SCHUBERT'S SONGS
Sung by HELEN HENSCHEL (Soprano)
Der Erlkonig (The Erl King)
Alinde .
An die Nachtigall (To the Nightingale) Die Unterscheidung (The Distinction)
THE words of The Erl King are by Goethe.
They picture a father on horseback hastening home with his sick child. The ghostly Erl King flies with them, unseen and unheard by the father, but both seen and heard by the hoy.
The music most graphically pictures the hard riding through the night (verso 1), the boy's terror at seeing the ghostly figure (verse 2), the Erl King's wheedling invitation (verse 3), the boy's renewed terror and the father's attempt to comfort him (verse 4), the Erl King's second invitation (verse 5), the boy's last outcry and the father's consolation (verse 6), the Erl King's grasp of the boy (verse 7), and tho boy's death (verse 8).
An die Nachtigall is a plea to the bird to hush its song, for Love lies sleeping upon the maiden's heart.
In Die Unterscheidung a lass lays down the law to her lad. He is to play the faithful, love-sick cavalier, whilst she is to be jealous when she pleases. She will treat him as a brother (with just a little more affection, perhaps), but nothing more.