Gretchen am Spinnrade

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Gretchen am Spinnrade is a selection of text from Goethe's Faust. It was set to music by Schubert in 1814, op.2, D.118. A challenging work for both pianist and singer, Schubert's setting for soprano voice has been transposed for mezzo-soprano voice as well.

Gretchen is singing at her spinning-wheel while thinking of Faust and all that he promises. The accompaniment mimics the spinning-wheel--the wheel itself in constantly revolving sixteenth-note figurations in the right hand, the foot treadle back and forth in the left--speeding up and slowing down in response to the text, to show Gretchen's excitement or distraction. At the climax of the piece, the piano stops as Gretchen becomes overly distracted by the thought of Faust's kiss, and then only hesitatingly begins again as she realizes she has forgotten to keep spinning. Schubert ingeniously uses the piano to imitate the rhythmic repetition of the spinning wheel, perhaps mirroring either the hypnotic effect of temptation and the devil and/or love. The constancy of Gretchen's infatuation is alluded to not only by constancy of the spinning, but also by the repetition of the first stanza periodically throughout the song and the emphatic repetition of the final stanza three times.

Gretchen's beginning words (in German) are:

Meine Ruh ist hin

Mein Hertz ist schwer

Ich denke, ich sehe ihn nimmer

und nimmermehr

The alliteration and rhyming are incomparable. Loosely translated to English, this means:

My reason (peace of mind) has fled

My heart is heavy

I think, I will never see

or ever be with him again...

(etc..)

This art song has a ternary design of 3 stanzas plus 4 stanzas plus 3 stanzas. Each section is started with the first stanza of the poem, which helps to identify the beginning of each section. The setting of the opening stanza is strophic and it is the measurement of the dividing sections into groupings. Each stanza afterwards is through-composed.

Schubert uses a diverse collection of techniques when setting words to music. This is particularly noticeable in Gretchen am Spinnrade, which was a selection of text from Goethe’s Faust, that Schubert set to music for soprano voice. The first element of this piece of music that strikes the listener is the way the pianist reflects the scene, almost so the vocal part can be freer. Schubert puts revolving semiquaver figurations in the right hand to show the constant, agitated spin of the wheel and in the left hand, the foot treadle is heard. The rhythm is very oppressive and immediately suggests a sense of restlessness, before the vocalist even begins, but when she does, we can hear that the soprano part is written almost like a train of thought, with the spinning wheel speeding up and slowing down in response to the text. The vocal part seems to be almost like a musical soliloquy, as she contemplates her thoughts and feelings in quite a free manner, over the top of the driving, rhythmical piano part. The opening stanza is strophic, but the others a through composed, allowing the music to develop to an eventual climax. The climax of the piece is anticipated by an ascending sequence and faster harmonic motion, which makes the words more dramatic. The chords ascend chromatically, until the spinning wheel stops, as if she has become to overcome with emotion, she has forgotten what she was supposed to be doing. The tension is released into a diminished seventh chord, where Gretchen sings the word “kiss.” This is the highest note of the piece and here Schubert has cleverly emphasised the elation and excitement Gretchen felt by this kiss.