Gretchen am Spinnrade
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Gretchen am Spinnrade is a selection of text from Goethe's Faust. It was put to music by Schubert in 1814. It is written for soprano and is a challenging work to perform for both pianist and singer. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf recorded the song, as did Gundula Janowitz and Jessye Norman.
Gretchen is singing at her spinning-wheel while thinking of Faust and all that he promises. The accompaniment mimics the spinning-wheel, speeding up and slowing down in response to the text, to show Gretchen's excitement or distraction.
Schubert ingeniously uses the piano to imiate the rhythmic repetition of of the spinning wheel, perhaps mirroring either the hypnotic effect of temptation and the devil and/or love. 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..)
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