, including Russia, as a merry ballroom dance with a characteristic perky jump. Perhaps someone young can dance to Schubert's music - both graceful and shy, only timidly revealing their affectionate, sometimes slightly sly playfulness.

The play sounds sometimes with gentle sadness, sometimes playfully, sometimes brightly, decisively, playfully, sometimes very fragile and light. This music has many decorations (small, light sounds) that give it sophistication and sophistication, making it very beautiful. You admire this piece as if it were a precious thing, delicately and skillfully made; you want to examine every pattern and curl in it, watch how it sparkles and shimmers.

The city of Vienna, where the composer lived, has always been famous for waltzes. Schubert himself composed such dance pieces. Usually their melodies appeared at his “Schubertiad” evenings, at balls or country walks. There he improvised, accompanying dances or simply delighting friends with his performance. It's a pity that not all of them are ours musical pieces he managed to write it down. But one of the waltzes - B minor - is probably known to young musicians. This waltz is simple, it has a special light, soft sound. But in the middle, the waltz changes its tonality from minor to major, becoming more cheerful and decisive. Probably, while composing this waltz, Schubert was remembering something joyful from his life, or perhaps dreaming about his future.

Schubert's music itself was like a stream that rang repeatedly in his songs. Like a bright stream, it was passed from singer to singer, and ordinary people who lived on the outskirts of Vienna fell in love with her. We hope that you will also fall in love with the music of Franz Schubert.

Questions and tasks:

1. How many songs did Schubert write?
2. Who is the "hero" of Schubert's songs?
3. Has the unity of music and poetry become closer in Schubert's songs?
4. What role did the piano part play in Schubert's songs?
5. What is the content of the serenade genre? What is the character of the vocal melody and what is the character of the piano part in Schubert’s “Serenade”?
6. From which literary work Are the lyrics from Schubert's song "Ave Maria" taken? What is the content of this song and what is its character?
7. What genres in the area piano music Schubert addressed?
8. What genres in this area was he the first to introduce?
9. What features are characteristic of Schubert's works for piano?
10. What is remarkable about the character of the Waltz in B minor?
11. What dance genre did Schubert poetize in “The Musical Moment” in F minor?

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 18 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
"Ave Maria!" (2 versions), mp3;
"On the Road" from the series "The Beautiful Miller's Wife", mp3;
Waltz in B minor, mp3;
Musical moment No. 3 in F minor, mp3;
Serenade (2 versions), mp3;
"Trout", mp3;
3. Accompanying article, docx.

F. Schubert is considered the creator of the vocal ballad. At the turn of the XXVIII – XIX centuries. this ancient genre was, as it were, rediscovered in the works of romantic writers and composers.

Ballad - this is how they began to call vocal or instrumental piece of a romantic nature. In a musical ballad narrative character combined with the picturesque depiction of fiction about the wonderful, the “terrible”, the dramatic expression of feelings of love and hatred, suffering and joy, dreamy sadness and aspirational impulse. In a vocal ballad, the narrative is often based on a comparison of contrasting images with the continuous development of music, closely related to the plot of the poetic text.

In German poetry, the revival and new life the ballad is indebted to Goethe, Schiller, Heine. In music, the ballads of the German composer of the late 18th century I. R. Zumsteg (1760 -1802) were famous. Even in convict, Schubert was fond of his ballads. Schubert himself did not have many ballad songs, and “The Forest King” remains his most perfect creation in this new genre of romantic music.

F. Schubert was fascinated by Goethe's poetry. She excited and captivated the imagination, mind, and soul of the young composer. Over 70 songs were written to the words of the great German poet. Schubert composed the ballad “The Forest King” when he was only 18 years old. This is how one of his friends describes the birth of this song: “We found Schubert in a completely heated state, loudly reading from a book of The Forest King.” He walked back and forth around the room with the book several times, suddenly sat down, and in a very short time the ballad appeared on paper... That same evening, “The King of the Forest” was performed and received with delight.”

Each of the ballad's heroes has his own musical characteristic. Tension, horror, and supplication are heard in the words of the child; insinuation is heard in the speeches of the forest king. The father calms his son.

Musical language is understandable without translation. And, undoubtedly, after listening to the ballad “Forest King” - one of the most famous works Schubert to the poems of J. W. Goethe - to German, from the sound of the music itself, you can feel that this is a leisurely narrative by the author or an excited conversation between several characters.

The ballad is performed, as a rule, in the original language - German, so its meaning and content need to be translated.

Forest king

Who gallops, who rushes under the cold darkness?
The rider is late, his young son is with him.
The little one came close to his father, shuddering;
The old man hugs him and warms him.

“Child, why are you clinging to me so timidly?”
“Darling, the king of the forest sparkled in my eyes:
He wears a dark crown and a thick beard.”
“Oh no, the fog is white over the water.”

“Child, look around, baby, towards me;
There is a lot of fun in my side:
Turquoise flowers, pearly streams;
My palaces are made of gold.”

“Dear, the king of the forest speaks to me:
It promises gold, pearls and joy.”
“Oh no, my baby, you misheard:
Then the wind, waking up, shook the sheets.”

“Come to me, my baby! In my oak grove
You will recognize my beautiful daughters;
When it's month they will play and fly,
Playing, flying, putting you to sleep.”

“Darling, the forest king called his daughters:
I see they are nodding to me from the dark branches.”
“Oh no, everything is calm in the depths of the night:
The gray willows stand to the side.”

“Child, I was captivated by your beauty:
Willy-nilly or willy-nilly, you will be mine.”
“Darling, the forest king wants to catch up with us;
Here it is: I’m stuffy, it’s hard for me to breathe.”

This ballad, thanks to the realism of its images, is one of Schubert's most impressive works.