Gretchen am Spinnrade

Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, was composed by Franz Schubert from 1814. It is based on a scene from the tragedy of Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Schubert published it in 1821 as Op. 2 (D 118). Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel is adjacent to the setting of the ballad of the Erlking one of his first successful songs.

Description

This song is written in rondo form ( ABACADA ).

Gretchen sings during spinning and thinking of all of their conversations with fist.

The accompaniment mimics the spinning wheel by the constantly rotating semiquaver figurations of the right hand, the left hand can be heard as it were the foot pedal for the flywheel occur, so that accelerations and decelerations in response to the text are to Gretchen's excitement or to show distraction. At the same time the accompaniment also tonmalerisch Gretchen unrest reflects ( " My peace is gone " ) and their left hand to her pounding heart. At the climax of the play the piano stops, as Gretchen is suddenly distracted by the thought of Faust's kiss. Then Gretchen begins again to turn the flywheel and spin.

Recordings

Notable recordings are of

• Elly Ameling and Jorg Demus
• Elly Ameling and Dalton Baldwin
• Barbara Bonney and Geoffrey Parsons
• Janet Baker and Gerald Moore.
• Nina Hagen, Street CD, 1991, under the title of Gretchen
• Anne Sofie von Otter, Schubert Lieder with Orchestra ( CD), accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Claudio Abbado.

Other notable recordings were provided by Kathleen Ferrier, Renée Fleming, Christa Ludwig, Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman, Irmgard Seefried, Elisabeth Schumann, Lotte Lehmann, Rosette Anday, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.