Lieder in a nutshell
The plural German noun Lieder (singular Lied) simply means “songs” – any kind of songs. But for classical music enthusiasts, the word signifies songs with piano accompaniment circa 1800–1900 – the birth of the form which coincided with the rise of the poetry-enjoying European middle classes in the wake of the French Revolution.
Explainer: What Are Lieder? by Graham Johnson OBE.
Lieder represents perhaps the most expressive sub-genre within classical music. These compositions, typically performed in relaxed afternoon salons, are based on poetry and sung with a freedom that contrasts with the rigid structures of concertos.
While most songs start with a melody, Lieder begin with poetry.
How they’re written
All songs have lyrics, but in many cases the tune comes first. With Lieder the opposite is true: the poet is often more than the composer’s equal and the poem is often a great work of art in its own right, known and loved without music.
The composer’s task is to give this poem a heightened existence through their own vision and imaginative skill. The song’s melody and text are the singer’s responsibility, but it is the addition of a piano accompaniment, subtle and sometimes highly complex, that adds harmony and character to the whole. The greatest Lieder composers conjure an astonishing variety of narratives, moods and atmospheres, a synthesis of word and tone employing almost minimalist means that can take the listener’s breath away.
Performers have to be very word-aware when presenting a poem through this musical prism – a great Lied may be first and foremost an unforgettable piece of music, but the poem that breathes within the structure is its life-force.
The poet’s voice is paramount, often overshadowing the composer’s. The composer’s role is to elevate the poem with their unique vision, crafting a melody that, together with the singer and subtle piano accompaniments, creates a harmonious and character-rich performance. This minimalist synthesis of word and tone can be breathtaking, transforming a simple poem into an unforgettable musical experience.
Lieder combines the potent arts of poetry and music, a union too profound to yield anything mundane. Geniuses like Schubert have taken revered poems and amplified their power through the magic of their compositions.
The leaders in Lieder
Very few of the thousands of composers who wrote Lieder reached the pinnacle of this form. After Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf (almost exclusively a Lieder composer) are considered the Immortals, closely followed by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.
The greatest Lieder composer is undoubtedly Schubert. Ealiest champions of Lieders include Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. But it was Schubert who wrote over 600 songs in his lifetime, to have defined and shaped this particular form of song and later, popularized it into other languages.
Schubert
Schubert, in particular, is renowned for the textural richness of his music—it’s all about texture, timbre, and the buoyant lightness that characterizes these quaint, charming pieces. One of my favorites is Die Forelle (The Trout), a jovial melody about fishing. This piece was brilliantly recorded by Fritz Wunderlich & Hubert Giesen, available here: Die Forelle, Op. 32, D. 550. My love for it was sparked not in a concert hall, but through its clever use in the film Sherlock Holmes (2020), directed by Guy Ritchie, where it underscored a memorably dark yet playful scene:
In a haunting scene from Sherlock Holmes (2020), directed by Guy Ritchie, the nefarious Professor Moriarty captures Holmes and suspends him from a hook, inflicting pain on his greatest adversary. As Moriarty revels in the torture, he sang along Schubert’s ‘Die Forelle,’ highlighting the juxtaposition of beauty and brutality, and a play with word. Witness this powerful moment where classical music meets cinematic artistry. Watch the clip here.
This is the continuing impact of art –– bridging history and modernity, poetry and music.
@Adamguy2003 While Pf. Moriarty is usually quite good at putting up a seemingly sophisticated front, this is the one scene when he lets it all down and shows what a twisted, demented psychopath he truly is. A magnificent portrayal of one of the greatest villains in all of literature.
And it couldn’t have been done without Schubert, for sure.