- Plural:
- Lieder
lied
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What is a lied in German music?
A lied (German for "song") is a type of German song. The earliest lieder appeared in the 12th and 13th centuries from minnesingers, who were poets and singers of courtly love. The lied commonly consists of two sections, with the first phrase of music (a) repeated with different words, and the second phrase (B), again with different words aaB.
In the mid-16th century, polyphonic lieder reached a climax. The 19th century saw German composers again turning to lied production. Romantic lieder are generally for a solo voice with piano accompaniment.
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What language are lieder usually sung in?
Lieder, German songs, are typically sung in German. The most important German songs (lieder) of the 17th century were continuo lieder used for informal entertainment. In the 19th century, German composers turned to lied production, setting poems of masters like Goethe to music. Franz Schubert, who composed more than 600 lieder, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolf are among the finest 19th-century lied composers.
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What instruments are most commonly used to perform a lied?
A lied is typically performed by a solo voice accompanied by the piano. The piano part is essential, with composers like Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf creating elaborate and expressive piano accompaniments that reflect the text's pictorial or psychological aspects.
Lieder can also be accompanied by a full orchestra or a chamber ensemble that includes reduced strings and winds.
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Who are some famous composers of lieder?
Lieder, German art songs, gained prominence in the 19th century, blending poetry and music for solo voice and piano.
Some famous composers of lieder are:
* Franz Schubert composed over 600 lieder, showcasing his sensitivity to text and musical design.
* Robert Schumann wrote approximately 250 songs, closely linking voice and accompaniment.
* Johannes Brahms created around 300 solo works, balancing vocal importance with musical phrasing.
* Hugo Wolf focused on literary details, requiring varied vocal styles within songs.
* Gustav Mahler composed 40 songs that were not true lieder but embryonic symphonic movements.6 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kinds of themes or stories are often found in lieder?
Lieder, or German songs, often explore themes of love, nature, and longing, deeply rooted in the Romantic era's focus on emotion and individualism. Common stories found within lieder include tales of tragic love, the beauty and power of the natural world, and introspective reflections on life and death. Many lieder set poems by famous German writers like Goethe and Heine, further enriching their thematic content.
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How did the lied become important in the history of classical music?
The lied, a German song, gained importance in classical music during the 19th-century Romantic era. This period saw a surge in serious popular poetry, inspiring composers to set works by masters like Goethe.
Figures such as Franz Schubert, who composed over 600 lieder, along with Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolf, are among the most celebrated lied composers of the time. Though the verse in lieder was at times mediocre, Romantic composers considered poetry and music of equal importance. Lieder were typically performed in salons, featuring a solo voice accompanied by piano.
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lied, any of a number of particular types of German song, as they are referred to in English and French writings. The earliest so-called lieder date from the 12th and 13th centuries and are the works of minnesingers, poets and singers of courtly love (Minne). Many surviving Minnelieder reflect southern German origins and are written in a group of manuscripts of somewhat later date. These songs occur in a number of forms based on poetic models. The lied proper, like many other forms, commonly comprises two sections, the first phrase of music (a) repeated with different words, and the second phrase (B), again with different words aaB. This is the Bar form much favoured by German composers and often expanded in various ways.
The monophonic (single melodic line) Minnelieder are virile, abounding in small leaps; they are attractively contoured and make use of modal scales (melodic patterns characteristic of medieval and Renaissance music until the advent of the major–minor scale system). Because musical notation of this period is not precise regarding rhythmic values, the rhythmic interpretation of Minnelieder is controversial. Among important minnesingers (some of the lesser nobility) are Walther von der Vogelweide, Tannhäuser, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and Neidhart von Reuenthal, the first three known today through the operas of Richard Wagner.
The 14th century brought a decline of the monophonic lied and the introduction of polyphonic lieder for two or more voices or voice and instruments. One of the most popular polyphonic lieder is the two-voice “Wach auff myn Hort” (“Awake, my darling”) by Oswald of Wolkenstein (1377–1455).
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The 15th century saw a flowering of polyphonic lieder for as many as four voices singing together. These polyphonic settings, unlike the courtly Minnelieder, are addressed to educated scholars and clergy as well as nobles. Bar form and romantic texts predominate, and through-composed pieces (i.e., devoid of sectional repetition) occur. The tunes are usually sung by the middle part (tenor); often the parts accompanying the tenor are played on instruments. The tenor melody is often a preexistent, familiar one, not a tune newly composed for the polyphonic lied. Franco-Flemish influences appear in the relations among the parts (usually three); sometimes the texture is chordal, otherwise one part may imitate the melody of another voice for part of a phrase. When three parts are present, whether sung or played and sung, the tenor and top part (descant) form a harmonic unity, while the third part (countertenor) skips between and below the other two.
Polyphonic lieder reached a climax in the mid-16th century with the songs of Ludwig Senfl and his contemporaries. The invention of printing helped disseminate the secular polyphonic lieder, and many of the most popular ones were turned into sacred pieces by simply substituting a new text. Thus lieder became important vehicles for spreading Protestantism. By the late Renaissance (c. 1580), lieder were composed deliberately in an Italian style: textures often chordal, phrases of regular length and well-articulated, melodies in the top part with the words carefully declaimed. Under the influence of the new madrigal (a polyphonic Italian secular form), the old lied tradition decayed.
The 19th century saw German composers again turning to lied production. Late 18th- and early 19th-century Romanticism gave great impetus to serious popular poetry, and many poems of such masters as Goethe were set by lied composers. Franz Schubert, who composed more than 600 lieder, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolf are among the finest 19th-century lied composers. Although the verse in lieder often was mediocre, for the Romantics, poetry and music were of equal importance. Romantic lieder are generally for a solo voice with piano accompaniment, which often required a virtuoso technique. The songs were primarily salon music: individual lieder lack the scope of contemporary opera arias, but are more intimate and emotionally refined. Composers often wrote cycles of lieder, all related by a single topic but giving scope for considerable musical development. A lied may be either through-composed or strophic, i.e., repeating the music for each new stanza of the poem. Occasionally lieder are arranged for accompaniment by full orchestra or, in the case of several lied cycles, for chamber ensemble of reduced strings and winds.