VOCAL MUSIC OF

ROMANTIC ERA
 ART SONG
♪ It is a musical representation of a poem.
♪ a vocal music composition, usually written
for one voice with piano accompaniment
♪ It developed in 19th century Germany,
where it was called lied, or song.
♪A group of songs was known
as lieder.
 ART SONG
♪During the Romantic Era, the
PIANO was used as a means
to express emotion in the
melodic, harmonic and
rhythmic qualities of
Romantic Era music.
ERLKÖNIG
• "Erlking" (German: Erlkönig, lit.
'alder-king') is a name used in
German Romanticism for the
figure of a spirit or "king of the
fairies". It is usually assumed that
the name is a derivation from the
ellekonge (older elverkonge, i.e.
"Elf-king") in Danish folklore.
 ERLKÖNIG Summary
• An anxious young boy is being carried
home at night by his father on
horseback. To what sort of home is not
spelled out; German Hof has a rather
broad meaning of “yard,” “courtyard,”
“farm,” or (royal) “court.” The lack of
specificity of the father’s social
position allows the reader to imagine
the details.
 ERLKÖNIG
• As the poem unfolds, the son seems to
see and hear beings his father does
not; the father asserts reassuringly
naturalistic explanations for what the
child sees – a wisp of fog, rustling
leaves, shimmering willows. Finally the
child shrieks that he has been attacked.
The father makes faster for the Hof.
There he recognizes that the boy is
dead.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART SONG
♪It is mostly accompanied by the
piano
♪The pianist is not mere
accompaniment but an equal
partner to the singer.
♪In an art song, poetry is set
to music, which further
enhances the poem.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART SONG
♪They may be strophic where a tune
is repeated for each stanza, or it
may be through-composed where
different musical setting for each
stanza are present.

♪It ends with a section

played by the piano