Schubert’s Schwanengesang is really a combination of two incomplete song cycles plus an extra song. Put together after the composer’s death by his brother Ferdinand and the publisher Haslinger, the consequent rather odd mixture seems to be based on financial – Schubert’s songs sold well – rather than aesthetic considerations. It is, nevertheless, thanks to Schubert’s genius, a profoundly moving work.
The two incomplete cycles are made up of seven poems by Ludwig Rellstab followed by six settings of Heinrich Heine; the publisher then appended (presumably to sweeten the dark, bitter chocolate of Heine‘s poetry) the uncloyed happiness of Johann Seidl‘s Pigeon post, thus making fourteen songs in all.
Here’s a performance by a singer more associated with Wagner than Schubert – the baritone Hans Hotter accompanied by Gerald Moore:
Schubert: Schwanengesang
Poems: Ludwig Rellstab
00:00 – 01. Liebesbotschaft [Love’s message]
03:04 – 02. Kriegers Ahnung [Warrior’s foreboding]
07:30 – 03. Frühlingssehnsucht [Spring longing]
11:22 – 04. Ständchen [Serenade]
14:54 – 05. Aufenthalt [Resting place]
17:38 – 06. In der Ferne [Far away]
22:48 – 07. Abschied [Farewell]
Poems: Heinrich Heine
26:59 – 08. Der Atlas [Atlas]
28:55 – 09. Ihr Bild [Her portrait]
31:32 – 10. Das Fischermädchen [The fisher maiden]
33:37 – 11. Die Stadt [The town]
36:31 – 12. Am Meer [By the sea]
40:28 – 13. Der Doppelgänger [The wraith]
Poem: Johann Seidl
44:14 – 14. Die Taubenpost [Pigeon post]
And this is the tenor, Julian Prégardien with Martin Helmchen, piano in a much later performance of just the Rellstab songs (at Schubert’s original pitch but not in published order):
Poems: Ludwig Rellstab
00:00 7. Abschied [Farewell]
4:20 6. In der Ferne [Far away]
12:10 4. Ständchen [Serenade]
16:05 3. Frühlingssehnsucht [Spring longing]
20:06 2. Kriegers Ahnung [Warrior’s foreboding]
26:15 1. Liebesbotschaft [Love’s message]
29:35 5. Aufenthalt [Resting place]
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Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 