Romantic Period - Early 19th Century

There are 4 versions of Franz Schubert's (1797 - Wien - 1828) setting of the ballad Erlkönig (1815, Text: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), of which the fourth was printed in 1821 with a few changes. (Picture: Titlepage). One of the most important aspects of Schubert's songs is the accompaniment which depicts situations or moods (here an eighth-note movement that seems to have been inspired by a tremolo on string instruments) which shows that he was less influenced by the songs of his contemporaries than by the operas and cantatas of German and Italian dramatists. One of his innovations was the use of dissonant intervals but they only caused consternation in his contemporaries; later however, they became one of the most important expressive elements of the Lied. One of the best-known is his use of the minor ninth ( Angstschrei) in Erlkönig. (E. Stadler)