Songs of Knights and Ladies

And my dream about Franz Schubert

“A Schubert song with a Gershwin touch…” I always love that line from the great Duke Ellington song “Prelude to a Kiss.”

Today is Franz Schubert’s birthday. I am not going to start filling your inbox with composers’ birthdays — unless you want me to, in which case let me know! However just as we celebrated Mozart’s birthday, I think we have to celebrate this one.

As was the case with Mozart, it is difficult to suggest what to listen to, to narrow it down one bit. However I like to look at short pieces, something we can work into our day. In the case of Schubert, I would suggest listen to his songs. Each one is like a mini-miracle. The melodies, the piano that goes with them — you can listen to them thousands of times, which, trust me, I have. They only get better.

Here is a song I have loved since I was a teenager.

What a crazy romantic song! It is set to a translation of Sir Walter Scott and it is about a Scottish warrior. I loved this song, loved it, when I was a teenager. I still do!

This is the kind of Schubert song named as “gallopers,” inspired by the rhythms of a horse. It is sort of like blues songs that were built over the rhythms of a train. In the early 19th century, you heard horses galloping everywhere. One scholar points out that in “Normans Song,” the horse is galloping over uneven ground. Schubert was a master.

Schubert died in 1828, when he was only 31. He never outgrew his knights and ladies phase. He loved Sir Walter Scott, and he loved too the stories coming out of America, this new country over the ocean. One of his last requests was for another of James Fenimore Cooper’s books. He loved reading them, translated into German. “The Last of the Mohicans,” published in 1826, was a historical romance set against the backdrop of the French and Indian War. I got to watch the Masterpiece Theatre version of that when I was a kid. It was a great story, as I remember. One day I should read the book. Schubert did.

You know what, I still have pretty much the same tastes I had when I was 16. In music, stories, everything. What I liked then, I like now.

I have not moved on!

No one has any time, so let’s keep this short as we did on Mozart’s birthday. If you are new to Schubert’s songs, I would suggest you listen to “Normanns Gesang,” up above, a bunch of times. Go back to it every few days, have fun with it.

This one woman who assembled that video, I love her work because she includes translations of the words.

Here is another video she made. This is Ellens Gesang — Ellen’s Song No. 1. Another Scottish knights and ladies song I thrilled to as a teen.

”Soldier, rest! Your war is over

Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking.”

I had a dream about Schubert a couple of months ago. I will never forget it. It is weird, what you dream about, you know? In my dream he looked sort of like the Schubert you see in pictures, as in the portrait at the top of this post — I mean, he had the glasses, and the dark curly hair. Other than that, though — he was different.

In life he was supposedly kind of dumpy. His family called him “the little mushroom.” Schwammerl.

In my dream, no!

He was still himself, but he was taller, and he was angelically, incandescently handsome. All I could think was I wanted to be in his orbit. He was escorting ladies to a small round table — I was just hoping, hoping, I would get to sit next to him. I watched as he took one woman by the arm and showed him to the seat to his left. I thought, why couldn’t that be me?

Then he came over and took my arm, and he escorted me to the seat to his right. What happiness! I was just dazed. I was trying to figure out how old he was because I was thinking I could ask him about his song cycle “Die Winterreise,” except for I was not sure he had written it yet. I prefer his song cycle “Die Schöne Müllerin” but I thought it would impress him more that I knew “Die Winterreise.” Look at me, trying to impress Franz Schubert. Lining up what I could talk to him about.

I do not remember what we did end up talking about, Schubert and I, as we sat together at that table with his other friends. However what he looked like, that memory lingers. I want it to. Hereafter that is how I want to picture him.

It has crossed my mind — not to sound weird, but I understand that in heaven, we are still ourselves, we are reunited with our bodies. Except we are the most beautiful versions of ourselves, something we could not imagine in this life. And I thought … holy cow … is that what Schubert looks like in the next life? I mean, now?

Did I see him as he actually is?

What a thought! It is as if I have entered the magical world of Schubert and Sir Walter Scott.

On that note, let’s end our little Schubert party — a Schubertiade, is what his friends used to call such a gathering — with Ellen’s Song No 3. This is the beautiful “Ave Maria.”

We usually hear this melody with the “Ave Maria” prayer — the “Hail Mary” in Latin. However the poem Schubert set to music actually came from Sir Walter Scott’s “The Lady of the Lake.” It is a beautiful prayer in its own right. I do not know the full context, but just listening to it, you can tell it is the prayer of a woman who is really in need of help. Just the way Schubert repeats the words “Ave Maria,” the music he puts it to — it is a desperate call for help, you can hear it.

Thank you, Sir Walter Scott.

Thank you, Franz Schubert!