Blanka was written in December 1818; this and
Vom Mitleiden Mariä are the earliest Schubert settings of Friedrich von Schlegel. Both poems appear in the
Poetisches Taschenbuch for 1806. This must have been Schubert's source as
Blanka is printed under this title (which was not retained in the complete
Gedichte), and
Vom Mitleiden Mariä appears nowhere else (the authenticity of Schlegel as its author has been questioned).
Blanka (under the title of
Das Mädchen) was reprinted in the
Gedichte (1809) as the last of nine 'Ansichten' or 'Views', a subdivision of a larger poetic cycle of thirty-one poems entitled
Stimmen der Liebe ('Voices of Love'). Although the poem does not come from
Abendröte, it bears a considerable resemblance to
Das Mädchen earlier on this disc. Both songs are poised between what might be termed major- and minor-key feelings - the 'Lachen und Weinen' dichotomy which Schubert loves so much. The alternation between A major and A minor in
Das Mädchen, and between A minor and A major in
Blanka, is the purest of Schubert, and one which he reserves for situations which touch him greatly. Both girls also confess an inability to voice their feelings. Blanka's diffidence is reflected by an alternation of long phrases ('Wenn mich einsam Lüfte fächeln') with short ones ('Muss ich lächeln'). This is a metrical feature of the first eight lines of Schlegel's poem which somehow reinforces the idea of the girl's vulnerability, as sentences seem to trail away unfinished. Schubert aids and abets this impression most beautifully with sighing figurations in the accompaniment of two quavers gently phrased away which suggest the wilting of roses on the stem. This is a masterful musical evocation of evanescence. The pauses between the phrases (with little echoing phrases in the piano) evoke the hard concentration needed to play a game of 'He loves me; he loves me not'. The poem's last four lines allow the girl's feeling to blossom as if she is no longer afraid, and has suddenly found her voice; mention of music in the middle section of
Das Mädchen from
Abendröte achieves a similar effect. The triplet accompaniment in compound time with a slower legato vocal line above it is related to the celebrated
Lied der Mignon, another song about a young girl who is apprehensive of what fate has to offer her, and who also sings in A minor.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 1996