"Prometheus", D. 674, is an intensely dramatic art song composed by Franz Schubert in October 1819 to a poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Music The was written for bass voice in the key of B major, but the key moves repeatedly through various major to minor tonalities, ending in C major. (Analysis) Goethe's dramatic declamation by Prometheus would be set again, with very different effect, by Hugo Wolf,Wolf considered Schubert's "Ganymed" and "Prometheus" unsatisfactory, in part because "a truly Goethean spirit" could only be fulfilled in the "post-Wagnerian era", according to a Wolf letter to Emil Kaufmann, noted in Scott Messing, Schubert in the European Imagination: Fin-de-siècle Vienna, 2007, p. 192, note 57. "with his alternations of ariosos and recitatives, Schubert created a miniature oratorio", observes Edward F. Kravitt.Kravitt, Edward F., The Lied: Mirror of Late Romanticism, p. 65. Yale University Press, 1996,
Among many other by Schubert, Max Reger also created an orchestration for "Prometheus".
Recordings Voice and piano Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Charles Spencer (piano), RCA Records, 1995 Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano), Deutsche Grammophon, 1999 Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Vol. 1, Ulf Bästlein (bass-baritone), Stefan Laux (piano), Naxos Records, 2000
Voice and orchestra (Max Reger) Schubert arranged by Reger: Songs, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor), Dietrich Henschel (baritone), MD&G Records, 1998 Schubert arr. Reger: Orchestral Songs, Klaus Mertens (baritone), Camilla Nylund (soprano), NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Werner Andreas Albert (conductor), cpo Records, 1998 Schubert: Lieder With Orchestra, Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado (conductor), Deutsche Grammophon, 2003
References
External links
, Matthias Goerne (baritone), Andreas Haefliger (piano) , Thomas Quasthoff, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado "Rhetoric, form, and sovereignty in Schubert’s 'Prometheus' D. 674" thesis by Erica Brady Angert to Louisiana State University (57 pages, 515 KB) "Prometheus" – Art song by Schubert, Franz D. 674, orchestration by Carl Nielsen