Classical Piece of the Week: Ständchen (Serenade)

Funny how something as simple as the weather can suddenly make you inspired. This week started off beautiful, complete with sunny skies and temperatures topping up to 25° Celsius. Then, yesterday, out of the blues, it started to snow. The skies became a moody dark gray, and the ground was a mixture of mud and melted snow.

Here's to a seemingly long winter!

One cannot help but feel sad when such situation happens, and I was definitely not an exception. So after all my sulking and refusal to accept that summer, no fall, is basically over, I thought about this piece. Ständchen, by Franz Schubert.

Originally, this piece was in fact, a song, but being the violinist as I am, I find the violin version more beautiful. (Although both are still very amazing) It comes from a collection of songs (Schwanengesang) that were written in one sitting by the lovely Schubert, of course, with the lyrics (poems) written by Ludwig Rellstab, Heinrich Heine and Johann Gabriel Seidl.

The melody is sorrowful and delicate, like a beautiful, crisp rose petal that you dare not touch in fear of damaging it. The music then gets stronger, with lovely scales, up to a beautiful harmonic. The melody then returns, but with some variation, and it is seemingly more loud in nature compared to the beginning. There is then a passage in a higher register, and after, everything slowly calms down, returning to the mood which started the whole piece.

Listening to this piece while watching the snow fall down outside made me overwhelmed with emotions. The melody just seemed to fit perfectly with the stillness of the trees and the moody, dark skies. I might not of had the happiest of thoughts while this whole thing unfolded, but after the piece ended, I felt a sense of calm. That even though it's snowing, you can still take comfort doing other things you love, like listening to this piece, or reading a good book while keeping warm in your snugly bed...

P.S. This is definitely not the best quality of sound for a video, but I find Elman's version of Schubert's Serenade the one that is the most beautiful, and played with the heart and the soul.