What is the plot of erlkonig?
Goethe’s poem tells the story of a boy riding home on horseback in his father’s arms. He is frightened when he is courted by the Erl-King, a powerful and creepy supernatural being. The boy’s father, however, cannot see or hear the creature and tells the boy that his imagination is playing tricks on him.
What is the theme of the Erlking?
The story takes up the theme of freedom and entrapment most explicitly through the treatment of the caged birds that the Erlking keeps in his cottage.
What happens to the boy at the end of Schubert’s erlkonig?
Finally the Elf King declares that he will take the child by force. The boy shrieks that he has been attacked, spurring the father to ride faster to the Hof. Upon reaching the destination, the child is already dead.
What are the characteristics of erlkonig?
Der Erlkönig is a through-composed piece, meaning that with each line of text there is new music. Although the melodic motives recur, the harmonic structure is constantly changing and the piece modulates within characters.
How does the lied called Erlkönig end?
Near the very end of the piece the music quickens, as the father desperately tries to spur his horse to go faster, and then slows down, as he arrives. The piano stops before the final line, “In seinen Armen das Kind war tot” before ending with a perfect authentic cadence.
What does the Erl-King symbolize?
The threatening presence in the metaphorical wood becomes clear in a repeated phrase that acts as an almost poetic refrain: ‘Erl-King will do you grievous harm’ (p. 97). The dangerous creature or spirit Carter introduces as something that ‘came alive from the desire of the woods’ (p.
What’s the meaning of Erl-King?
erlking. / (ˈɜːlˌkɪŋ) / noun. German myth a malevolent spirit who carries children off to death.
What is the movement of notes in erlkonig?
The piece begins in forte but soon moves to pianissimo before eventually moving to mezzo forte. This type of dynamic movement is common throughout the piece. The structure has two verses and is strophic. Schubert utilises melodic shape and contour throughout his piece to aid in the telling of the story.
What kind of poem is erlkonig?
lied ballad
Schubert’s “Erlkönig” is a lied ballad based off of the poem “Erlkönig” by Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe. A lied ballad is a type of miniature composition (Greenberg, 209) in which a narrative piece (usually a poem) serves as the fundamental subject matter for a song.
What is romantic about erlkonig?
The theme, setting, and mood of Goethe’s “The Erlking” capture the spirit of the Romantic period of the late eighteenth century. Characteristics of Romanticism include a love for nature, a fascination with the supernatural, and the recurring themes of love and death, all of which are contained in Goethe’s poem.
What image are the quick repeated notes in the piano meant to convey?
The quick, repeated notes in the piano are meant to convey the image of a (galloping horse).