Composer: Liszt, Franz
Dates: 1811-1886
Song title: Morgens steh ich auf und frage
Opus, no., etc.: Nr. 4
Music collection title: Sechs Lieder
Imprint(s): Köln: Eck, 1844
Analysis: The five-measure piano introduction establishes a rhythmic cell of dotted eighth, sixteenth, and quarter notes, stated twice, followed by a fermata, then expanding into the rising, questioning two-measure motif from which the song is built. This is similar to several other songs in which Liszt "developed an entirely new type of accompaniment for a number of his songs, using the same method in miniature that he employed ... on a large scale in his Symphonic Poems; namely, the invention of a short, pregnant motive of characteristic significance, and the alteration or metamorphosis of this motive, without the loss of its identity, to express the varying moods of the verse." (Edwin Hughes, "Liszt as Lieder composer." MQ, v.3, #3, July 1917, p. 390-409). Overall, the vocal part is very expressive, one might say expressionistic, of the text, with many fermate, word repetitions, brief but wide-ranging and chromatic phrases, occasional moments of recitative, and explicit markings such as "accentato," "languido," "a piacere," echoed by similar markings in the piano part ("agitato," "dolce amoroso").
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Copyright © 2000, Peter W. Shea