Adam Walton
Undergraduate German Song Literature
Characteristics of Undergraduate Students
In 2012, Arthur Levine published Generation on a Tightrope1 the latest of several books
he has written over the years looking at the trends and characteristics of college students in
America. Lederman, in a review of the book, summed up the major points as a series of
contradictions between which students today are forced to navigate:
…Coming of age in the deepest recession in 70 years, yet eager for the economic
opportunities their parents enjoyed. In a hurry to be grownups, but more dependent on
the adults around them than any modern generation. Global citizens in theory, but
ignorant of other cultures. Always in touch, but hampered in face-to-face
communication. And perhaps most importantly, digital natives, but maneuvering in a
still-largely-analog world.2
Helping students successfully navigate the transition from high school to college and the
confusing and contradictory nature of their situation will be an important part of teaching
undergraduates, as much as is possible. There is, obviously, only so much one course can
accomplish in alleviating some of these difficulties, but a song literature course is an excellent
vehicle for allowing students to expand their horizons and learn in depth about the values,
culture, and heritage of another area of the world.
I also intend to use some of the students’ strengths to help teach the course as well. In
particular, students are so comfortable with technology that my course is designed using many
1
Arthur Levine and Diane R. Dean, Generation on a Tightrope: a Portrait of Today's College Student (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012), 1.
2
Doug Lederman, “Confounded by Contradictions,” www.insidehighered.com, August 21, 2012, accessed
December 7, 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/08/21/study-examines-contradictions-definetodays-young-people.
of the principles of a flipped classroom. This will take advantage of my student’s comfort with
technology. The basic facts can be transmitted through video, audio, or readings, while class
time can be reserved for discussion and face-to-face interaction (another thing that students
need work on).
Goals and Materials:
Goals for the course are broadly broken down into four areas: concept, skill, attitudinal,
and social. For each area, I’ve provided at least one goal, along with a possible activity that
might correspond to that goal. The activities will be organized into a timeline for the course
later in this document.
Concept:
1. Students will develop an acquaintance with a wide selection of song literature, the
principal eras, genres, and cultural sources.
a. Extensive Listening and Song logs
i. Daily assigned songs to listen to.
ii. Song logs to fill out with essential information about each piece
iii. German song, from the Baroque to the present
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the essential stylistic features of major
song composers and their works.
a. Compare and contrast paper
i. Students will pick two treatments of the same text and compare the
different stylistic features.
ii. Students will need to include a short bibliography of sources relating to
the two songs.
Skill:
1. Students will improve their ability to hear, identify, and work conceptually with the
elements of music such as rhythm, melody, harmony, structure, timbre, texture.
a. Test questions on songs they haven’t heard
i. Students will identify important stylistic features of a piece
ii. Students will be asked to place the piece in a roughly appropriate era or
suggest a composer who could have written it.
iii. Students will write a short paragraph defending their choice
2. Students will be able to develop and defend their own musical judgements.
a. Compare and contrast paper (see above)
b. Song logs (see above)
Attitudinal:
1. Students will be introduced to some of the moral and ethical problems inherent in
classical music, including historical (and current) racism and sexism with their associated
privilege and power dynamics.
a. Discussion on non-white composers (racism)
i. This is a class on Western classical music, which is almost exclusively
music written by dead white men.
ii. Is there room for other styles and musical origins in a concert hall?
Spirituals? Folk songs? Etc.
b. Discussion on sexism
i. Mainly focused on Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben
1. Is this a sort of benevolent patriarchy? What are the issues with a
man writing texts like these in a woman’s voice?
2. What is the response of the women in the room to these texts
and sentiments?
3. Is there value in these pieces (which are undeniably beautiful)
even though most of us reject at least some of the sentiments
expressed in them?
4. Should we still be performing these things? Shakespeare’s Taming
of the Shrew as another example. Show clip of Katherina’s final
speech and discuss
2. Students will develop a greater appreciation for song as vocal chamber music.
a. Few specific things to achieve this, since appreciation is hard to create, but it is
hoped that the combination of exposure and understanding will produce
appreciation for the art form in the students.
Social:
1. Students will develop a greater understanding of the collaborative nature of song, and
learn strategies for working more effectively with accompanists.
a. In class performance
i. Each student will present and perform one or two songs (assigned by me)
in class.
ii. We will discuss essential etiquette for performers.
iii. Guest lecture from a collaborative pianist about how to most effectively
work with your song partner.
Timeline:
The course will meet twice a week during a sixteen week semester. It will be arranged
(roughly) chronologically, and each day will focus on a specific composer or group of
composers.
Week 1
Introduction and Syllabus
Schütz and other early baroque
Week 2
Buxtehüde and more early baroque
Bach cantatas
Week 3
CPE Bach – Geistliche Lieder
Zelter, Reichart, Loewe, Zumsteeg
Week 4
Haydn
Mozart
Week 5
Beethoven and Hummel
Discussion on working with an accompanist
Week 6
Test 1 (Schütz to Beethoven)
Schubert – Stand Alone Songs
Week 7
Schubert – An die Ferne Geliebte, Die Schöne Müllerin
Schubert – Winterreise, and others
Week 8
Mendelssohn (Fanny and Felix)
Schumann – Stand-alone songs and some excerpts
Week 9
Schumann – Dichterliebe
Schumann – Frauenliebe und –leben
Week 10
Test 2 (Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann)
Brahms
Week 11
Brahms day 2
Wagner and Wolf
Week 12
Wolf day 2
Mahler
Week 13
Mahler day 2
Richard Strauss
Week 14
Strauss day 2
Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire
Week 15
Berg and other atonal composers
Grab Bag – Zemlinsky, Schreker, Hindemith, Klenek, Korngold, Killmayer, etc.
Week 16
Grab Bag 2
Final Exam (Brahms to Modernists)
Final Paper due
Assessments:
Assessments in this class are mainly formal. The main focus of this class is not
performance, though it is an aspect that I don’t want to completely neglect. There will be three
tests throughout the semester. Each one will cover roughly 1/3 of the course material. One half
will be a multiple choice exam where students will be responsible for knowing basic timelines
and biographical information about composers, as well as their major works and important
stylistic features. They will also need to be familiar with important poets that we’ve discussed
(i.e. Goethe and Heine).
The second half of the test will be a listening portion. It will consist of two parts. The
first (and longest) will a drop-the-needle test on songs that we’ve already studied. The second
portion will be songs that we haven’t studied, but which are very typical examples of the style
of the composers that we’ve studied. Students will be asked to place the pieces roughly in the
correct time period and make educated guesses about who a likely composer would be. They
must defend their answers with a few lines or a short paragraph.
As far as performance, each student will perform one song (assigned by me) over the
course of the semester. They will give a brief (5 min) introduction to the piece, discuss
important stylistic features or performance considerations, and sing the piece. As I stated
above, this is not a performance class, so the grading will be some variation of pass/fail.
Students will have a final paper for the class. They will be given the choice of several
topics, but the main goal is to have them compare and contrast two or three different songs
and make value judgements about the works. Here are some sample questions:
“Many popular poems have been set by multiple composers. For example, we looked at
three different settings of Erlkönig in class (Reichart, Zelter, and Schubert). Pick a text
that has been set by several different composers that we’ve discussed. Compare and
contrast the settings. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Which most
nearly captures the mood of the poem? What skill level is each piece appropriate for?
What voice types could sing each piece? Which setting is most effective? Defend your
position.”
“Hugo Wolf, in a letter dated March 21, 1888 wrote to a friend and said, “I retract the
opinion that ‘Erstes Liebeslied eines Maedchens’ is my best thing, for what I wrote this
morning, ‘Fussreise’, is a million times better.”3 Compare and contrast these two pieces.
What do you think Wolf might have preferred in one to the other. Do you agree with
Wolf’s assessment? Which piece do you prefer? Defend your position.”
“In class, we discussed several works that, to a modern listener, appear to be extremely
racist or sexist. Pick two or three pieces (from different composers) which illustrate
some of these issues. Discuss what makes each piece problematic, as well as what
values and redeeming qualities have allowed the piece to remain in the repertoire for
decades or even centuries. Should we still perform and promote these works even when
their values no longer represent the values of our society? Defend your position.”
The final mode of assessment will be song logs that each student must fill out
electronically. Each log is roughly half a page and contains pertinent information about the
piece. They will be required to fill out 5-6 per week, both on the assigned songs and on the
songs we do in class. Each week they will submit their logs for grading. At the end of the course,
they will have a collection of 50-100 songs with their own annotations that will be useful for
teaching, recital planning, or personal study after the course is over. I’ve included the sample
3
Quoted in Frank Walker, Hugo Wolf: A Biography, 2nd ed. (London: Dent, 1968), 205
log categories below. I’ve also put them in an excel document so that students can fill that out
and create a personalized, searchable, and sortable database for themselves.
Composer:
Title:
Cycle or Op:
Poet:
Tempo:
Length:
Sections/Form:
Range:
What level of singer (HS, UG, GR/Pro):
What voice types could sing this:
Theme:
Voice Difficulty:
Piano Difficulty:
Pedagogical/Performance Considerations:
Your rating (out of 10):
Other comments:
In terms of weighting, I try to split the assessments roughly 50/50 between things that
require performance under pressure and things that require organization and discipline. One
thing to notice is that I consider the song logs to be one of the most important and useful things
that the students will do in my class, so I weight it quite heavily.
Tests (3)
In-class performance
Final Paper
Song Logs
Attendance
45%
5%
15%
25%
10%
Resources:
This is an annotated list of some of the resources that I consider to be important in a
class like this. It is not exhaustive, but it gives a good overview of the kinds of things I will be
working with:
youtube.com
With a huge number of readily available performances of much of the standard
repertoire, youtube is an invaluable resource. There are drawbacks to using it, specifically that
links can be taken down so you can’t guarantee that you’ll always have access to what you
want.
lieder.net
As per its own description, it is “the world’s largest reference archive of texts and
translations of art songs and choral works.” Students should understand that there might be
limitations to these translations, so they should seek out multiple different ones, but this site is
a great place to start.
imslp.org
Nearly every score that we discuss in the class is available for free in one form or
another on imslp. It’s become an essential resource for students and professionals, though
similarly to lieder.net, it should not be the only place you look for scores. It’s great, but not
complete.
Kimball, Carol – Song
Essentially the only textbook for a song literature course that exists. It covers a huge
time period and gives a good overview of composers and their major works. An essential
reference work for any serious performer or interpreter of song.
Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich – Robert Schumann, words and music : the vocal compositions
A very approachable biography of Schumann with an in depth focus on his songs. The
songs are basically handled chronologically, but it includes a helpful index to help you find
where a particular song is mentioned.
Moore, Gerald – Poet's love : the songs and cycles of Schumann
A fantastic resource on the work of actually performing Schumann. Very useful when
talking about his song cycles in particular.
Brody, Elaine – The German lied and its poetry
A useful and in depth look at the connection between poetry and music. Gives good
information about the poets, which can be lacking in sources devoted to exclusively to song.
Gorrell, Lorraine – The nineteenth-century German Lied
This is an excellent place to start researching any songs of this period. It has a good
overview, and the research is very well cited and documented, so you can easily follow it for
more in depth discussions if you wish.
Snyder, Lawrence D. – German poetry in song: an index of Lieder
A series of indices arranged by poet, composer, and first lines, this work is a godsend if
you’re ever planning a recital with German on it.
Stokes, Richard – The book of Lieder : the original texts of over 1000 songs
Another resource for translations, this book is obviously not complete, but it gets
through much of the standard repertoire. It does lack modern composers.
Consecutive Lesson Plans:
These plans are mainly notes and questions for discussion that would use to prepare and direct
the class. I want the lessons to be relatively free and open with lots of class participation, so I
want the freedom to go in a direction of interest even if it isn’t exactly what I planned.
Therefore, I include a lot of possible questions that might come up, but I don’t intend to use all
of them every time.
Lesson 1: Schumann – Stand-alone songs and some excerpts
Playing on Entrance: “Widmung”
Discuss piece. How is it similar to the Schubert that we’ve been talking about? How is it
different?
Listen to excerpts from the two different Liederkreis opuses (Heine, op. 24 and Eichendorff op.
39) Discuss their similarities and differences.
Listen to duets from Mädchenlieder.
Talk about performance considerations when singing duets. What about teaching duets?
Advantages and disadvantages.
Dismiss class.
Lesson 2: Schumann – Dichterliebe
Playing on Entrance: “Ich grolle nicht”
Discuss piece. This is a reflection point in the cycle. What comes before and what comes after
revolve around this piece. Discuss irony and sincerity of the narrator.
Listen to “Wenn ich in deine Augen seh”
Why does the singer weep bitterly? More Irony?
Irony transitions into a discussion of Heine and his typical affect.
Listen to “Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen”
Comes after the middle. The singer is depressed and upset now. What sort of considerations
should you have when performing a piece like this? What about if it’s excerpted? Does that
affect your interpretation?
End with “Die alten, bösen Lieder”. Have we seen symbolism similar to this in other songs?
Brief review of Dichterliebe
Dismiss Class.
Lesson 3: Schumann – Frauenliebe und –leben
Playing on Entrance: “Er der herllichster von allem”
Discuss piece, performance challenges, themes, sexism if it comes up. Transition into
homework “Du Ring an meinem Finger”
Discussion of sexism and this work. What do we do about it? Is the work still valuable? Should
we still perform it? What about all the history and recordings of it? Bring of concepts of Truth
vs. Beauty. Ambivalent sexism. Benevolent and hostive sexism. Set the pieces in the proper
culture and time period. Does the institutional sexism of the era excuse Schumann for the
sexism in the work?
Listen to “Süßer Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an”
Discuss the piece. What things should you think about when performing it? What about
teaching it? How is this stylistically different from other Schumann works?
Listen to excerpts from “Seit ich ihn gesehen” and “Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan”
Point out the cyclical nature of the work as a whole and how the last movement repeats the
themes of the first one.
Discuss upcoming test and dismiss class.