Schwanengesang

The last 14 songs of Franz Schubert

Schwanengesang is the title of the publication of the last notebook with song scores that Schubert (1797-1828) left behind, supplemented with the probably last song he wrote. The name 'Schwanengesang' was invented by the publisher, probably for commercial reasons, following the success of Schubert's 'Die schöne Müllerin' and 'Winterreise'.

The songs themselves do not form a direct unity, they were written on poems by people who were almost contemporary with Schubert himself: 7 by Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860), 6 by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) and 1 by Johann Gabriël Seidl (1804-1875).

Heine in particular had just become very popular through his publication of 'Das Buch der Lieder', a collection of about 250 brilliant poems, romantic, humorous, provocative or sarcastic, from which Schubert selected a few romantic/melancholic ones.