Die schöne Müllerin, Part 2: "Die böse Farbe"

Hello again!

After another large gap in posts which included singing around the Northeast and getting a full-time job in the arts, I've decided to return to blogging. Hopefully this reunion will be far more consistent than my previous returns!

I'd like to follow up on my previous post, which was an analysis of Schubert's "Die liebe Farbe", or "The Beloved Color" from his incredible song cycle Die schöne Müllerin. I'm now going to move onto "Die böse Farbe", or "The Evil Color". "Die böse Farbe" varies greatly both lyrically and harmonically from it's more weighty and depressive counterpart, but it's the combination of the two songs that make the story told by the miller all the more poignant. You can find a short summary of Die schöne Müllerin in the previous post.

Below is a video of the tenor Peter Schreier singing "Die böse Farbe", with Walter Olbertz accompanying.

Here is the German text and English translation, which can be found on recmusic.org:

Ich möchte ziehn in die Welt hinaus, Hinaus in die weite Welt; Wenn's nur so grün, so grün nicht wär, Da draußen in Wald und Feld! Ich möchte die grünen Blätter all Pflücken von jedem Zweig, Ich möchte die grünen Gräser all Weinen ganz totenbleich. Ach Grün, du böse Farbe du, Was siehst mich immer an So stolz, so keck, so schadenfroh, Mich armen weißen Mann? Ich möchte liegen vor ihrer Tür [In]1 Sturm und Regen und Schnee. Und singen ganz leise bei Tag und Nacht Das eine Wörtchen: Ade! Horch, wenn im Wald ein Jagdhorn [ruft]2, Da klingt ihr Fensterlein! Und schaut sie auch nach mir nicht aus, Darf ich doch schauen hinein. O binde von der Stirn dir ab Das grüne, grüne Band; Ade, ade! Und reiche mir Zum Abschied deine Hand!

I'd like to go out into the world, Out into the wide world; If only it weren't so green, so green, Out there in the forest and field! I would like to pluck all the green leaves From every branch, I would like to weep on all the grass Until it is deathly pale. Ah, Green, you hateful color, you, Why do you always look at me, So proud, so bold, so gloating, And me only a poor, flour-covered man? I would like to lay in front of her door, In storm and rain and snow. And sing so sofly by day and by night One little word: farewell! Hark, when in the forest a hunter's horn sounds - Her window clicks! And she looks out, but not for me; Yet I can certainly look in. O do unwind from your brow That green, green ribbon; Farewell, farewell! And give me Your hand in parting!

The score I use can be found here: http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/f/f6/IMSLP03233-Schubert_dsm_em.pdf

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While the piece is far shorter than "Die liebe Farbe", mostly due to the verse-refrain form of the song, "Die böse Farbe" packs quite a punch into its approximately 2+ minute performance time, and requires a different analytical approach. However, since this is part deux of a two-part post, a good place to start analyzing would be to compare the differences between "Die liebe Farbe" and "Die böse Farbe".

So, let's start with texture! "Die liebe Farbe" contained mostly block-chords that served to accentuate the pulse-level of the rhythmic structure , and it also contained that pesky continuous F# ostinato figure! There was also the descant figure in the left hand that appeared throughout the piece.

Even from the first few measures of "Die böse Farbe", we can see that the harmonic texture is far more diverse, as it contains both arpeggiated chords and block-chords. 

In terms of harmonic content, "Die liebe Farbe" was primarily set in B minor, with a brief shift into B major and another brief tonicization of F minor. As we look at "Die böse Farbe, we can see that it also contains some pretty blatant modal mixture, as the accompaniment abruptly shifts from B major to B minor in m. 3, and abruptly shifts back to B major in m. 5.  The striking difference is that, in "Die böse Farbe", the harmonic shifts are dynamically and rhythmically highlighted.

Now that we have a better idea of what we're dealing with here, let's look at the text!

I'd like to go out into the world,

Out into the wide world;
If only it weren't so green, so green,
Out there in the forest and field!

I would like to pluck all the green leaves
From every branch,
I would like to weep on all the grass
Until it is deathly pale.

Ah, Green, you hateful color, you,
Why do you always look at me,
So proud, so bold, so gloating,
And me only a poor, flour-covered man?

I would like to lay in front of her door,
In storm and rain and snow.
And sing so sofly by day and by night
One little word: farewell!

Hark, when in the forest a hunter's horn sounds -
Her window clicks! 
And she looks out, but not for me;
Yet I can certainly look in.

O do unwind from your brow
That green, green ribbon;
Farewell, farewell! And give me
Your hand in parting!

Woah! So now the miller hates green? 

But it does, especially when we look back to the material presented in "Die liebe Farbe"...

When the miller starts singing in m. 5, we've jumped right back into B major from B minor. The text here reads:

I'd like to go out into the world,

Out into the wide world;
If only it weren't so green, so green,
Out there in the forest and field!

I would like to pluck all the green leaves
From every branch,
I would like to weep on all the grass
Until it is deathly pale.

What's so interesting here is that, when the text reflects a happier mood, such as in the first two lines, the music is clearly set in B major. When we text changes to a more hateful tone, the harmonic structure begins to unravel, especially in mm. 17-22, where the miller says that he wants to "weep on all the grass/Until it is deathly pale". There is a stark and concise shift here to B minor, which only solidifies the harmonic and, thus, mental breakdown the miller is experiencing.

These first 22 measures only tonicize various keys, but the once we get to m. 23, things start to change:

Holy pedal tone on B natural! Not only does the pedal tone allow the sequence to occur in mm. 23-28, but the pedal tone also occurs in a group of three, disrupting the rhythmic fabric of the piece as well. And what does the next noun in the text happen to be?

Grün.

You evil rhythmically and harmonically disrupting word!

However, unlike "Die liebe Farbe", green in this piece does not seem to be represented by both a single pitch (F#) and a single rhythmic figure; the rhythmic figure takes wheel as the dominant representation of grün, leading the listener to believe that the trumpet call from the hunter (Jäger) is what the miller perceives as green...

...BUT, if you take a look at mm. 30-31, there is  a WHOLE LOT of love for F#, which the idea being that the piece needs to return to B major. So, grün could absolutely still be F#.

What do you think?

As always, comments are not just appreciated; they make this blog what it is and could be. Stay tuned for the next entry, where I'll be covering some AWESOME English art song...

Schubert, Die schöne Müllerin, Part 1: "Die liebe Farbe"

Hello! 


After a massive hiatus in which I completed all of the requirements for my degree (huzzah), I've decided to return to blogging! Did it really take me a year and two months to realize how cathartic blogging was? Or am I simply a starving college student who can't find much time on his hands? Or, none of the above?


I'd like to start this comeback by discussing a piece I'm working on right now; Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin. A blog entry for this whole song cycle would surely take a long time, so I'm going to dissect just two selections; "Die liebe Farbe" and "Die böse Farbe", meaning "The Beloved Color" and "The Evil Color", respectively. 


This first post will cover "Die liebe Farbe", and the next will cover "Die böse Farbe". It's a two-fer...kind of?


Especially for a song cycle that is as well-known and revered as Die schöne Müllerin is, I think a bit of back-story is needed to get a good idea of the pieces we're looking at. A cycle of 20 songs, the set follows a young miller, who finds a brook early in the piece. He follows the brook upstream to a mill-house, and begins to work there. He falls in love with the daughter of his employer, and employs various tactics to win her love. Eventually, he believes himself victorious in his courtship of the young girl, but the young girl seems to take great interest in a green band that she has. This troubles the miller given that, in Germany, green is the color that represents hunters, while white represents millers. Sure enough, a hunter begins to come around the mill, and the girl starts to pay more attention to the hunter. The miller, shocked by the girl's desire for the hunter, begins to undergo a mental collapse, first simply exhibiting signs of jealously, and then by obsessing over the color green. It is at this point in the story that "Die liebe Farbe" and "Die böse Farbe" appear. 


Here is a great YouTube video of the incomparable tenor Fritz Wunderlich singing "Die liebe Farbe", with Hubert Giesen at the piano.

Below is the translation for "Die liebe Farbe", courtesy of recmusic.com.

In Grün will ich mich kleiden,                                 In green will I dress,

In grüne Tränenweiden:                                           In green weeping willows;

Mein Schatz hat's Grün so gern.                            My sweetheart is so fond of green.

Will suchen einen Zypressenhain,                         I'll look for a thicket of cypresses,

Eine Heide von grünen Rosmarein:                       A hedge of green rosemary;

Mein Schatz hat's Grün so gern.                           My sweetheart is so fond of green.

Wohlauf zum fröhlichen Jagen!                             Away to the joyous hunt!

Wohlauf durch Heid' und Hagen!                          Away through heath and hedge!

Mein Schatz hat's Jagen so gern.                         My sweetheart is so fond of hunting.

Das Wild, das ich jage, das ist der Tod;               The beast that I hunt is Death;

Die Heide, die heiß ich die Liebesnot:                 The heath is what I call the grief of love.

Mein Schatz hat's Jagen so gern.                        My sweetheart is so fond of hunting.

Grabt mir ein Grab im Wasen,                               Dig me a grave in the turf,

Deckt mich mit grünem Rasen:                            Cover me with green grass:

Mein Schatz hat's Grün so gern.                          My sweetheart is so fond of green.

Kein Kreuzlein schwarz, kein Blümlein bunt,     No black cross, no colorful flowers,

Grün, alles grün so rings und rund!                      Green, everything green all around!

Mein Schatz hat's Grün so gern.                          My sweetheart is so fond of green.

The score I use to analyze the text can be found here:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/f/f6/IMSLP03233-Schubert_dsm_em.pdf

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Holy emotionally dense text!

In this post, I hope to explore aspects of mental instability as conveyed by the text and by Schubert's setting of the text.

Now if my wits are about me, and they usually are (mostly), I would guess that Schubert would try to represent the color green using some kind of compositional technique; maybe a motive? A repeated note? Both?

Yes, both! In the above except from the first part of all three strophes, it's easy to see that

Schubert repeats an F# constantly, and uses a rhythmic pattern at the pulse-level of the 

piece, also at a constant rate. Schubert repeats the note even if it causes blatant 

dissonance, such as in the fourth and fifth measures of the above excerpt

(E natural and G natural). 

Given that the text suggests that the miller begins to obsess about the color green, not to 

mention that in the two pieces being analyzed, green is called "beloved" and "hated", 

it is, at the very least, safe to suggest that 

F# represents the color green in Die schöne Müllerin.

Now, along the lines of harmonic analysis, the piece begins solidly set in B minor, with 

brief tonicizations of F# major. However, in the sections of the piece where "Mein Schatz 

hat's Grün/Jagen so gern" appears, there is a brief yet striking modulation to B major, the 

parallel major. What makes this shift so striking is its immediate modulation back to B 

minor only a measure after it first changed. Not only that, but it shifts back on the 

repetition of the same text as when it modulated at first ("Mein Schatz hat's Grün/Jagen 

so gern"). 

Considering the visceral nature of the work as a whole, this sudden harmonic change

could represent the miller's parting with reality. This is also paired with the omnipresent F# 

in the right hand of the piano, which seems to hammer away at the miller's rationality and 

sanity.

One last aspect of the piece that is worth examining is the descant-like countermelody in 

the left hand of the piano, which can be seen below;

Obviously, Schubert needed to counter the repeated F# with some kind of harmonic 

material, but why this specific countermelody? I think that the key to understanding this 

lies in the counterpoint between the countermelody and the actual melody, specifically 

the fact that the countermelody, at most times, harmonizes directly with the melody in 

thirds. However, this harmonization often conflicts with the repeated F#, such as the 

before-mentioned dissonances in the fourth and fifth measures of the first excerpt. 

Now, here is a bold statement; I believe that the melody represents the world/situation as 

the miller sees it, the countermelody represents reality, and the repeated F# represents 

how reality affects the miller. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding! The pudding, in this

case, is the relationship between melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic material, which makes 

for a very tasty pudding.

As it has been in the past, I don't analyze pieces completely, so if you see more 

interesting material to comment on, please post it in the comments section! Next time, I'll 

be continuing my analysis with "Die böse Farbe", while maintaining a lens of searching 

for structures of emotional and mental instability.

Best wishes for the end of the academic year!

Presentation of "Music Analysis of Art Song for the Singer" at NCUR 2011

It's been quite some time, but I'm back and blogging after a very busy semester here in Ithaca, NY. I've been selected to present at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research here in Ithaca! The conference takes place in late March and early April. The spirit of the presentation will be in the same vein as the blog, but I'll include some social commentary on art song as well. I'll hopefully be posting the talk here after the conference!

And now, onto the more important matters! Look for an update in the next few days (I promise!), which will finally be analysis of Henri Duparc's "Chanson triste".

From here on out, the updates will be bi-weekly, which means double the dosage of art song! Again, feel free to send me any ideas of songs (or arias) you'd like me to review, and always feel free to post your own analysis as well!

Best wishes for the new year!

Donizetti- "Quanto è bella", from L'elisir d'amore

Donizetti- "Quanto è bella", from L'elisir d'amore

Hi, friends! It's been some time since I have updated this blog, and probably some time since you have looked at it yourself; the beginning of any academic year is always extremely busy. However, I've found some free time (at last), and have decided to finally post an aria to analyze!

Of course, arias present similar and different challenges than art songs. Too often singers fall into the trap of believing the aria just serves a dramatic purpose, and the music is completely subservient to the drama unfolding during the given opera. However, while the opera in and of itself is served by the aria, the musical wealth found within the arias can hold clues to delivering a more effective dramatic performance as well. Some good examples are, of course, lietmotifs perfected and mainstreamed by Wagner, as well as repeating various phrases that have just been sung by another character on stage, something found in the final duet between Alfredo and Violetta in Verdi's epic opera, La traviata. While these musical characteristics are fantastic, digging even deeper can reveal even more clues about text stress, harmonic & melodic purpose, and phrase structure, which are some of the topics that will be discussed in this update!

Here is the text and translation for this aria,

Quanto è bella, quanto è cara!   How beautiful she is, how dear she is
Più la vedo, e più mi piace...   the more I see her, the more I like her
ma in quel cor non son capace   but in that heart I'm not capable
lieve affetto ad inspirar.   little dearness to inspire
Essa legge, studia, impara...   That one reads, studies, learns
non vi ha cosa ad essa ignota...  I don't see that she ignores anything
Io son sempre un idiota,   I'm always an idiot
io non so che sospirar.   I don't know but to sigh


(Thanks to www.aria-database.com for this translation)

In seconds, even without an understanding of the opera as a whole, we
see that this is both a love song and a lament. The character, Nemorino,
is declaring his love for Adina. This is an advantage that analyzing an aria
has over an art song; we have tangible characters we can create a relationship
between, even if the aria is being performed as a stand-alone piece. 

As we take a look at the music, a very obvious challenge presents itself. This opera is from the early Romantic Italian opera repertoire. There were definitely more social and creative "ideals", so to speak, pertaining to music. This is an aria in the "people's key" of C major, and, to the somewhat musically-informed opera-goer, might sound like any other aria from this time period. This is where informed musical analysis can make or break a performance of opera from this repertory.

(A copy of the score can be found here .The first page of the aria is page 9)

Other than the obvious cavatina-like nature of the aria, suggesting the amorous quality that I mentioned before, there are number of important accidentals in the music. One in particular is the D# passing tone on the word "piace" in the first line, which, of course, means "like", in this case "like her". Another key area (pun intended) in the aria is the mixture from C major to C minor on the lines "Essa legge, studia, impara...non vi ha cosa ad essa ignota", which means "She reads, studies, learns...there is not a thing she ignores!". This being a small lament within the love song, the mixture is extremely appropriate.

We then encounter the mini-cadenza in the middle of the piece, which takes place after the lament-like section. It is almost like Nemorino has seen Adina, and has thrown his worries aside about her being more intelligent because he is so much in love with her. He then jumps right back into the "Quanto é bella" theme.

The piece ends with a medium-sized cadenza, popular for music of this time period. The aria also ends on the text "Ma in quel cor non son capace lieve affetto d'inspirar", meaning "But in my heart I cannot inspire this light affection (or this sweet girl)". This is important for the plot of the opera, but, as this is a comic opera, the singer could easily ham this up, dramatically, for a more effective performance, especially with the high A on the word, "Ah!".

I know my analysis on this piece isn't as concise as it has been on other pieces I've blogged about, but I'd really like your input on other ways to effectively analyze this aria. This is an aria that I sing often for auditions and performances, so on a somewhat personal level, it would be nice to discover new ways to think about it!

I hope to update the blog this upcoming Friday, and the next update will be on a song I've been dying to analyze fully; "Chanson triste" by Henri Duparc.

Have a great last week of September, and stay healthy!

Poulenc - C (1943)

"C" from Poulenc's Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon

20th century French chanson changed immensely and rapidly due to internal and external factors affecting France, the greatest of which were the two World Wars that were truly centered around France. These wars brought the full spectrum of power and destruction that human beings were capable of to a new apex. This, however, led to a new apex in artistic motivation, inspiration, and insight that musicians and, specifically, composers were cable of. From Ravel's 5 Mélodies populaires grecques to the later music of Erik Satie, the immense insight gained by experiencing the extremes is immediately apparent, whether the subject was war, love, loss, or laughter.

Poulenc's Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon was published in 1944, during of one of the bloodiest periods of time in France's already tragic history. The Nazis had been occupying the country for about 4 years at this time, France's infrastructure was almost non-existent, millions of French citizens and soldiers had died, with more yet to perish, and France was beginning to resemble a ruinous wasteland akin to that of Warsaw, which had just been completely destroyed. This isn't to say France was coming out of any golden period of their own; World War 1 had just ended 21 years earlier, and the failure of the Third Republic to effectively run the country had made the French national morale quite low before the Germans entered France in 1940 at the beginning of World War 2.

Poulenc, personally, was also quite troubled. A devout Roman Catholic in his later years who also was considered the world's first openly gay composer, Poulenc was a successful composer and a member of the legendary group of composers, Les Six. Louis Aragon, meanwhile, was a surrealist poet and novelist who was also an avid supporter of the French Communist Party. The Deux Poemes were written early in Aragon's life, suggesting his fully radical ideals had not completely set in yet.

Let us take a look at the first of the two songs, "C".

Here is a translation!

J'ai traversé les ponts de Cé I have crossed the bridges of Cé

C'est là que tout a commencé It was there that it all began

Une chanson du temps passé A song of times past

Parle d'un chevalier blessé Speaks of a wounded knight

D'une rose sur la chaussee, Of a rose upon the road

Et d'un corsage délacé And of a bodice unlaced

Du château d'un duc insanse, Of the castle of a mad duke

Et des cygnes dans ses fosses And of the swans in its moats

De la prairie où vient danse Of the meadow where will dance

Une éternelle fiancée An eternal fiancée

Et j'ai bu comme un lait glace, And like cold milk I drank

Le long des laïcs de gloires fausses The long lay of false glories

La Loire emporte mes pensées The Loire carries off my thoughts

Avec des voitures versés Along with the overturned cars

Et les armes désamorcées And the defused weapons

Et les larmes mal effacée And the tears not rubbed away

Oh ma France, ô mon delacee; Oh my France, oh my abandoned one

J'ai traversé les ponts de Cé. I have crossed the bridges of Cé.

With the ever-growing complexity of surrealist art in the early 20th century, which is ever-apparent in the text and music of this piece, I believe some historical context would be helpful in the analysis of this song.

The title of the song, "C", or "Ce", is taken from the name of a commune in France called "Les Ponts de Ce", or "The Bridges of Ce" which is part of the text in the first line of the song. Les Ponts de Ce has been the site of an extreme amount of decisive battles throughout history, beginning with the nearby Battle of Tours in 732, which pushed the Umayyad Caliphate, the reigning Islam kingdom in the world that time, back into Spain. The battle is considered to be one of the turning points in modern Western history. Ce is very close to Tours, and no doubt saw conflict. Ce also saw decisive battles during the Hundred-Years War in the 14th and 15th centuries, and also saw the end of a civil war in the 17th century. Basically, Ce has seen it's fair share of bloody conflict throughout history. Again, note the time in which Aragon wrote the text to the song, and when Poulenc set the text is without a doubt the bloodiest expanse of time in modern history.

The challenge with this piece will be analyzing it mostly without the score. However, the aspects of the music I will cover are, for the most part, easily aurally identified.

Here is a great recording by Sally Matthews that you can use while reading along;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHN0-tVqOW8

Listen to the first 15 seconds or so. If you had to describe what "shape" the musical line takes in this period, what would you say? Hopefully an arc form. What tangible object does an arc resemble?

A bridge.

One facet of the music not quickly apparently for most is that the piece is in A-flat minor, a not-often chosen key for composers. While the piece takes after Poulenc's composition style with great chromaticism, the tonic prevails throughout. The relative major to A-flat minor is C-flat major. At important points in the piece, Poulenc chromatically inflects the melody and the accompaniment to include C-natural. It would seem as if Poulenc has created a musical play on words, due to the name of the piece, "C". Throughout the piece there is a constant battle between C-flat and C-natural, possibly representing the sorrow that has impacted the physical Les Ponts de Ce for over a millenia. This convergence of our phonetically based languages (French, German, English) and the universal musical language is incredible; Poulenc has found a way to represent the non-musical in a musical way, taking two languages and making them into one.

Another interesting facet of the music is the rhythmic structure of the accompaniment; every subdivision at the eighth-note level in every measure is represented in the piece; in short, there is no rhythmic "space" in the piece. This holds true save for 4 places; 3 of them are in the last 4 measures. The one place where there is an eighth-note "missing" is after the words “eternelle fiancee”. This is, musically and textually, the turning point into the area where the contrast with earlier conflicts seen in Cé are contrasted with conflicts of the present day for Aragon and Poulenc. I will also go a step further and say that the rhythmic pattern of continuous eighth-notes represents a march, an all-too familiar characteristic of war seen both in medieval times and modern times. This march, however, seems to represent the common man's march through the struggle to survive war as a citizen.

A close look at the text reveals the contrast between the ancient battles at Les Ponts de Ce and the conflict in the modern world in which Aragon and Poulenc lived. The song is quite a powerful statement as to the devastating effects of war and conflict on normal people, whether they be musicians, businessmen, children, or teachers.

Of course, I haven't analyzed all of the aspects of the piece, so please comment with your own insight, especially if you have access to a copy of the score!

Next week is Aria Week! GET PUMPED.