Prometheus (art song)

Song composed by Franz Schubert

"Prometheus", D. 674, is an intensely dramatic art song composed by Franz Schubert in October 1819 to a poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

## Music

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The lied was written for bass voice in the key of B♭ major, but the key moves repeatedly through various major to minor tonalities, ending in C major.[1] Goethe's dramatic declamation by Prometheus would be set again, with very different effect, by Hugo Wolf,[2] "with his alternations of ariosos and recitatives, Schubert created a miniature oratorio", observes Edward F. Kravitt.[3]

Among many other lieder by Schubert, Max Reger also created an orchestration for "Prometheus".[4]

## Recordings

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Voice and piano
Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Charles Spencer (piano), RCA Records, 1995
Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano), Deutsche Grammophon, 1999
Schubert: Goethe-Lieder, Vol. 1, Ulf Bästlein (bass-baritone), Stefan Laux (piano), Naxos Records, 2000

Voice and orchestra (Max Reger)
Schubert arranged by Reger: Songs, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor), Dietrich Henschel (baritone), MD&G Records, 1998
Schubert arr. Reger: Orchestral Songs, Klaus Mertens (baritone), Camilla Nylund (soprano), NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Werner Andreas Albert (conductor), cpo Records, 1998
Schubert: Lieder With Orchestra, Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado (conductor), Deutsche Grammophon, 2003

## References

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1. ^ Leonard, James. Prometheus ("Bedecke deinen Himmel"), song for voice & piano, D. 674 at AllMusic (Analysis)
2. ^ Wolf considered Schubert's "Ganymed" and "Prometheus" unsatisfactory, in part because "a truly Goethean spirit" could only be fulfilled in the "post-Wagnerian era", according to a Wolf letter to Emil Kaufmann, noted in Scott Messing, Schubert in the European Imagination: Fin-de-siècle Vienna, 2007, p. 192, note 57.
3. ^ Kravitt, Edward F., The Lied: Mirror of Late Romanticism, p. 65. Yale University Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-300-06365-3
4. ^ Schubert arr. Reger: Orchestral Songs at AllMusic

## External links

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* "Prometheus", D. 674 (Schubert, Franz): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
* "Prometheus" on YouTube, Matthias Goerne (baritone), Andreas Haefliger (piano)
* "Prometheus" – Max Reger orchestration on YouTube, Thomas Quasthoff, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado
* "Rhetoric, form, and sovereignty in Schubert’s 'Prometheus' D. 674" thesis by Erica Brady Angert to Louisiana State University (57 pages, 515 KB)
* "Prometheus" – Art song by Schubert, Franz D. 674, orchestration by Carl Nielsen

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Songs by Franz Schubert

Part songs|

* "Schwertlied", D 170
* "An die Freude", D 189
* "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern", D 714
* "Ständchen", D 920

Lieder|

* "Der Taucher", D 77
* "Gretchen am Spinnrade", D 118
* "Rastlose Liebe", D 130
* "Der Mondabend", D 141
* "Amphiaraos", D 166
* "Die Bürgschaft", D 246
* "Heidenröslein", D 257
* "Vaterlandslied", D 287
* "Hermann und Thusnelda", D 322
* "Erlkönig", D 328
* "Der König in Thule", D 367
* "Der Wanderer", D 489
* "Wiegenlied", D 498
* "Der Tod und das Mädchen", D 531
* "An die Musik", D 547
* "Die Forelle", D 550
* "Prometheus", D 674
* "Willkommen und Abschied", D 767
* "Der Zwerg", D 771
* "Auf dem Wasser zu singen", D 774
* "Du bist die Ruh', D 776
* "Lachen und Weinen", D 777
* "Nacht und Träume", D 827
* "Ave Maria", D 839
* "Im Frühling", D 882
* "Ständchen", D 889
* "An Sylvia", D 891
* "Der Doppelgänger", D 957 No. 13
* "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen", D 965

Cycles|

* Schubert's song cycles, including: Die schöne Müllerin, D 795
* Winterreise, D 911
* Schwanengesang, D 957

Multiple|

* Mignon
* "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt"
* Romanze
* Sehnsucht
* Ständchen
* Trinklied
* "Wandrers Nachtlied"

* List of compositions by Franz Schubert
* List of compositions by Franz Schubert by genre
* Schubert opus/Deutsch number concordance

Authority control databases

National|

* Germany

Other|

* MusicBrainz work

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