MUH 201- Listening Exercise 17.2

A ballad narrates a continually unfolding story, whereas a lyric love poem engages a single sentiment, sometimes with slight nuances. Match the type of poetry with the form that composers have often selected.

A ballad is set in through-composed form, and a love poem is set in strophic form or strophic variation.

The key word here seems to be nicht ("not [love me]") at 0:15. Which of the following statements is true of Clara Schumann's rendering of this word?

The music is in major mode but suddenly shifts to minor on the word nicht.

Compare the end of strophe 1 with the end of strophe 3. Has the composer varied the music of the vocal line in strophe 3?

no

As is true of the German Lied generally, the accompanying instrument here is the

piano

The coda here is provided by

piano alone

Judging from much of what you have heard of this Lied, Clara Schumann composed the song in

strophic variation form

The questions in this Listening Exercise focus on the issue of musical form. This Lied (art song), like most pop songs today, begins with a brief instrumental passage to set the tempo and mood for the performer. Is this statement true or false?

true

Compare the end of strophe 1 with the end of strophe 2. Has the composer varied the music of the vocal line in strophe 2?

yes

Compare the end of strophe 1 with the end of strophe 4. Has the composer varied the vocal line?

yes

Compare the piano part at the beginning of strophe 1 with that at the beginning of strophe 4. Has the composer varied the music?

yes