The numbers almost speak for themselves:
| Schubert song texts that make reference to the seasons | Number |
|---|---|
| Spring | 75 |
| Summer | 10 |
| Autumn | 15 |
| Winter | 42 |
Even this chart inflates the significance of summer in the texts Schubert chose to set. Only one of them is actually set in Summer (Klopstock’s Die Sommernacht, D 289), and even that is nothing like an Ode to the summer season – it is actually about memories of the dead and their graves! Nearly all of the other references to summer are in the context of similes (on the lines of ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’), e.g. “Bright as the moon in autumn, as the sun in a summer storm, comest thou” (Ossian, Cronnan D 282) or “What voice is that I hear? that voice like the summer wind!” (Ossian, Shilric und Vinvela D 293). Some of the metaphors that include summer even see it as a negative phenomenon!
Schmücket die Locken mit duftigen Kränzen
Und folget der Freude beglückendem Drang,
Begrüßet den Frühling mit heiteren Tänzen,
Den Sieger, der Alles in Liebe bezwang.
Der Winter bedroht ihn mit schauriger Kälte,
Der Sommer verfolgt ihn mit flammendem Speer,
Aber er schwebt unter blauem Gezelte
Sorglos und lächelnd auf Düften daher.
Adorn your locks with fragrant bouquets
And follow the cheering impulse of joy,
Greet spring with merry dances,
The victor, who conquers everything in love.
Winter threatens it with dreadful cold,
Summer persecutes it with a flaming spear,
But it floats under the blue canopy
Carefree, and goes off smiling on the fragrant breezes.
Schober, Frühlingsgesang D 709, D 740
☙
Descendant of:
TIMETexts with this theme:
- Der Abend, D 108 (Friedrich von Matthisson)
- Das Finden, D 219 (Ludwig Theobul Kosegarten)
- Huldigung, D 240 (Ludwig Theobul Kosegarten)
- Cronnan, D 282 (James Macpherson (Ossian) and Edmund von Harold)
- Die Sommernacht, D 289 (Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock)
- Die frühen Gräber, D 290 (Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock)
- Shilric und Vinvela, D 293 (James Macpherson (Ossian) and Edmund von Harold)
- Abschied von der Harfe, D 406 (Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis)
- Frühlingsgesang, D 709, D 740 (Franz Adolph Friedrich von Schober)
- Im Frühling, D 882 (Ernst Konrad Friedrich Schulze)