Lieb Liebchen! / Franz

Composer: Franz, Robert
Dates: 1815-1892
Song title: Lieb Liebchen!
Opus, no., etc.: op.17, Nr.3
Music collection title: Sechs Gesänge für eine Singstimme mit Klavier
Imprint(s): Leipzig: C.F.W. Siegel, 1865 (?)
Source(s) for score: Franz-Album, Band 2 -- Original-Ausgabe -- Edition Peters (Pl. no. 1360a, high voice; 1360b, low voice); same vol. also issued under imprint of C.F.W. Siegel; also in 62 Songs -- NY : Schirmer.
1st line of poem: Lieb Liebchen, leg's Händchen aufs Herze (Go to text and translation)
Source of poem: Buch der Lieder: Junge Leiden: Lieder, Nr.4
Date of composition: -
Nationality of composer: German
Language(s) of text: German and English words; English translation by Elisabeth Rücker
Tempo marking: Molto agitato (Sehr unruhig)
Key: D minor/A major (medium); editions also for high and low
Time signature: 6/8
No. of measures: 26
Approximate duration: 1 min.
Form: Modified strophic (AA')
Vocal range: voice part A to e' [a to e"], original key for baritone/mezzo with solid high e'
Vocal tessitura: middle tessitura: first 3/4 of song doesn't go below f while last 1/4 doesn't go above g (Go to chart)
Vocal rhythms: mostly in dotted-eighth-/sixteenth-/eighth-note or quarter-/eighth-note patterns
Vocal intervals: mainly by step, with frequent skips of up to fifth interspersed
Vocal comments: assuming the range is comfortable this song should present no technical difficulties; the many accidentals are not hard to hear due to their part in the song's harmonic logic
Textual variants, etc.: -
Instrumental part(s): piano part very easy; no voice-doubling many accidentals; mostly three-to four voice chordal texture in dotted quarters, with faster-moving melodic passages in prelude, interlude and postlude
Summary: Short but poignant setting, packing much angst into a narrow frame mostly via unsettled harmonies and nearly continuous 6/8 rhythms. Modulations adventurous for such a short setting. (Go to analysis)