a malevolent spirit who carries children off to death
. Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers. Word origin. C18: from German Erlkönig, literally: alder king, coined in 1778 by Herder, a mistranslation of Danish ellerkonge king of the elves.
What is the Erl-King by Angela Carter about?
In “The Erl-King”, Angela Carter
creates a man who literally transforms a woman into a bird
, but this is allegory for how men typically consider women: As both gentle and vulnerable.
What is the theme of the Erl-King?
The story takes up the theme of
freedom and entrapment
most explicitly through the treatment of the caged birds that the Erlking keeps in his cottage.
What is the theme of Erlkönig?
It depicts
the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking
or “Erlkönig” (suggesting the literal translation “alder king”). It was originally composed by Goethe as part of a 1782 Singspiel entitled Die Fischerin.
What is the theatrical form of Erlkönig?
Schubert’s “Erlkönig” is
a lied ballad
based off of the poem “Erlkönig” by Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe. A lied ballad is a type of miniature composition (Greenberg, 209) in which a narrative piece (usually a poem) serves as the fundamental subject matter for a song.
How does the Erl-King end?
The tale ends with a vision of the future: the woman will liberate the trapped ‘young girls’ and enable the ‘old fiddle’ to play music once again (p. 104). But the hope of harmony is replaced by ‘discordant’ cries of a male voice. The last sentence of the story – ‘
Mother, mother, you have murdered me!’
Where does the Erl-King Live?
The Erl-King is in his garden, surrounded by wild animals and playing his pipe, which was what lured the heroine in. His eyes are green and “can eat you.” The heroine describes the Erl-King: he lives
alone in the woods
, foraging for food and at one with the plants and animals.
How does the Erl-King lure the birds and the narrator to his home?
Most significantly,
he draws the birds to him with the beautiful songs of his pipe playing; then he traps them in cages
, which he keeps in his house. Like the natural environment around him, the Erlking is both alluring and menacing.
What is the Alder King?
The name “Erlking” (German: Erlkönig, lit. ‘alder-king’) is a name used
in German Romanticism for the figure of a spirit or “king of the fairies”
. It is usually assumed that the name is a derivation from the ellekonge (older elverkonge, i.e. “Elf-king”) in Danish folklore.
Who wrote the Erl-King?
Erlkönig, also called Erl-King or Elf-King, song setting by
Franz Schubert
, written in 1815 and based on a 1782 poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
What composition’s introduction and accompaniment are supposed to sound like a galloping horse?
“Der Erlkönig”
starts with the piano rapidly playing triplets to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse’s galloping. The left hand of the piano part introduces a low-register leitmotif composed of successive triplets. The right hand consists triplets throughout the whole piece, up until the last three bars.
How does the story of Erlking fit into the romantic tradition?
The Erlking
symbolizes death
, which is to the Romantic a source not only of fear but also of attraction to the unknown and the supernatural. Goethe’s poem embodies the universal theme of the loss of innocence. In this perspective, the Erlking becomes the monstrous maturity, which lures youth but destroys its innocence.
What is the German term for art song?
Art songs have been composed in many languages, and are known by several names. The German tradition of art song composition is perhaps the most prominent one; it is known as
Lieder
. In France, the term Mélodie distinguishes art songs from other French vocal pieces referred to as chansons.
What instruments are used in the Erlking?
- 1.) Title: Der Erlkönig (The Erlking)
- 2.) Composer: Franz Schubert.
- 3.) Year Written: 1815.
- 4.) Genre: Romantic – lieder (song)
- 5.) Instruments: solo voice, piano.
What image are the quick repeated notes in the piano meant to convey?
The quick, repeated notes in the piano are meant to convey the image of a (
galloping horse
).
What happens in the Lady of the House of Love?
The “House of Love” of the title is a reference to the Tarot cards. For all her long life,
the Countess has only lived out her inescapable fate of death and murder
– she is “the beast,” longing to become human. The Countess wishes she could keep the rabbits from the garden as pets, but her hunger always overcomes her.
