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Gretchen Am Spinnrade

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Gretchen Am Spinnrade Franz Schubert composed the German Lieder, Gretchen Am Spinnrade, in 1814. This composition is one of Schubert’s pinnacle compositions, which introduced the world to the idea of the Romantic Lied, veering away from the already existing Classical Lied. Observing the form, rhythmic structure, key modulations and dynamics with relation to the text, Schubert paints a beautiful emotional drama for the listener allowing them to dive into the thoughts and emotions the woman, Gretchen, is experiencing while longing for her lover, Faust. Gretchen Am Spinnrade is a modified strophic composition in a seven-part rondo form – ABACADA. The A sections could be interpreted as the ‘reality’ that Gretchen is faced with, and …show more content…

Shifting our focus back to the key modulations, the A section returns once we reach m 73. The D section begins in m 85 just as it did in the C section with a dominant 7th chord preceded by its key modulation, so Bb major 7 to Eb major to C major 7 to F major to D major 7 to g minor to E major 7 to A major in mm 85-92. The A section finally makes a return yet again in m 114 to finish off the piece in d minor. Dynamics play a critical role in this lied to help bring across even more meaning within the lyrics. Looking at the beginning A section, it utilizes a crescendo from the beginning pianissimo in m 6, which then decrescendos with each word repeat “I’ll find it, never more’ and completely decrescendos by m 11. The B section, which starts at m 13, raises the volume to mezzo forte by m18 even though the wording describes a ‘silent grave’, as if she’s begging to break free of this silent grave that she claims to be trapped in. Then, in m22 there is a crescendo with ‘and my poor head’ and in m27 ‘by thoughts of him’. This leads into a decrescendo in m 28 when describing ‘who has my heart’. The return of the A section in m 31 uses a bit different dynamics. This time, rather than having a decrescendo in “I’ll find it, I’ll find it never, never more” a crescendo is utilized on both ‘I’ll find it’ expressions. Forte is then

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