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 (?)
Analysis: A very short introduction starting with a diminished seventh chord quickly establishes the D minor key and the prevailing dotted 6/8 rhythmic pattern. There is no overt text-painting; this pattern is the only feature which could be construed as an "illustration" of the poet's hammering heart. After an initial skip of a fifth up to e' on "Händchen" the voice stays mainly in a relatively narrow compass, allowing the poet's agitation to be conveyed by means of non-stop motion, both rhythmic and harmonic. Starting at the third and fourth lines, first A minor and then C minor are tonicized. Only at the interlude are there slight pauses in the forward motion, where a series of the dotted-eighth patterns over diminished seventh chords alternate with rests This sequence ends up at the tonic and the beginning of the second stanza, which is nearly identical to the first until the last notes of the second line ("Schlaf gebracht"). Here the ritenuto heralds a sudden shift to a pianissimo B major seventh chord (V7 of II) instead of a tonic chord. After the fermata, at the a tempo tonality continues to wander, through the newly tonicized E minor back to D minor. It is here that the voice changes tessitura abruptly, shifting down by a sixth, and conveying by these deepened tones the poet's resignation to the death of his hopes. Franz is perhaps also trying to contrast the initial phrases, which address his beloved, with this plea to the "Zimmermann" in his heart; curiously, the text for the latter is given in quotes in the score, although Heine does not give it thus, at least in his final edition of Buch der Lieder. Another slight textual change is the addition of "nun" in the last line ("Damit ich nun balde schlafen kann"), a relatively minor adjustment to the prevailing rhythmic pulse. The return to the D minor tonic in the final line is undermined by its repeated appearance as a six-four chord, which serves to tonicize A major, normally the dominant. The piano postlude repeats this plagal cadence twice while rising with the dotted rhytmic pattern through a two-octave scale. The plagal cadence's association with the liturgical "Amen" and the cadence to A major serve as a benediction, implying that the poet's soul will rest in the peace of death.
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Copyright © 2000, Peter W. Shea