In the Western classical music tradition, Lied (pronounced LEED or LEET in English, and [liːt] in German) is a term for music written to accompany poetry. The word Lied can refer to any type of song in German, but in English, it is often used the same as "art song" to describe songs inspired by this tradition in other languages. The poems used in Lieder often focus on themes like nature or romantic love.
The earliest Lieder date back to the late 14th or early 15th centuries and may even include songs from as early as the 12th and 13th centuries, called Minnesang. Later, the term was especially used for music based on Romantic poetry from the late 18th century through the early 20th century. Examples of composers who wrote Lieder include Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, or Richard Strauss.
Early history
The German word "Lied," meaning "song," has a long history. It was used for songs from the 12th century, including songs by troubadours called Minnesang, folk songs called Volkslieder, church hymns called Kirchenlieder, and songs from the 20th century, such as workers' songs (Arbeiterlieder) or protest songs (Kabarettlieder, Protestlieder).
The word "Lied" became widely used in German during the early 15th century. It replaced the earlier word "gesang."
Oswald von Wolkenstein, a poet and composer, is sometimes called the creator of the lied because he combined words and music in new ways. Earlier, a composer known as the Monk of Salzburg wrote six two-part lieder in the late 14th century. However, Oswald von Wolkenstein wrote about 120 lieder, more than the Monk of Salzburg, and his songs are considered higher in quality. Many of Oswald's songs used music borrowed from other composers.
In the 15th century, three large song collections were created in Germany: the Lochamer Liederbuch, the Schedelsches Liederbuch, and the Glogauer Liederbuch.
Konrad Celtis (1459–1508), a scholar and leader of the German Renaissance, taught students to write Latin poems using the rhythm patterns of the Horatian odes. These poems were later set to simple, four-part music that followed the rhythm patterns of French measured verse. Composers who created music in this style included Heinrich Finck, Paul Hofhaimer, and Ludwig Senfl. This style influenced German humanist plays and helped develop Protestant hymns. Examples of early German secular polyphony (music with multiple voices singing different melodies) include Johann Ott's Mehrstimmiges Deutsches Liederbuch (1534) and Georg Forster's Frische teutsche Liedlein (about 1540). According to Chester Lee Alwes, Heinrich Isaac's popular song "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen" became the standard example of the lied genre.
The mainstream lied tradition in classical music
In the late 1700s, the word "lied" began to mean a type of music called an "art song" in the classical music tradition. For more information about art songs in general, see the entry for "art song."
Lieder were usually performed by one singer accompanied by a piano. The piano became popular in the 1700s and offered more musical expression than the older harpsichord, which may have helped the development of lieder. The singer often used a "high voice," which fits the range of a soprano (female singer) or a tenor (male singer). The music for both voices is the same, but the soprano sings the notes as written, and the tenor sings them an octave lower. Lieder were also written for lower voices: baritone/bass for men and mezzo/alto for women. Lieder are often performed in a different key, either by a pianist changing the key during a performance or by using printed music in a different key. This practice is common, and many famous lieder singers, like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, adjusted the key to match their voices.
Classical composers like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven wrote lieder, but for them, lieder was not their main musical focus. It was Franz Schubert who made lieder a major musical form. Schubert found a way to balance words and music, creating a deep connection between the meaning of the poem and the music. In his short life (1797–1828), he wrote over 600 songs. Some well-known examples of his lieder include "Erlkönig," "Der Tod und das Mädchen" ("Death and the Maiden"), "Gretchen am Spinnrade," and "Der Doppelgänger."
Schubert's work inspired other composers, and the tradition of writing lieder continued through the 1800s, with composers like Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolf. In the 1900s, composers like Gustav Mahler continued the tradition. Mahler often wrote two versions of his lieder: one with piano and one with a full orchestra. Other 20th-century composers who wrote lieder include Hans Pfitzner, Max Reger, Richard Strauss, Alexander Zemlinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and Ernst Krenek. These composers wrote lieder in different styles, including tonal, atonal, and twelve-tone music.
Recordings of lieder usually include booklets or other materials that provide the original text so that listeners who do not speak German can understand the lyrics. This is also true for concert programs.
While it is possible for a poet to write new lyrics to existing music, in lieder, composers usually chose poems that already existed. The poems selected by composers came from many sources. Sometimes, composers knew the poets personally. For example, Haydn wrote songs to poems by his friend Anne Hunter, whom he met during his trips to London. Schubert also worked with poets who were friends. At other times, composers read published poetry to find verses to set to music. This was helpful because the late 1700s and 1800s were a time of great poetic creativity in Germany. Poets like Goethe, Schiller, and Heine wrote poems that were set to music by famous composers. However, not all successful lieder came from the most famous poets. For example, Friedrich Rückert, who was not considered one of the greatest German poets, inspired composers like Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler.
The role of the poem in a lieder is important. As noted by pianist Graham Johnson, poems often have multiple stanzas of equal length and structure. Composers responded to this in two ways. In a strophic setting, the music is written for one stanza and repeated for each stanza. A repeat sign is placed at the end of the song, and the stanzas are written one above the other. An example of a strophic song is "Das Wandern," the first song in Schubert's song cycle "Die schöne Müllerin," where the same music is used for all five stanzas. In a through-composed setting, the music is different for each line of the poem, and there are no repeat signs. The poem is written out line by line under the music.
Strophic songs are generally considered simpler, as they can only express the overall feeling of the poem, while through-composed songs can reflect the details of each stanza. However, the line between these two styles is not always clear. Some songs may have the same music for each stanza but with small changes to match the content of each stanza. For example, Beethoven's "Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel" is mostly strophic, but he adjusted the music slightly for each stanza. Even through-composed songs often repeat musical ideas, as repetition is common in music.
On rare occasions, lieder composers wrote songs to prose instead of poetry. One example is Brahms's "Four Serious Songs" (1896), which uses prose from the Lutheran Bible.
Song cycles are groups of lieder, usually at least six songs, connected by a single story or theme. The first song cycle was Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte." Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin" and "Winterreise" are among his most famous works and are often performed today. Robert Schumann also wrote notable song cycles, such as "Frauen-Liebe und Leben" and "Dichterliebe." Mahler is known for his powerful and somber "Kindertotenlieder" ("Songs on the Death of Children").
The tradition of art songs started by Schubert influenced composers outside of German-speaking countries, where the genre is called by different names (except in Dutch, where "lied" is also used for "song"). French composers like Hector Berlioz, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Francis Poulenc wrote similar songs called "mélodies." Russian composers like Modest Mussorgsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff also created songs in a similar style. In the 20th century, English composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Ivor Gurney, and Gerald Finzi wrote songs that often sounded like folk music.
A key feature of most lieder (and other art songs) is that the piano and the singer have equal importance. The pianist is not just an accompanist but plays a part that is as expressive and important as the singer's. This is natural because many great lieder composers, such as Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Mahler, were excellent pianists but not strong singers. Some composers, like Schubert and Benjamin Britten, worked closely with singers who first performed their songs. Today, leading lieder singers often collaborate with pianists.