Fantasie in C Major, D. 760 (“Wanderer”) – Franz Schubert
by richibi
“The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog“ (1818)
____________
a great way of learning to speak music,
approfondir, we say in French, to plumb
the intellectual depths of, is to count the
tenuti, as I quasi-humorously suggested
in my last piece one should, a tenuto, of
course, holds, caresses, one note, or one
chord, only, before proceeding any
further
music is a language, like French, English,
indeed I even include it as a language I
speak as professional qualification, people
find it amusing who don’t speak it
but you need to start somewhere, and
tenuti are as good a place as any, they’re
like an exclamation mark, denote intensified
intention, these give direction, and structure
to the statement, separating the units of
what’s being said
pauses between words, when you’re learning
a language, for learners is a godsend, and
thank goodness for them at least at the end
of sentences
tenuti do the same, count the tenuti, you’ll
discover an enchanted world of music,
right there between the lines
surprisingly you’ll find, rubati, tenuti,
rallentandi, accelerandi don’t occur much
in Romantic music, where you’d expect
the grand passions to swoop and sway
and swoon, but gripped still by the
rigours of Classicism, and its own roots
in the harpsichord, its beats were rigid
still, mostly, right through to Schubert,
Chopin, whereupon more lachrymose
composers began to use these devices
nearly indiscriminately
count the tenuti in this wonderful
Fantasie in C Major, D. 760 of Schubert,
his “Wanderer” Fantasy, you won’t find
that many, nor rubati, rallentandi,
accelerandi, for that matter, and that’s like
someone not crying on your shoulder,
Schubert gives it to you straight, whether
emphatic, earning empathy, or making
magic
Richard
psst:
the “Wanderer” Fantasy, incidentally,
is, again, programmatic music, it is
based on Schubert‘s own lied, song,
to Georg Philipp Schmidt von
Lûbeck‘s “The Wanderer“
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