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If we wish to find a musical clue to the character of her song we have only to follow her progress through the book, which suggests that Schubert did the same: 'her affection was of that quiet, timid, meditative character' who shies away from 'presumptuous or daring hopes.' The music somehow manages to sound as unaffectedly simple as a Scottish folk song. Einstein explains this by drawing parallels with the Andante of the E flat Piano Trio, D929, in the same key and with a similar kind of C minor melody with throbbing staccato accompaniment which also switches suddenly to E flat major. It is said that that movement is modelled on a Swedish folk song, and a certain 'Nordic' character is common to both pieces. The harmonies and repetitions suggest the soft turning away of wrath, direct confrontation side-stepped by a small, well-turned ankle, for here is also the momentum of a slow, sad dance, perhaps a reflection of Scott's description of her in Chapter V as 'the most beautiful little fairy certainly that ever danced upon a heath by moonlight'. In a similar way, Mignon's Heiss mich nicht reden, D877 No 2, has the air of a transcendental pavane. With the arrival of C major there are brave smiles through tears. The shyly insistent repeated thirds of the opening of the piano's ritornello tug at the sleeve and the heartstrings; together, voice and piano dare to dream of love, all the while miraculously mirroring Scott's description of a lack of presumption, legato cantilena alternating with staccato passages, where Annot steps forward in a boldness born of strong emotion, only to retreat in diffidence. Although it lacks the rounded immediacy and variety of Gretchen's music, this song is an unjustly forgotten gem in the Schubert catalogue.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 1991
Schubert: The Complete Songs ‘This would have been a massive project for even the biggest international label, but from a small independent … it is a miracle. An ideal Christ ... ‘Please give me the complete Hyperion Schubert songs set—all 40 discs—and, in the next life, I promise I'll "re-gift" it to Schubert himself … fo ...» More |