Performing Arts
|
|
Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), Franz Schubert
Performed by Jean Clara Cartwright Jean Clara Cartwright is currently a first study singer at the University of Nottingham with a highlighted focus and love for coloratura soprano arias. After previously winning a number of state piano competitions in the Philippines and completing her DipABRSM exam, she decided to solely focus on singing and in developing her voice to a higher standard. She is a soprano choral scholar at St Mary’s Church in Nottingham, which has presented her with numerous opportunities for solo work and CD recordings. |
Artist's Statement:
Schubert’s contributions to the genre of the Lied is a highly significant one, having written over 600 songs for voice and piano. Having been completed three months before his eighteenth birthday, the text used for this work is from Part One, Scene 18 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust.
Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel in English) begins with Gretchen at her spinning wheel, thinking of Faust. The piano accompaniment in the right-hand mimics that of a spinning-wheel and its constant movement, while the left hand imitates the foot treadle. It replicates the repetitive percussiveness of a wheel spinning and as the song gradually becomes more heightened, and with more feeling, the music replicates this as well. The first section progresses through a variety of keys, starting with D minor, then continuing through to C major, A minor, E minor, F major, and then again ending in D minor.
Despite its constant modulation throughout, the song ends how it started: in the key of D minor — indicating the repetitiveness of the spinning wheel, and how reality is continually present.
In the work, there are strong links to womanhood and emotional dependency. The music replicates this build and release of tension in Gretchen’s inner emotional journey, presenting her story as well as showing her psychological insights. Gretchen’s character recites (or sings) the words while spinning fibre into yarn at a spinning wheel. The intensity of her love for Faust has ruined any hope of living any longer within the confines she had known all her life. She is young, naive and has fallen madly in love.
Most of the piece displays the overwhelming emotion that engulfs Gretchen by her love for Faust, and how much distress it causes her because of this profound infatuation. Gretchen is so dependent on Faust and cannot continue with life without him; heartbroken, she thinks only of him and continuously waits for his return.
Lyrics:
Meine Ruh’ ist hin, (My peace is gone)
Mein Herz ist schwer, (My heart is heavy;)
Ich finde sie nimmer (I shall never)
Und nimmermehr. (Ever find peace again.)
Wo ich ihn nicht hab’ (When he’s not with me,)
Ist mir das Grab, (Life’s like the grave;)
Die ganze Welt (The whole world)
Ist mir vergällt. (Is turned to gall.)
Mein armer Kopf (My poor head)
Ist mir verrückt (Is crazed,)
Mein armer Sinn (My poor mind)
Ist mir zerstückt. (Shattered.)
Nach ihm nur schau’ ich (It’s only for him)
Zum Fenster hinaus, (I gaze from the window,)
Nach ihm nur geh’ ich (It’s only for him)
Aus dem Haus. (I leave the house.)
Sein hoher Gang, (His proud bearing)
Sein’ edle Gestalt, (His noble form,)
Seines Mundes Lächeln, (The smile on his lips,)
Seiner Augen Gewalt. (The power of his eyes,)
Und seiner Rede (And the magic flow)
Zauberfluss. (Of his words,)
Sein Händedruck, (The touch of his hand,)
Und ach, sein Kuss! (And ah, his kiss!)
Mein Busen drängt sich (My bosom)
Nach ihm hin. (Yearns for him.)
Ach dürft’ ich fassen (Ah! if I could clasp)
Und halten ihn. (And hold him,)
Und küssen ihn (And kiss him)
So wie ich wollt’ (To my heart’s content,)
An seinen Küssen (And in his kisses)
Vergehen sollt’! (Perish!)
Schubert’s contributions to the genre of the Lied is a highly significant one, having written over 600 songs for voice and piano. Having been completed three months before his eighteenth birthday, the text used for this work is from Part One, Scene 18 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust.
Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel in English) begins with Gretchen at her spinning wheel, thinking of Faust. The piano accompaniment in the right-hand mimics that of a spinning-wheel and its constant movement, while the left hand imitates the foot treadle. It replicates the repetitive percussiveness of a wheel spinning and as the song gradually becomes more heightened, and with more feeling, the music replicates this as well. The first section progresses through a variety of keys, starting with D minor, then continuing through to C major, A minor, E minor, F major, and then again ending in D minor.
Despite its constant modulation throughout, the song ends how it started: in the key of D minor — indicating the repetitiveness of the spinning wheel, and how reality is continually present.
In the work, there are strong links to womanhood and emotional dependency. The music replicates this build and release of tension in Gretchen’s inner emotional journey, presenting her story as well as showing her psychological insights. Gretchen’s character recites (or sings) the words while spinning fibre into yarn at a spinning wheel. The intensity of her love for Faust has ruined any hope of living any longer within the confines she had known all her life. She is young, naive and has fallen madly in love.
Most of the piece displays the overwhelming emotion that engulfs Gretchen by her love for Faust, and how much distress it causes her because of this profound infatuation. Gretchen is so dependent on Faust and cannot continue with life without him; heartbroken, she thinks only of him and continuously waits for his return.
Lyrics:
Meine Ruh’ ist hin, (My peace is gone)
Mein Herz ist schwer, (My heart is heavy;)
Ich finde sie nimmer (I shall never)
Und nimmermehr. (Ever find peace again.)
Wo ich ihn nicht hab’ (When he’s not with me,)
Ist mir das Grab, (Life’s like the grave;)
Die ganze Welt (The whole world)
Ist mir vergällt. (Is turned to gall.)
Mein armer Kopf (My poor head)
Ist mir verrückt (Is crazed,)
Mein armer Sinn (My poor mind)
Ist mir zerstückt. (Shattered.)
Nach ihm nur schau’ ich (It’s only for him)
Zum Fenster hinaus, (I gaze from the window,)
Nach ihm nur geh’ ich (It’s only for him)
Aus dem Haus. (I leave the house.)
Sein hoher Gang, (His proud bearing)
Sein’ edle Gestalt, (His noble form,)
Seines Mundes Lächeln, (The smile on his lips,)
Seiner Augen Gewalt. (The power of his eyes,)
Und seiner Rede (And the magic flow)
Zauberfluss. (Of his words,)
Sein Händedruck, (The touch of his hand,)
Und ach, sein Kuss! (And ah, his kiss!)
Mein Busen drängt sich (My bosom)
Nach ihm hin. (Yearns for him.)
Ach dürft’ ich fassen (Ah! if I could clasp)
Und halten ihn. (And hold him,)
Und küssen ihn (And kiss him)
So wie ich wollt’ (To my heart’s content,)
An seinen Küssen (And in his kisses)
Vergehen sollt’! (Perish!)