Gretchen am Spinnrade” was Schubert’s first successful lied written in 1814 when he was just 16, which is thoroughly impressive considering how well this piece is composed and how highly it compares to his later works. The text was written by the poet Goethe.
STORY OUTLINE
The character of Gretchen sings the words while she spins fiber into yarn at a spinning wheel. The intensity of her love for Faust has destroyed her ability to live any longer within the confines she had known all her life. She is young, inexperienced and has fallen madly in love.
Here is Yuja Wang to play this music for you:
