Franz Schubert - a musical window to German poetry
 

BY SATYAJITH Wijeratne Andradi

SCHUBERT was one of the world's greatest melodists. Tunes of incomparable beauty flowed from his pen with effortless ease. He was also a great master of harmony. He was able to intensify the emotional content of the poems with his musical genius. Schubert's music illuminates the meaning of the poems.

Franz Schubert	Johann Wolfgang van Goethe.

It is true that Schubert was a great composer of instrumental music - symphonies, string quartets, quintets and piano sonatas. But, it is this very fact which makes us easily forget that he was the world's greatest song composer.

In fact, he was the greatest master of the German art-song with piano accompaniment, better known as Lied. He composed over 700 Lieder, many of which are settings of poems by great German poets.

Franz Peter Schubert was born in Lichtental near Vienna, Austria on 31st January 1797. His father, who was a schoolmaster, was his first music teacher. He received a sound musical and general education at a public school in Vienna and started his career as an assistant school master in his father's school.

Soon he gave up school mastering, a vocation which did not appeal to him, in order to devote all his time to music. His career as a musician was not successful and he died in poverty at the young age of 31 in Vienna on 19th November 1928. Schubert composed over 1000 musical compositions out of which around 700 were songs.

Schubert and German poetry

Schubert set to music the poems of more than 100 poets. Amongst them are ancient poets as well as modern ones, German as well as non-German poets, and famous as well as less known ones. However, in almost every instance he was able to create a great song irrespective of the standing of the poet!

One of the main purposes of this article is to briefly introduce some of the great German poets whose poems were set to music by Schubert. It is also intended to drew attention to some of their poems which provided the texts for Schubert's songs.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Goethe is recognised as Germany's greatest poet and as one of the world's greatest poets of all time. 59 of his poems were set to music by Schubert. October 19, 1814, the date of the setting of "Gretchen am Spinnerade" (Gretchen at the spinning Wheel) from Faust, Goethe's greatest work, is arguably the birthday of the modern German art-song.

An epoch-making musical masterpiece by a seventeen-year-old lad! "Koenig von Thule" (King of Thule) is also a wonderful setting of a poem from Faust. "Heidenroeslein" (The Meadow Rose) - a dainty little song, "Erlkoenig" (Erl King) - a weirdly dramatic and tragic Lied, and "Der Gott und die Bajadere" (God and the dancing girl) - a charming song on an Indian theme, are some of Schubert's Goethe - settings which I find particularly captivating.

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)

Friedrich Schiller is considered as the foremost dramatist in German literature. He was also one of the greatest German poets and was a close friend and artistic collaborator of Goethe. Schiller's poem "An die Freude" (To Joy) was set to music by Beethoven in the Choral Finale of the celebrated Ninth Symphony.

Schubert was deeply moved by Schiller's poetry, to which he returned from time to time for inspiration. He set to music more than fifty poems by Schiller. "Die Gruppe von Tartarus" (A group in Tartarus), "Sehnsucht" (Longing) and "Maedchens Klage" (The Girl's Lament) are some of them.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

Heinrich Heine, who was born in the same year as Schubert, was a great romantic poet. Six poems of his were set to music by Schubert. They are found in the latter's great song-cycle known as "Schwanengesang" (Swan Song).

The suggestive power and concentration of his lyrics made him one of the favourites of German Lied composers from Schubert to Richard Stauss.

Christian Friedrich DanielSchubart (1739-1791)

C.F.D. Schubart was a gifted poet and musician whose main sources of inspiration were freedom, passion, people and nature. He was imprisoned without trial by Duke Karl Eugene of Wuertemburg (This was the same petty despot from whose tyranny the young Schiller fled a few years later) for ten years (from 1777-1787) for criticising the duke's despotic regime.

Four of his poems were set to music by Schubert. The most famous amongst them is the "Forelle" (the Trout). Schubert used its charming melody in his piano Quintet in A major, which is better known as the Trout Quintet.

Johann Michael Friedrich Ruekert (1788-1866)

Ruekert was a gifted poet and scholar. He became the professor of oriental languages at the University of Erlangen, in Germany (This was incidentally the seat of higher learning where the German scholar of Pali and Sinhala, Wilhelm Geiger studied philology and oriental languages many decades later).

Five poems by Ruekert were set to music by Schubert, of which "Du bist die Ruh" (You are Rest and Peace) is the most well-known work.

Wilhelm Mueller (1794-1827)

Wilhelm Mueller, who was a son of a shoe maker, was a gifted German romantic poet. In his own day, he was best known for his vigorous support of the Greek national liberation struggle against Turkish rule.

Forty five of his poems were set to music by Schubert. Schubert's celebrated song-cycles, "Winterreise" (Winter Journey) and "Die schoene Muellerin" (The Miller's beautiful daughter) are settings of Mueller's poems. He was the father of the great German orientalist Franz Max Mueller.

Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)

Matthias Claudius was a great German lyric poet. Though his poetic style was simple, his poems show great maturity of feeling.

A good example is his poem "Der Tod und das Maedchen" (Death and the girl), which was set to music by Schubert. The tune of this song was used by Schubert in his great String Quartet in D - minor, which is better known as "Todund Maedchen."

Musical window to German poetry

Many German and Austrian composers belonging to the romantic and modern period followed the foot steps of Schubert and set poems by important German poets to music.

Some of the great composers who followed this path are Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) Gustave Mahler (1860-1911), Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Anton Webern (1883-1945) and Alban Berg (1885-1935).

However, Schubert's outstanding achievements in this field remain unsurpassed. Schubert is truly an exquisite musical window to the wonderful world of German poetry.

Musicians to raise funds for tsunami affected children
 

BY ANJANA Gamage

THE musical fraternity of Sri Lanka - the Western and Oriental (Sinhala and Tamil) - will join hands together on one stage this week to present a mega, blockbuster, two-day concert to raise funds for long-term relief for children affected by the tsunami catastrophe.

The concert titled as "Musicians For the People - The One Trust", will be held at the Race Course grounds, Colombo on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 from 7.00 pm and will continue till dawn on both days.

Addressing the media, Chairperson of the Musicians' Committee Noeline Honter said that all the artistes are taking part in this charity concert free of charge.

"All proceeds of the concert will be utilised for the benefit of the educational needs of the tsunami affected children in Ampara, Mullaitivu and Hambantota districts with the main focus on primary education", she said.

According to the sources, the Western concert will feature 35 bands and 25 solo artistes from a variety of musical genres - pop, rock, retro, R & B, rap, country, fusion etc.

The Oriental concert will feature nearly 100 solo artistes and eight core backing bands. Both shows will be additionally enhanced by leading dance troupes and guest appearances by popular Sri Lankan personalities as well.

According to Rukshan Perera, Stage Manager of the blockbuster concert, the Race Course grounds can handle about 20,000 spectators and is expected to collect Rs. 7.5 million on the sale of tickets.

The sources further added that DVD, VCD and CDs made out of the concert will be on sale as well after the show.

The One Trust is conceptualized by Cargills who has joined hands together with the musicians to sponsor the event.

Ernest Hemingway: Nobel prize winner for literature
 

BY DERRICK Schokman

IN January 1954, over 50 years ago, Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. At that time he also survived a premature obituary, following an air crash in a Cesna twin near Murchison Falls on the river Nile.

The New York Daily Mirror of 25 January 1954 carried a banner headline: "Hemingway, Wife, killed in Air Crash".

Neither Hemingway nor his wife died in the crash, although they were both injured; he very seriously sustaining injuries to the skull, kidneys, shoulders and spine.

Wanderlust

This great writer was very sure from an early age what he wanted to do in later life. He indicated very clearly in his school notebook at the age of nine that he looked forward to travel and write.

His wanderlust took him away from his home state of Michigan in the USA at the age of 18 to Italy, Spain, Africa and Cuba before he returned to the big country east of the Rockies when he was 59.

His unforced, unsentimental, uncomplicated style of writing had the magical effect of bringing the world of life.

In the novel Farewell to Arms (1929), he wrote about the war in Italy where, as an ambulance driver in the American Red Cross, he experienced the horrors of war. He was himself wounded in the legs from a bomb blast and hospitalised in Milan.

In Spain he was fascinated with the corridas and matadors.

In his first best seller The Sun Also Rises (1926), he vividly describes the running of the bulls in the famous San Fermin festival of Pamplona, and in 1932 he published an aficionado's guide entitled Death in the Afternoon.

He also saw action in the second Spanish Civil War, which gave rise to his great novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). It was the only time in his life when he was politically committed.

His love of hunting and the great open spaces of nature took him to Africa. The few months he spent there, less than a year, inspired him to write two books: Green Hills of Africa (1935), and True at First Light which was published posthumously in the 1990s.

"In Africa", he wrote, "a thing is true at first light and a lie at noon". That was specially applicable to the lone giant Mount Kilimanjaro, where the 19,000 feet high crest was clearly visible only during the dawn hours before the clouds covered it later like a shroud.

This mountain inspired Hemingway to write one of his best acclaimed short stories, The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Another great African short story was The Short Life of Francis Macomber.

Second Home

Cuba was a second home to "Papa", as Hemingway was affectionately known. He spent 20 years in and around Havana, where he is well remembered.

The Waterfront in Havana is known as Marine Hemingway. You can stay at the Old Man and Sea Hotel, dine at the Green Hills of Africa, and sweat it off at the Papa Solarium.

At the end of Marine Hemingway is La Corriene or the Gulf Stream, a fisherman's paradise. Hemingway on his Boat Pilar made Marlin fishing one of life's great adventures. In 1950 he initiated an International Marlin Tournament, which was later named after him.

"The Gulf Stream", he wrote, "will flow as it has flowed after the Indians, after the Spanish, after the British, after the Americans, after the Cubans, and all systems of government, the richness, the poverty, the martyrdom, the sacrifice, the venality and all cruelty are gone".

Pulitzer

It was the sigh of a lone fisherman in the Gulf Stream that gave Hemingway the idea for his Pulitzer Prize winning story The Old Man and the Sea (1952).

"He was an Old Man", wrote Hemingway in the opening lines of that wonderful story, "who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream, and had gone 84 days now without taking a fish".

The Old Man and the Sea became Hemingway's best known story. Hollywood cashed in on it to produce another winner, which earned Spencer Tracy an Oscar for best actor.

Cruise Control to play in aid of Sanasuma

THE Aqua Heritage Trust will host its second round of live international music events in aid of the Sanasuma Coastal Village Re-Awakening Project with Swedish jazz and soul sensations Cruise Control. All proceeds will go toward rehabilitating the environmentally-friendly fishing industries of Sri Lanka's tsunami-devastated east coast.

In March, the Aqua Heritage Trust hosted two live international music concerts at the Barefoot Cafe in Colombo and Lighthouse Hotel & Spa in Galle with Colombo favourites Glen Terry & Friends.

The projects met with great success according to Aqua Heritage director Puma Hammer, with enough money raised to purchase nine catamaran boats, which will be personally delivered by trust members to tsunami affected families.

"We have been so pleased with the success and fun of the music events so far," Hammer said. "We are very excited to be able to further our plans for the Sanasuma Re-Awakening Project."

Cruise Control bassist Bo Raymond, who put the band together for a gig in Sweden a couple of years ago, describes their music as "slick, swinging' jazz, blues and soul-fusion, with a repertoire ranging from Thelonius Monk to Michael Jackson, from Carole King to The Gap Band".

Bo Raymond and world-famous jazz guitarist Max Schultz (www.maxschultz.com), who also is the lead singer of Cruise Control, will light up Sri Lankan stages during Sinhala and Tamil New Year, together with young jazz and R'n'B stars Johan Liljedahl on guitar and Robert Ikiz (www.Ikizmusic.com) on percussion.

Tickets are Rs. 500 and will be available at the venues from March 28.

The Aqua Heritage Trust has been dedicated to restoring and preserving the ancient irrigation systems, marine life and traditional fishing industries of Sri Lnaka's southern east coast since it was established in February 2003.

Through the Sanasuma Coastal Village Re-Awakening Project, the group has identified tsunami affected fishing families in Panama Pattuwa, and are replacing essential tools for non-intrusive sea and lagoon fishing and monitoring the success of the fisheries. The group will also establish local centers for the conservation of marine life.

Venues:

Barefoot Gallery & Garden Cafe, Colombo, 7.30 pm, Tuesday 12 April 2005

Lighthouse Hotel & Spa, Galle, 7.30 pm, Thursday 14 April 2005

St. Andrews Hotel, Nuwara Eliya, 7.30 pm, Saturday 16 April 2005

Gratiaen Prize and H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize 2004

THE Gratiaen and H.A.I. Goonetileke award ceremony will take place at the Barefoot Gallery on Saturday April 2, 2005.

The Gratiaen prize is the only award in the country for creative writing in English by a Sri Lankan. Recognizing the importance of translations in providing the English reading public across the globe access to the rich literatures available in Sinhala and Tamil, the Trust instituted the H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Translation in 2003.

This award, too, is funded by Michael Ondaatje and offers the same prize money as the Gratiaen. This change allowed the Gratiaen Trust to uphold its original mandate of promoting creative writing in English while providing an equitable environment for translators and creative writers to compete in.

Michael Ondaatje funded the Gratiaen Trust in 1993 with the money he won for the Booker prize in 1992. To quote the writer's own words at the first ever presentation of the Gratiaen award "The Gratiaen prize is an attempt on one level to share the wealth. I was lucky.

But more important, it is to celebrate and test and trust ourselves. To select and argue about the literature around us. To take it seriously not just to see it as a jewel or a decoration". Short listed writers for the Gratiaen prize will be announced at the British Council on March 29, 2005.

Standard Chartered Bank, the administrators of the fund, once again co-sponsors this much awaited event in Colombo's cultural calendar.