The Erlking lines are typically sung in a softer dynamic.
Schubert’s autograph of a simplified accompaniment to his “ Erlkönig“, one of several revisionsįranz Schubert composed his Lied, “ Erlkönig“, for solo voice and piano in 1815, setting text from the Goethe poem. 8 (after Goethe)” for solo piano, based on “Erlkönig”. A 21st century example is pianist Marc-André Hamelin’s “Etude No. A few other nineteenth-century versions are those by Václav Tomášek (1815), Carl Loewe (1818) and Ludwig Spohr (1856, with obbligato violin) and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (Polyphonic Studies for Solo Violin). Beethoven attempted to set it to music but abandoned the effort his sketch however was complete enough to be published in a completion by Reinhold Becker (1897). Other notable settings are by members of Goethe’s circle, including the actress Corona Schröter (1782), Andreas Romberg (1793), Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1794) and Carl Friedrich Zelter (1797). The poem has often been set to music with Franz Schubert’s rendition, his Opus 1 (D. 328), being the best known. In the original Scandinavian version of the tale, the antagonist was the Erlkönig‘s daughter rather than the Erlkönig himself the female elves or elvermøer sought to ensnare human beings to satisfy their desire, jealousy and lust for revenge. It has often been suggested that Erlkönig is a mistranslation from the original Danish elverkonge, which does mean “king of the elves.” The name translates literally from the German as “Alder King” rather than its common English translation, “Elf King” (which would be rendered as Elfenkönig in German). The Erlkönig‘s nature has been the subject of some debate. Molbech) was published in translation as Erlkönigs Tochter. Niels Gade’s cantata Elverskud opus 30 (1854, text by Chr. Goethe’s poem then took on a life of its own, inspiring the Romantic concept of the Erlking. The story of the Erlkönig derives from the traditional Danish ballad Elveskud: Goethe’s poem was inspired by Johann Gottfried Herder’s translation of a variant of the ballad (Danmarks gamle Folkeviser 47B, from Peter Syv’s 1695 edition) into German as “ Erlkönigs Tochter” (“The Erl-king’s Daughter”) in his collection of folk songs, Stimmen der Völker in Liedern (published 1778). There he recognizes that the boy is dead. Finally the child shrieks that he has been attacked. To what sort of home is not spelled out German Hof has a rather broad meaning of “yard,” “courtyard,” “farm,” or (royal) “court.” The lack of specificity of the father’s social position allows the reader to imagine the details.Īs the poem unfolds, the son seems to see and hear beings his father does not the father asserts reassuringly naturalistic explanations for what the child sees – a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. SummaryĪn anxious young boy is being carried home at night by his father on horseback. The poem has been used as the text for Lieder (art songs for voice and piano) by many classical composers. It was originally composed by Goethe as part of a 1782 Singspiel entitled Die Fischerin. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking or “ Erlkönig” (suggesting the literal translation “alder king”). “ Erlkönig” (also called “ Der Erlkönig“) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.