A strong, well-crafted song, a perfect union of words and music, is nothing new. Before there were figures like John Hiatt, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt and R.E.M. - yes, even before Cole Porter and the Gershwins - there was one man who established the standards by which good songs - whether classical or popular - are still judged today.
That man was Franz Schubert, whose brief life didn't quite span the first third of the 19th century. He died of complications from syphilis at age 31, but he had already produced a handful of symphonies, more than a dozen quartets and piano sonatas, and, above all, some of the finest song in the history of music.
Even in English, the German-language art song is known by its German name, lied - it rhymes with ``speed,'' and the plural form is lieder. Don't confuse lieder with opera arias. The lied is an independent piece, intimate and subtle. Its colors are those of muted pastel paints, not bright operatic neon.
Hundreds of Romantic-era composers churned out lieder, but four rose high above the rest - Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf and, especially, their predecessor Schubert.
Some of Schubert's 600 songs are simple and folksy, like ``Heidenroeslein'' (``The Wild Rose''). Others require extreme virtuosity, like ``Der Hirt auf dem Felsen'' (``The Shepherd on the Rock'').
Some use cheerful, hummable tunes, like ``Das Wandern,'' the song that opens the collection ``Die schoene Milllerin.'' Still others employ melodies or accompaniment that are tensely repetitive in order to tell a frightening story, like ``Erlkoenig'' (``The Err King'').
Schubert, far more than his predecessors Mozart and Beethoven, realized the full potential of the lied. Earlier lieder composers tacked nice tunes onto any old verse, but Schubert's music is inspired directly by the poetry.
Now, Schubert set his share of doggerel, and his full-scale operas were all doomed by their silly librettos.
But it's no coincidence that many of his best songs use texts by the greatest poets of the time, especially Goethe.
Schubert's first vocal masterpiece is the 1814 ``Gretchen am Spinnrade,'' drawn from Goethe's ``Faust.''
This is a miraculous evocation of young Gretchen's conflicting emotions as she sits at her spinning wheel, thinking about Faust, her lover. Meanwhile, the piano hums and bumps along, imitating the action of the spinning wheel and simultaneously reflecting Gretchen's agitation.
Earlier German lieder had showcased the voice and required the keyboard player merely to fill in some chords. But from Schubert's time on, the pianist was the singer's nearly equal partner. While the singer emoted or told a story, the pianist set the scene.
A fine example of this is Schubert's ``Die Forelle,'' or ``The Trout.'' The rippling accompaniment calls to mind the sparkling brook in which the trout swims. This is just one of Schubert's many vividly pictorial songs, which depend on the singer's storytelling abilities and the pianist's attention to subtle effects.
An important characteristic of Schubert's lieder that's too technical to explain here but must be mentioned is a new harmonic freedom. There had been certain harmonic formulas for songwriting - alternating major and minor keys in certain ways, and using closely related keys in particular sequences.
Schubert was too impatient for all this, even in his chamber music and piano sonatas. It's the sudden lurch into unexpected keys that gives Schubert's song such emotional weight and dramatic power.
Of course, it's hard to tell a complex story during a three-minute lied. So for grander schemes, Schubert favored song cycles.
A song cycle is simply a group of songs with a common theme. The songs, one after another, may tell a single, long story. Or they may merely convey a kaleidoscope of moods, which is really what the Romantic era was all about.
Song cycles flourished in the 19th century, but they still turn up today. Now, in popular music, they take the form of concept albums, like Willie Nelson's ``The Red-Headed Stranger'' and Pink Floyd's ``The Wall.''
A song cycle doesn't really follow any rules. The texts may be written by a single poet, or they may be compiled from the works of different authors. The composer may arrange the songs according to some system of keys, or may simply compose in whatever keys the texts demand.
Schubert's song cycle ``Die Schoene Miillerin'' (``The Lovely Milleress'') is full of strong, folklike rhythms, and its 20 independent song add up to a complete story. The texts are typical of Romantic poetry, too - they are the emotional reflections of a lone young man, and concern the character's frustrated love life and fascination with death.
``Winterreise'' (``Winter Journey'') is Schubert's second great song cycle. Again, it deals with a lone character preoccupied with death. But ``Winterreise'' doesn't tell a story so much as it explores the desolation of the soul.
Schubert listening suggestions
In choosing recordings of lieder, keep in mind that this intimate music cannot survive the operatic treatment. Opera stars periodically try to demonstrate their versatility by bellowing through a Schubert or Brahms concert, and it just doesn't work.
Lieder requires a scaled-down voice, a lacemaker's attention to detail and a feeling of partnership with the pianist; opera stars are accustomed to competing with an orchestra.
Some of the most satisfying Schubert recordings have been made by Janet Baker, Elly Ameling, Elisabeth Schwankopf, Olaf Baer, Hakan Hagegard, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Fritz Wunderlich.
Essential to any collection of lieder are Fischer-Dieskau's traversals of the major cycles with pianist Gerald Moore on Deutsche Grammophon and Angel/EMI.
Schubert's specialty was the song, but he also wrote delightful music in other forms.
His chamber music has fared very well on compact disc. Nearly every recording does the music justice, but for special insight turn to the Tokyo Quartet's RCA versions of the string quartets (especially the one called ``Death and the Maiden'') or the Beaux Arts Trio's Philips recordings of the two wonderfully melodic piano trios.
Also look into the two quintets - one for strings, the other for piano and strings with a movement based on the song ``The Trout.''
And many fine versions of the symphonies exist. The most popular of these works are the Mozartean fifth, the mysterious eighth (the ``Unfinished'') and the monumental ninth (called the ``Great C major Symphony'' to distinguish it from an earlier, shorter work in the same key).
Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields have recorded all the Schubert symphonies, if you're in the market for a box of CDs. For Symphony No. 9 alone, the most stunning version is by Leonard Bernstein and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon.