And while there are many possible poetic interpretations of these moments, they often fall short of explaining why Schubert departed so far from the style of his time. There are features that, taken abstractly, would seem to demonstrate a lack of familiarity with the musical conventions of the early 19th century. “Erlkönig” is an extremely unusual composition in several ways. 1 DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU (BARITONE), GERALD MOORE (PIANO) (DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON, 1999) LINK TO FULL ALBUM Schubert’s contribution is to add a measure of empathy for the stricken child. The boy’s emotions-helplessness, fear, desperation, pain-are brought to life in the song and its piano accompaniment.
In Schubert’s setting of “Erlkönig,” he makes a fundamental change to the poem by using music to illustrate the story from the perspective of the dying child. The very objectivity of Goethe’s language is chilling. Also shocking is the language of the poem: it omits any description of the boy’s suffering.
At its center is an unspeakable tragedy, the death of a child. Goethe’s “Erlkönig” is one of the most horrifying poems in all of world literature.
