Hyperion Records

Between June and October 1815, Schubert composed twenty settings of the poems of Kosegarten. He returned only once to this poet, in 1817, for An die untergehende Sonne, which is the only one of the Kosegarten songs which is not strophic. The 1815 settings thus form a school of strophic composition and they have a uniformly classical simplicity and dignity. The two heartfelt songs Abends unter der Linde are a good example of this. The somewhat archaic style of the Kosegarten settings shelters a number of shy and unspectacular beauties, and the textures and moods vary considerably; compare this ecstatic four-part hymn with the next song, written on the same day, the exquisitely modal and palely translucent three-part invention Von Ida. The impassioned Das Sehnen from 8 July is different again, but no less economical and compact with an accompaniment that prophesies that of Eifersucht und Stolz from Die schöne Müllerin. The text of Von Ida was originally 'Von Agnes', as was the change of 'Agnes Nachtgesang' to 'Idens' (genitive of Ida). This adaptation seems to have been Schubert's own decision, probably based on the comparative unsingability of the name Agnes.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1989