Today we call them art songs, but when this specific genre first appeared in the late 18th century, they were simply \u201csongs,\u201d nearly always scored for what is now a classic combination: piano and voice. At the time, the Industrial Revolution was helping to create a new class of music lovers. The new Middle Class was wealthy enough to want access to musical entertainment at home, but not wealthy enough to hire live-in court musicians like the aristocratic classes. What they could afford was the perfect new domestic instrument: the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ability to play the piano and sing became a status symbol for middle and upper-middle-class families, especially among women (as you might know from the novels of Jane Austen or the Bront\u00eb sisters). This made home music a lucrative market for composers. The earliest Lieder <\/i>[pronounced \u201cleader\u201d], or German art songs, were written for voice and simple piano accompaniment, so that home musicians could accompany themselves or their friends at the piano.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the 19th century, the genre of art song developed into a sophisticated art form for the concert stage as well as for the home. However, in one sense, it\u2019s never abandoned its domestic beginnings: most art songs are still scored for voice and piano. In this post, we\u2019ll take a lightning tour of art song history, featuring a few of the countless great works in this genre. In addition to the videos, click on the text links to listen to a few more art songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756\u20131791) was one of the first composers to explore the expressive capabilities of the Lied [singular of Lieder, pronounced \u201cleet\u201d]. Many of Mozart\u2019s Lieder were composed for the growing domestic song market. His Lieder offer the same natural vocal writing he brought to opera – and the same wide-ranging dramatic sense. For example, his \u201cAbendemfindung<\/a>\u201d (Evening Thoughts) is a tender reflection on mortality; in contrast, his \u201cDas Veilchen\u201d K. 476 (The Violet) is a playful, rather snarky setting of a poem by Goethe about a dramatic violet\u2019s tragic love for an oblivious shepherdess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Classical composers who wrote in the burgeoning Lied genre include Louise Reichardt<\/a>,\u00a0 Joseph Haydn,<\/a> and Ludwig van Beethoven<\/a>, who invented the song cycle (more on that next!).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nClassical Lieder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n