Art Songs Voice and Piano was the preferred medium, offering a wide expressive range with minimal

forces. Text were typically strophic poems, and the words were meant to be heard, set for the most part with one note per syllable and reserving longer gestures for special emphasis. Songs varied from simple settings with chordal accompaniment which accompaniment rivalled the voice in importance. The most influential and prestigious repertoire of nineteenth-century song was the GERMAN LIED. The lied is a fusion of music and poetry, centering on the expression of individual feelings, with descriptive musical imagery and aspects of folk style. FRANZ SCHUBERT The characteristics of the Romantic Lied are exemplified in the songs of Franz Schubert known as the Father of the Lieder. He is the earliest master of the romantic lieder, but unlike any great composer before him: he never held an official musical position and was neither a conductor nor a virtuoso; his income came entirely from composition. I have come into the world for no other purpose than to compose, he said. In the picture of one such evening, many listeners seem transported, gazing into space with attentive expressions on their faces. (See figure) Schubert wrote over six hundred Lieder, many of which were first performed for his friend in home concerts known as Schubertiads. Schubert was born in Vienna, the son of a schoolmaster. Even as a child, he had astounding musical gifts. The court director of Vienna, his teacher, Antonio Salieri teachers him music and composition lessons. Because of his amazing talent, he won a scholarship to the prestigious boarding school, Imperial Seminary. Schubert managed to composer an extraordinary number of masterpieces in his late teens while teaching at his fathers school, a job he hated. At 1818, he gave up teaching school to devote himself to music. In 1820s, he began to focus increasingly on larger works, including chamber music, opera and symphonies notably the No. 8 in Bm (Unfinished Symphony) and No. 9 in C Major (The Great). The last years of Schuberts life were clouded by illness. He died at thirty-one, possibly from syphilis he had contracted by 1823 or from treatment with mercury. His tombstone was inscribed Music has here buried a rich treasure but still fairer hopes. Given the brevity of his career, his output of almost one thousand works is astounding.