Franz Schubert, “Im Gegenwärtigen Vergangenes”, quartet for male & piano, D. 710 (1821)
Wolfgang Sawallisch (piano), Capella Bavariae
Schubert’s setting of Goethe’s “Im Gegenwartigen Vergangenes” (The Past in the Present) (D. 710) is one of the least-known and one of the most structurally unusual of all his Goethe songs.
Composed in March 1821, Im Gegenwartigen Vergangenes is in four distinct sections.
The song begins as a tender Lied for solo tenor with piano accompaniment, adds a second tenor in the second verse as the tempo increases to a ravishing Allegretto, and adds two basses to the tenors for the third verse when the tempo increases to a friskier Allegro moderato.
It then returns to the solo tenor for the final verse at the slower and more expansive Andantino quasi allegretto tempo, but this time contrapuntally joined by the first bass, then the second tenor, then the second bass.
Remarkably, the entire structure holds together marvelously well, with each change building upon all that preceeded it until it eases into the consoling closing verse.
Schubert’s control of form enabled him to compose a song that holds a world of emotions in a single span.
Painting in the video:
CARAVAGGIO
“Sleeping Cupid”
1608
Oil on canvas, 71 x 105 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence