Table of Contents:
Schubert Liszt – Erlkönig Schubert famous Lied Erlkönig S 558/4 (sheet music, Noten, partition)
Best Sheet Music download from our Library.
Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you!
On Erlkönig
Erlkönig, song setting by Franz Schubert, written in 1815 and based on a 1782 poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “Erlkönig” is considered by many to be one of the greatest ballads ever penned. The song was written for two performers, a singer and a pianist, and it packs a remarkable amount of tension and drama into a mere four minutes. Its effectiveness is doubly impressive because Schubert was only 18 years old when he composed it.
Inspired in part by his friendship with a number of talented singers, Schubert produced some 600 art songs during the course of his brief career (he died at age 31). “Erlkönig” is by far the best known of these. The poem that provides its text, like many of the supernatural tales that dominated literature in the Romantic era, has its roots in a Scandinavian folktale. Goethe’s poem tells the story of a boy riding home on horseback in his father’s arms. He is frightened when he is courted by the Erl-King, a powerful and creepy supernatural being. The boy’s father, however, cannot see or hear the creature and tells the boy that his imagination is playing tricks on him. The boy grows increasingly terrified by what he hears from the Erl-King, but his father tells him that the things he thinks he sees and hears are only the sights and sounds of nature on a dark and stormy night. When the Erl-King eventually seizes the boy, the father spurs on his horse, but when he arrives home his son is dead.
Goethe’s poem, which is reproduced below, contains a conversation that includes a father, his child, and the evil Erl-King. So as to distinguish among the speakers, the father’s words are in bold and the son’s in double quotation marks, while the Erl-King’s words are in single quotes.
Wer reitet so spät, durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?”
Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.
‘Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand.
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.’
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?”
Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.
‘Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter solln dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn,
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.’
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?”
Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau;
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.
‘Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.’
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!”
Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
The following translation into English of Goethe’s poem uses the same text attributes to distinguish among the speakers.
Who’s riding so late, in the night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He grasps the boy in his arm.
He holds him securely; he keeps him warm.
My son, why do you hide your face so fearfully?
“Father, don’t you see the Erl-King there?
The Erl-King with his crown and train?”
My son, it’s a streak of mist.
‘You delightful child, come with me!
I’ll play wonderful games with you.
Colourful flowers grow on the shore.
My mother has many fine things.’
“My father, my father, don’t you hear
What the Erl-King said to me?”
Be calm, stay calm, my son;
The wind is stirring the dry leaves.
‘Fine boy, will you come with me?
My daughters will wait on you nicely.
My daughters will lead the evening dancing
And rock and dance and sing to you.’
“My father, my father, don’t you see
The Erl-King’s daughters in that gloomy place?”
My son, my son, I see it indeed;
The old willow gleaming so gray.
‘I love you, I delight in your beautiful shape;
And if you are not willing, I shall use force.’
“My father, my father, he has seized me!
Erl-King is injuring me!”
The father blanched; he rode swiftly.
He held the moaning child in his arms.
With great trouble, he reached the courtyard.
In his arms, the child was dead.
(Translation by Betsy Schwarm.)
Schubert deftly underscores the action described in the poem by carefully crafting music that drops the listener in medias res. He heightens its horror by means of several devices. Although only one singer is involved, Schubert gives each of the song’s four personalities—narrator, father, boy, and Erl-King—a characteristic way of singing. Each time the boy speaks, for example, his growing hysteria is signaled by his rising vocal pitch, whereas the father’s voice is not only lower in pitch but also steady and even.
The Erl-King’s voice, by contrast, is initially sweetly beguiling, but, as he loses his patience with the boy, it takes on an angry, menacing edge. The pianist too contributes to the mood. Schubert’s masterful writing gives to the right hand a continuous series of staccato chords that suggest the pounding pace of the horse and lend urgency to the narrative, and to the left he gives a repetitive, quietly sinister little run. The playing of both hands stops completely when the fate of the son is revealed.
Artist or Composer / Score name | Cover | List of Contents |
---|---|---|
Dire Straits Alchemy Live | Dire Straits Alchemy Live | |
Dire Straits Private Investigations (Easy Piano Solo Arr.) Sheet Music | ||
Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms | ||
Dire Straits – Jam with (Book + MP3 audio tracks Play Along) Guitar with Tablature | Jam with dire straits | |
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold – Songbook (Piano, Guitar, Vocals) | Dire Straits – Love Over Gold – Songbook (Piano, Guitar, Vocals) | |
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing | Money For Nothing (Piano and lyrics) – Dire Straits | |
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing (Piano and lyrics Songbook) | Money For Nothing (Piano Songbook) – Dire Straits | |
Dire Straits – Private Investigations (Easy Piano Solo Arr.) | Dire Straits – Private Investigations (Easy Piano Solo Arr.) | |
Dire Straits – Private Investigations (Easy Piano Solo Arr.) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Dire Straits – Private Investigations (GUITAR TAB) – The Best Of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler | Dire Straits – Private Investigations (GUITAR TAB) – The Best Of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler | |
Dire Straits – Private Investigations (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet GUITAR PLAY ALONG (with MP3 audio tracks) with Tablature | ||
Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing | ||
Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing – Guitar Songbook with Tablature | ||
Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing (Alchemy Live). Guitar Tablature Book | ||
Dire Straits – Telegraph Road | ||
Dire Straits – Tunnel Of Love | Dire Straits-Tunnel Of Love | |
Dire Straits – Walk Of Life | ||
Dire Straits Brothers In Arms (Piano, guitar & vocal) | Dire Straits Brothers In Arms (Piano, guitar & vocal) contents — Dire Straits Brothers In Arms (Piano, guitar & vocal) | |
Dire Straits Money For Nothing (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Dirk Maassen – To The Sky | ||
Dirk Maassen Addio | ||
Dirk Maassen Danse | ||
Dirk Maassen Eclipse | ||
Dirk Maassen Gravity | ||
Dirk Maassen Lamer | ||
Dirk Maassen To The Sky | ||
Dirk Maassen Two Skies | ||
Dirk Maassen Viva | ||
Dirty Dancing Time Of My Life | dirty dancing sheet music | |
Dirty Dancing Film Sheet Music Songbook | Dirty Dancing Film Sheet Music Songbook | |
Disco Collection The – The Greatest Hits from The Disco Era | Disco Collection The – The Greatest Hits from The Disco Era | |
Disco Guitar Bible TABs | Disco Guitar Bible TABs | |
Disco Songs Ever, The Best (Sheet Music) Best Ever Piano Vocal Guitar chords (Incomplete) | Disco Songs Ever, The Best (Sheet Music) Best Ever Piano Vocal Guitar chords (Incomplete) | |
Discovery Jazz Collection – GUITAR 15 selections for developing jazz ensemble | Discovery Jazz Collection – Piano 15 selections for developing jazz ensemble_compressed | |
Discovery Jazz Collection – PIANO 15 selections for developing jazz ensemble | Discovery Jazz Collection – Piano 15 selections for developing jazz ensemble_compressed | |
Disney Beauty and the Beast – Alan Menken (Easy Piano Solo Arr. Sheet Music) | ||
Disney Beauty And The Beast (V2) | Disney Beauty And The Beast (V2) | |
Disney Medley – Misc Soundtrack Disney Piano Solo Medley | Disney Medley – Misc Soundtrack Disney Piano Solo Medley | |
Disney My First Piano Songbook | Disney My First Piano Songbook | |
Disney – 15 Songs For Fingerpicking Guitar with Tablature | Fingerpicking Disney | |
Disney – Aladdin – Arabian Nights (Piano sheet music) | ||
Disney – All Jazzed Up Disney 12 favorites reimagined with a Jazz flair | Disney – All Jazzed Up Disney 12 favorites reimagined with a Jazz flair | |
Disney – Beauty And The Beast – Alan Menken (Easy Piano Solo Arr. Sheet Music) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Disney – Beauty And The Beast (Piano Sheet Music) | ||
Disney – Pixar Up (full sheet music book) easy piano solo by Michael Giacchino | Disney – Pixar Up (full sheet music book) easy piano solo by Michael Giacchino | |
Disney – Pixar Up Married Life (Main Theme) piano solo sheet music Michael Giacchino | Disney – Pixar Up Married Life (Main Theme) piano solo sheet music Michael Giacchino | |
Disney – Pixar’s Up Main Theme Easy Piano Solo | Disney – Pixar’s Up Main Theme Easy Piano Solo | |
Disney – Super Easy Songbook Sheet Music | Disney – Super Easy Songbook Sheet Music | |
Disney – Treasury Of Songs (Score Piano and vocal) | Disney treasury | |
Disney – You’re Going To Find This Hard To Believe sheet music | Disney – You’re Going To Find This Hard To Believe sheet music pdf | |
Disney Al Pianoforte – Easy Piano (40 Adattamenti Facili Per Pianoforte by F. Concina) | Disney Al Pianoforte – 40 Adattamenti Facili Per Piano | |
Disney Beauty and the Beast | ||
Disney Fake Book (over 240 songs) | Disney Fake Book Over 240 Songs | |
Disney Fake Book (4th Edition) Piano Vocal Guitar and all C instruments | ||
Disney Fantasia 2000 (Book) | Disney Fantasia 2000 (Book) | |
Disney Favorites for Piano by J.S. Bastien | Disney Favorites for Piano by J.S. Bastien | |
Disney Favorites Really easy piano | Disney 23 Disney Favorites Really easy piano | |
Disney Frozen Let it go ( easy piano ) | Let it go | |
Disney Giant Movie Hits (Songbook) 36 Contemporary Classics From The Little Mermaid To The Emperors New Groove | Disney Giant Movie Hits (Songbook) 36 Contemporary Classics From The Little Mermaid To The Emperors New Groove | |
Disney How Far I’ll Go Moana Piano & Vocals | ||
Disney Ingenue Songbook – sheet music | Disney Ingenue Songbook – sheet music | |
Disney Jazz Piano Solos Series Volume 16 | Disney Jazz Piano Solos Series Volume 16 | |
Disney Love Songs | Disney Love Songs | |
Disney Mega-Hit Movies–Easy Piano (Songbook) | Disney Mega-Hit Movies–Easy Piano (Songbook) | |
Disney music Collection | Disney music Collection | |
Disney My First Song Book Piano Easy | Disney My First Song Book Piano Easy | |
Disney Once Upon A Dream Easy Piano Solo with lyrics | ||
Disney Once Upon A Dream Voice from Disney Sleeping Beauty Piano Vocal | ||
Disney Peaceful Piano Solos Songbook | Disney Peaceful Piano Solos Songbook | |
Disney Pictures Intro (Easy Piano Solo) | ||
Disney Pixar Coco Songbook (Robert Lopez) Piano Vocal guitar | Disney Pixar Coco Songbook (Robert Lopez) Piano Vocal guitar | |
Disney Princess Collection – The Music of Hopes Dreams and Happy Endings | Disney Princess Collection – The Music of Hopes, Dreams and Happy Endings | |
Disney Solos For Clarinet (Sheet music book) | Disney Solos For Clarinet | |
Disney Songbook | Disney Songbook, The {Book} solo piano | |
Disney Songs For Classical Guitar (with Tablature) | Disney Songs For Classical Guitar | |
Disney Songs For Classical Piano | Disney Songs For Classical Piano | |
Disney The Lion King songbook | Disney The Lion King | |
Disney Up Married Life (Main Theme) Piano Solo Sheet Music Michael Giacchino | ||
Divas – Shirley Bassey-Doris Day-Marilyn Monroe-Nina Simone-Ella Fitzgerald- Peggy Lee-Sarah Vaughan | DIVAS | |
Divinity Original Sin II Game Main Theme by Borislav Slavov | ||
Dixieland Big Band (Authentic) Book Original Arr. for Dixieland Band | ||
Dixieland Fake Book | ||
Dixieland New Orleans Folio No 2 Blues Stomps And Ragtime (Piano & Vocal) | Dixieland New Orleans piano | |
Dizzy Gillespie – A Night In Tunisia Easy Piano Solo sheet music | ||
Dizzy Gillespie A Jazz Master Solo Transcriptions Trumpet | Dizzy Gillespie A Jazz Master Solo Transcriptions Trumpet | |
Dizzy Gillespie Be Bop Music Score Big Band Full Score | ||
Dizzy Stratford A Salzburg Impression | ||
Dj Sammy – Heaven – Candlight remix | ||
Django Fakebook (Guitar) | Django Fakebook (Guitar) | |
Django in June! 24 Gypsy Jazz Standards Standard And Tab | Django in June! 24 Gypsy Jazz Standards Standard And Tab | |
Django Reinhardt – A Lesson in Gypsy Jazz | Guitar Player Django Reinhardt – A Lesson in Gypsy Jazz | |
Django Reinhardt – Gypsy Jazz Jamey Aebersold Vol.128 (with audio MP3) | Django Reinhardt – Gypsy Jazz | |
Django Reinhardt – Nuits de St Germain des Pres | ||
Django Reinhardt – Playback Jazz Guitare Manouche (AUDIO mp3 & PDF Book with Tablature) | ||
Django Reinhardt -A Foggy Day – Nuages (Guitar solo) | ||
Django Reinhardt -A Foggy Day – Nuages (Guitar Solo) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Django Reinhardt (Noël Balen (Balen Noël) (Book) Français French | ||
Django Reinhardt Guitar Songbook | Django Reinhardt Guitar Songbook | |
Django Reinhardt Guitar TAB Recorded Versions The definitive Collection | Django Reinhardt Fake Book The definitive Collection | |
Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 1 | Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 1 | |
Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 2 | Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 2 | |
Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 3 | Django Reinhardt Guitar Transcriptions 3 | |
Django The Life And Music Of A Gypsy Legend by Michael Dregni | ||
Django The Ultimate Complete Django Book | Django The Ultimate complete book | |
DK Island Swing – Donkey Kong Country (Game) David Wise Graeme Norgate Piano Solo | ||
dne – Asos Model Crush | ||
Doctor Who 11th Doctor Main Theme | ||
Doctor Who – The Source by Murray Gold | ||
Doctor Zhivago (Lara’s theme) (Somewhere, my love) | Jarre – Somewhere My Love (from Doctor Zhivago) | |
Dohnanyi Zwei Walzer Von J. Strauss No 2 Du Und Du | ||
Dohnányi – 6 Concert Etudes, Op. 28 (piano) | ||
Dohnanyi – Canzonetta (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Dohnanyi – Essential Finger Exercises No. 1 (Sheet Music) (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Doja Cat – Kiss Me More Sheet Music Piano vocal Guitar chords | ||
Dolphin Dance-Herbie Hancock (Musescore File).mscz | ||
Domenico Modugno – Volare (Guitar chords) | ||
Don Byas – I Got Rythm (Don Byas Solo transcription) by George Gershwin | ||
Don Byas – Indiana | Don Byas – Indiana | |
Don Byas – Riffin & Jivin (Solo transcription) |