Teacher's Score: 8/10
The Erlking is a sinister supernatural elf who dwells in the forest. Anyone who is touched by him dies. Franz Schubert actually wrote a song about him in the Romantic era in 1815. It is a lied, or a solo art song usually accompanied by piano. It is fast (Schnell). It is through-composed or in durchkomponiert, which means that it doesn't have repetition of large sections. It is performed by a singer and a piano. The poem sung by the singer is written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The poem is a father returning home on his horse with his son in his arms. The child sees the Erlking and is frightened, but the father doesn't see it, and keeps telling the child that it is actually an optical illusion until he returns home and finds the child dead in his arms. There are four characters in the poem: The narrator, the father, the child, and the Erlking. The narrator is in the middle register in a minor mode. The father is in the low register in a minor mode: he has a reassuring voice. The child is in the high register in a minor mode with a frightened voice. The Erlking is in the middle register with a major mode. He is coaxing (gently urging and flattering) then insistent at the end. The characters are differentiated by changes in the harmony, type of accompaniment, rhythm, and melody. The song has an eerie atmosphere established by the piano part, whcih is galloping triplets (a good example of Schubert's use of word painting). The rise in the tension and pitch of the song leads to the climax. The triplet rhythm ends very abruptly on the last line.
Teacher's Comments:
The Erlking is a lied, not a song.
It is also a solo art song for voice.
Mention that all characters are sung by one soloist.
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