Serenade (Ständchen, D. 957 No. 4)

Franz Schubert · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Romantic · Piano

Schubert’s most famous song, written in 1828, the year of his death, and published in the posthumous collection Schwanengesang (“Swan Song”) to a poem by Ludwig Rellstab: a lover sings beneath his beloved’s window, accompanied by a piano imitating a plucked guitar or mandolin. Arranged here for solo piano: the sung melody in the right hand, the accompaniment in the left hand (the bass, then small chords on the off-beats), the piano interludes almost as written. D minor then D major, 3/4, 59 bars with the repeat of the first verse (about 4 minutes).

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Let the right hand sing like a voice, smoothly legato, breathing between phrases; the left hand stays light and detached, like plucked strings: the bass on the beat, then the small chords on the off-beats. Practise the left hand alone first, until this lilt is steady and effortless, then add the melody at a slow tempo. Keep the melody’s triplets even and supple; the grace notes of the original are not written: add them once you know the notes.

More pieces by Franz Schubert

• Hungarian Melody in B minor (D. 817)
• Impromptu in F minor Op. 142 No. 1 (D. 935)
• Impromptu in A-flat major Op. 90 No. 4 (D. 899)
• Moment Musical No. 3 in F minor (D. 780)
• Impromptu in C minor Op. 90 No. 1 (D. 899)
• Impromptu in G-flat major Op. 90 No. 3 (D. 899)
• Trois Marches militaires (D.733-1 (Op. 51))
• Trois Marches militaires (D.733-2 (Op. 51))

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après la saisie CC0 du corpus OpenScore Lieder (édition Breitkopf & Härtel, XIXe siècle) · CC0 1.0