Schubert: ‘Die Leiermann..’
Or in English, the Hurdy Gurdy man… For my money, Schubert beats Dylan (or Donovan) every time… Why? Just heard it on Radio Three this afternoon, whilst painting the bedroom.. Enjoy…
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You’re comparing oranges with apples. Unlike Dylan, Schubert was not a poet; I don’t believe that any of his lieder was set to his own words. Schubert’s genius was not only his innate sense of melody, but his ability to dramatise the great poems of the day (especially those by Heine, Schiller and Goethe). Die Wintereisse, though, is a truly beautiful elegy to his own imminent death.
A dreary theme and an even more dreary delivery. I know it’s winter but …
That’s quite beautiful, Mick. Thanks. It’s also a tad depressing because at 43 I can connect with the dismal sentiment!
Donovan? In the same breath as Dylan?
As the man said, you’re comparing an apple with an orange as regards Dylan and Schubert.
Why you decided to throw in a lemon like Donovan is anybody’s guess.
It take the apples and pears point; but that is also part of my point. The poetry still remains poetry after Schubert has woven his music around it. Dylan’s (for me anyway) falls to bits without the music. Donovan was partly a reference to the song’s title in English.
Had an email from reader Danny who was listening to the same programme who suggests the singer may not be the same. But it’s the nearest treatment I could find. It is, as we used to say in the seventies ‘sticking out’…