Monday 27 November 2017
Tune of the Day: Gretchen am Spinnrade
by Franz Schubert, transcribed for flute and piano
Franz Schubert completed his “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (“Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”) in October 1814, three months before his eighteenth birthday. The Lied (term which denotes the setting of a German poem to classical music) uses the text from Part One, Scene 18 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragic play Faust, which sees Gretchen at her spinning wheel, thinking of Faust. The distinctive accompaniment in the right hand mimics the perpetual movement of the spinning-wheel, while the left hand imitates the foot treadle.
Thanks to Kaylee for suggesting this piece!