《Serenade from The Swan Song》

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Schubert is an Austrian composer. “Serenade” is the fourth song in a posthumous collection of songs called Schwanengesang (Swan Song) . It is an elegant love song. The words come from a love poem written by Ludwig Rellstab. The first line says "Gently goes my song's entreaty through the night to you down in the quiet grove. Darling come to me." This line clearly captures a peaceful moonlit night scene. Musically the light and steady repeating piano accompaniment combined with the repeated rhythms of the vocal melody form a continuously flowing melodic line, which deeply expresses the transquility of the night. When the vocal line gets to the part that says “Also let the heart move you. Darling hear me,” the vocal line and the accompaniment answer each other in a way that expresses the strong emotions of the piece. The violin plays the main melody in this recording; thus, there are not any words, but it still captures its undying and limitless emotion. It is worth listening to over and over again.