Erl King

Song XV of the Dichterliebe by R. Schumann and The Erl-King by Fr. Schubert are both highly dynamic 19th century pieces, however they are both extremely dissimilar in there own domains. As typical 19th century music, each of these pieces tells a story through a mix of the music and lyrics. The two composers have use a blend of key, tempo and rhythm to portray there story to the audience. Another strong provider to the story is the singers, through the use of dynamics and the singer's individual interpretation of the lyrics.

Song XV of the Dichterliebe by R. Schumann is a happy song expressing a man's love for a woman, as the majority of 19th century or Romantic music was. Apart from the words in the song there are other indications of this song being happy, such as being in the key of C major with a variety of modulations to different keys, and having dotted rhythms throughout the piece. The singer in this piece of music uses a variety of dynamics along with a moving melody to convey his joy of finding his new found love. These are just a few indications of the joy being expressed all the way through this piece.

The Erl-King by Fr. Schubert is a sadder piece of music about a delusional son being carried in his dad's arms, dying of a fever. The Erl-King is trying to convince the little boy to let him go with him to the after life. The composer Fr. Schubert uses the key of G minor to show the sadness of the song. The piano in this piece plays the role of the horse running; the composer creates this affect by playing triplets on the piano. The singer has the difficult job of singing three different people, the father, the son and the Erl-King. The singer creates the voice of the father in his normal tone, for the son he sings in a high pitched tone and for the Erl-King he puts on a husky voice. As the piece is coming to a climax the piano is playing incredibly fast and the singer is singing louder.

As determined above, song XV of the Dichterliebe by R. Schumann and the Erl-King by Fr. Schubert are highly dynamic 19th century pieces, each with there own individual touch. Song XV of the Dichterliebe by R. Schumann is a joyous song expressing a man's love for a woman were as the Erl-King by Fr. Schubert is a sadder piece of music about a fathers loss of his son to the Erl-King. Each song presents 19th century techniques to convey there stories of love and tragedy.