Weit, hoch, herrlich / Wide, haughty, wonderful
Rings the Blick ins Live; / Turning the gaze to life
Vom Gebirg zum Gebirg / From mountain to mountain
Schwebet der ewige Geist / The eternal spirit is floating
Ewigen Lebens ahndevoll / Full of suspicion of eternal life
An Schwager Kronos / In the Kronos carriage
Poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Music by Franz Schubert, 1816
It is one of the most famous songs (Lieder) of the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), one of the “hits” of his time, in Goethe poetry. A poem about Saturn, which Goethe relates to the journey of time and life. With time running at a fast pace, as well as Schubert’s music. He makes many stops along the way, climbs in inaccessible mountains and then falls and reaches the end. Time is life, an exciting and relentless journey.
The ode to Saturn is one of many Lieders with ancient Greek influences composed by Schubert in his short life – he left only at the age of 31. Lieder was nothing more than a melodic poem by the great German and Austrian romantic poets. As a species they flourished in the 19th century through composers such as Schubert. Some of them are presented in the cycle of songs entitled “The Greek Schubert – Gods and Myths of Ancient Greece” on Friday, November 5 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Bonn. Behind this particular musical project are the baritone Aris Argyris together with the German pianist, composer and conductor Peter Bortfeld. “The specific songs inspired by ancient Greece are scattered in various works by Schubert. We singled them out, studied them and rendered them after research and discussions for about five years “, says Aris Argyris.
In Metternich Austria and the Europe of revolutions
Schubert, “this small man with the squat body and the glasses” was a teacher and was intended to be a teacher himself. At sixteen, however, his inclination for music was clear. According to Peter Bortfeld, he soon became known in music circles in Vienna for composing important poems. “The words and their understanding gave meaning to his music. The content guided him “explains Aris Argyris. “Schubert’s music has an unprecedented intensity, like a simmering fire. But he manages it with genius. It does not have the explosion of Verdi, Wagner, Rossini. He manages to put her in a peculiar channel and take her where he wants “.
It is not known whether Schubert knew ancient Greek, but his references to Greek mythology are many, full of symbolism and parallels with the socio-political context of his day: Vienna of the hard-working Chancellor Metternich – a dominant political figure in early 19th-century Europe. an era of reorganizations and revolutions, such as the Greek one. At the same time, Austria looked like a police state inside. “Metternich ruled with repression. There was a secret police and a well-organized censorship mechanism. “Political correctness was being checked,” said Bortfeld. “Schubert and his friends considered themselves opponents of the government, they were liberals. “Some ended up in jail, just like he did for a few days.”
Ancient Greek themes were the necessary spiritual vehicle for Schubert to talk about modern suffering. “Freedom was restricted and the people of the spirit were trying to find new ways of expression,” Bortfeld observes. Create a climate of values ​​of freedom, love, charity, brotherhood, friendship, respect and all this through texts: Iphigenia, Agamemnon, Memnon. He spoke of the fall, of the descent to Tartarus, of darkness, of death, of Hades, “explains Aris Argyris, relating Schubert’s ancient Greek references to the mass movement of Hellenism in Western Europe.
Iphigenia, Atlas, Olympian Gods…
In the cycle of songs, on which Aris Argyris and Peter Bortfeld work, we meet familiar figures of the ancient Greek world: Iphigenia, who with her self-sacrifice is a timeless symbol. Or Atlanta “carrying the globe with an unusually dramatic intensity to Schubert’s works. It has almost a religious parallel with Jesus, who carries the sins and pains of the world “, observes Aris Argyris. In Schubert’s Lieder, however, we often meet the Olympian gods. A typical example is “The Gods of Greece” (Die Götter Griechenlands), the poem by Friedrich Schiller also composed by Schubert:
«Schöne Welt, wo bist du? Kehre wieder / Go back again! “
“People were the gods of ancient Greek mythology. This made them attractive, they had all the disadvantages and advantages of human nature. There is no meaning of the punishing god, as in catholicism or orthodoxy “observes Aris Argyris.
Franz Schubert and Nikolaos Doumbas
But beyond the obvious ancient Greek influences on Schubert’s music, there is another, lesser-known story that connects Schubert with the spiritually and economically active circles of the Greeks of Vienna in the 19th century. “Schubert had a very good relationship with Nikolaos Doubas, a Greek-Austrian benefactor. A very rich, young gentleman, who loved art very much and was very talkative. We owe it to him to save a very large number of Schubert’s works. ” Doumbas, son of the Greek merchant Stergios Doumbas, was also a baritone. He was a friend of Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. He was also one of the sponsors of the iconic Vienna Concert Hall (Wiener Musikverein).
“Once I heard this information from an old gentleman, I did not stop thinking about it. This thought always bothered me, the Greek songs of Schubert, Doumbas, this music, this expression… What can I do and when? ” says Aris Argyris characteristically. This moment seems to have started in Bonn. And so on.
Aris Argyris is an opera singer and professor of Classical Song at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin. He has performed important roles in the greatest operas of Europe. Peter Bortfeld is a pianist, composer, conductor and teaches at the Music Academies of Cologne and Frankfurt. In particular, he deals with the accompaniment of Lied on the piano.
DW – Dimitra Kyranoudi
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