Schubert: The Complete Song Texts
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Summary
This is a complete collection of Franz Schubert's solo songs in German originals with English translations. A small number are in Italian with English translations. Schubert's songs are the most frequently performed of the whole vocal repertoire, and, for many… people, the best loved. They range from the very short--lasting barely two minutes--to immensely long ballads, and scenas which are virtually cantatas. Schubert was among the most prolific of composers, having written (in addition to a large output of symphonies, sonatas, quartets, masses and operas) more than 600 songs by the time of his death in 1828 at the age of 31. Almost all his songs are settings of German poetry, but a few use Italian words, and the texts of several are German translations of English poetry and prose by Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, James Macpherson (Ossian) and others. Schubert composed more than a hundred settings of Goethe, the greatest of all German poets, and many of these are among the finest and best loved of his songs. But he also set the work of other major German poets of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The most famous of the songs have appeared in previously published volumes of Lieder texts, such as The Penguin Books of Lieder and The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder; but more and more, these days, singers are discovering the beauties of the less familiar songs, and adding them to concert programmes and recordings. This book fulfils the growing need for parallel texts and translations of all the songs, and is the first in its field. The prose translations, keeping as close as possible to the originals, are most sympathetic, and readable in their own right, and will be invaluable to the singer with little or no German, as well as a delight to the many music-lovers who listen to these songs on radio, on record and at concerts. This electronic edition is formatted with a line of English translation below each line of German original and is DAISY formatted with each song at level 1.