Presenter: Thomas Dasso
Faculty Mentor: Laura Wayte, Stephen Rodgers
Presentation Type: Creative Work 3 (GSH Great Room Stage)
Primary Research Area: Fine/Performance Arts
Major: Music
Schubert is known as one of the finest composers of German art song. Among his many song cycles (a grouping of songs forming a narrative) is Schwanengesang (Swan-song), a cycle consisting of 14 songs with three different poets: Rellstab, Heine, and Seidl. Schwanengesang was published posthumously with little known about what order, if any, Schubert intended the music to appear.. However, due to some convincing evidence it is quite possible that Schubert meant for Heine’s poetry to remain in the order it originally appeared in Heine’s publication of Die Heimkehr (“The Homecoming,” 1826). A publication of these six songs as a “Heine Cycle” does not exist currently. After expanding on the new narrative handpicked by Schubert from Heine’s publication and a thorough musical analysis (including identifying repeated themes, harmonic relationships, and an overarching relationship among key areas to supplement the poetry’s narrative), a seamless body of work emerges from a previously vague assortment of music. With a thorough analysis and a live performance of the six songs, Scarley Liu and I, Tom Dasso, plan to introduce Schubert’s previously unknown cycle to the stage on voice and piano.
“A proper understanding of Schubert’s last works hangs in the balance…”—Richard Kramer