Schubert: Schwanengesang "Aufenthalt"
Christian Schwebler (baritone) with Dina Vainshtein (piano)
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“You are using nature, as the Germans always do, the German literature, always uses nature to explain human experience.”
— Benjamin Zander
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Video Transcript
Ben Zander:
Now, the other day… The other day, I was visiting a dear friend who I love, Nicholas Littlefield. Nick Littlefield was the closest associate of Ted Kennedy. In fact, he was known as the 101st Senator because he made so much legislation happen in the Senate. He’s now very, very, very ill, incapacitated. I went to visit him and we sang songs to him. He can’t move. He has no capacity except his eyes told us that he could hear it. He was moved, but he can’t move anything else except his eyes.
There was a young man there who is a nurse, a male nurse, looks after him. I heard from his speaking voice that he must have a wonderful voice as a singer. He’s a singer. So I said, “Would you like to come and sing in the class?” He said, “I’d love to.” So here he is, Christian.
Christian, first of all-
Christian Schwebler:
Quite an introduction, wow.
Ben Zander:
First of all, thank you for all you do for Nick Littlefield.
Christian Schwebler:
Oh my goodness, of course.
Ben Zander:
And we all love him, he’s adored figure in the world.
Christian Schwebler:
Yes, I adore him.
Ben Zander:
And you adore him.
Christian Schwebler:
Yes.
Ben Zander:
And you look after him and on our behalf. So, thank you.
Christian Schwebler:
Well, thanks for inviting me here today.
Ben Zander:
Yes. I’m thrilled you are here. And he’s going to sing Aufenthalt, another Schubert song.
Again, as I asked Bethany, would you tell the circumstance?
Christian Schwebler:
Yeah. If it’s okay, I’d like to provide just a loose translation, as well, just because the poetry is so brief.
Ben Zander:
Yeah, just tell the story.
Christian Schwebler:
Yeah.
Ben Zander:
I think that’s his circumstance.
Christian Schwebler:
So this is a song from Schwanengesang. It’s Schubert’s last song cycle-
Ben Zander:
Actually, you know that it doesn’t belong in this… I mean, it’s in the cycle, but it’s not a story. So just tell what’s happening here.
Christian Schwebler:
Right, okay.
So the speaker is thrown in this state of grief and anxiety and depression. All around him are these powerful displays of nature: the rushing river, the howling forest, this momentous, this power towering over him.
In another verse, he goes on to say, as wave follows upon wave, so flow my tears ever renewed.
Then the next verse, high in the stirring tree tops, my heart beats so incessantly.
Then the final verse, and like the ore from the ancient stone, so remains, basically, my pain, my grief, it remains unchanged. It’s just going to be there, just like that ancient rock before me.
So we are not finding him in a very good place when we meet him.
Ben Zander:
Great. Thank you for being so clear in your description because that tells us also what kind of a singer you are. That’s wonderful.
Yuri, come and sit down so you can hear this. I want you to hear this. This is really important. Come and sit in the middle here.
No, no, no, no. You sit there, you come from India.
But he needs a little bit more room. Is there?
Ben Zander:
Yeah, yeah. There we go. Now that’s perfect. Great. Okay.
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Bravo, Christian, bravo. Bravo.
Yeah. I just have to reflect a moment on this. I had no idea who this guy was. I mean, most of the people come here to play because they’re the New England Conservatory or they’re doing a graduate class or something like that.
He’s a nurse. I met him looking after a friend of mine. I just sensed that you were a singer, something special. I mean, I’d never heard him sing a note. It’s amazing. You’re a beautiful singer-
Christian Schwebler:
Thank you.
Ben Zander:
And a beautiful communicator. That’s what makes you such a good person to look after Nick Littlefield. Because Nick Littlefield was a singer, too.
Christian Schwebler:
Yes, he was.
Ben Zander:
You’ve probably never heard him sing did you?
Christian Schwebler:
Only on recording.
Ben Zander:
Yeah.
Christian Schwebler:
Yeah.
Ben Zander:
He used to sing with Ted Kennedy. Ted used to love to sing.
Christian Schwebler:
Yeah.
Ben Zander:
They sang together, duets.
Christian Schwebler:
Yeah.
Ben Zander:
At his funeral he sang acapella-
Christian Schwebler:
Love Changes Everything.
Ben Zander:
… Love Changes Everything. Nancy Pelosi said to him on this plane to Israel on Air Force One, “That was the…” What did she say? It was the most, what-
Christian Schwebler:
She said, “That was just about the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Ben Zander:
“… the bravest thing I’ve ever seen anybody do,” sing acapella at the funeral-
Christian Schwebler:
Without any liquor or… What’s the full quote?
Ben Zander:
And without any liquor, yeah.
So you are a perfect person to be there. And thank you for doing that, it is so great.
Christian Schwebler:
Of course.
Ben Zander:
But the other thing that’s amazing is Dina had never heard the song and they just met.
Christian Schwebler:
That’s true.
Ben Zander:
Because Dina is a wonderfully schooled, deeply educated musician, she did almost everything right, immediately, which is great. It’s just great. Because this is actually a very misunderstood song. Most pianists I listened to. Pianist, and the pianist is going… staccato, and there’s no staccato here. So her decision was an absolutely right one.
It’s an interesting situation because if he is so distraught and he is distraught, why does the rhythm go…
That’s not the rhythm of somebody who’s being distraught.
Christian Schwebler:
Right.
Ben Zander:
Isn’t that interesting?
Christian Schwebler:
Yes.
Ben Zander:
So there’s a conflict in this song.
Christian Schwebler:
Okay.
Ben Zander:
The reason he sings that rhythm is because he’s talking about his Aufenthalt, his refuge, his home.
Now the home is a place for stability. Of course, the fact that his life is so full of turmoil and despair means that he’s come to terms with it. So that by the end, he expresses resignation. “I accept this state of mind.”
So that’s the only way I can explain what in the poem this… The poem is so fraught with emotion.
Christian Schwebler:
Sure.
Ben Zander:
Yet the Schubert’s decision.
Now I think there’s one thing you can do to make it even more… (singing)
A little freer in that, more… (singing).
Then a cello… (singing).
So the cello in that phrase, at the beginning of the piece and at the end, is your companion, your equal.
Christian Schwebler:
Ah, okay.
Ben Zander:
So much color in the triplets that we almost don’t hear them.
Oh, I’m sorry.
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Yes. One way… One way you can do it, the words, Rauschen… Rauschen is a German word.
My father used to say, because he knew all these poems from memory, he knew the whole of the second part of Goethe’s Faust from memory, 12,000 lines. He knew all of Goethe.
But he talked about the word Rauschen often. He said, “Rauschen is German romanticism.” It’s in that one word. It’s not rushing. It’s turmoil. It’s this… It’s all the pulling. So Rauschen, Rauschen.
Christian Schwebler:
Rauschen, okay.
Ben Zander:
And if you can get that R, “Rauschender Strom…” Try it. It’s got a tremendous… Do one more time, a little softer and as much color in the right hand as possible.
(singing) Yes.
(singing).
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Here.
Christian Schwebler:
(singing).
Ben Zander:
Here. (singing).
Christian Schwebler:
Okay.
Ben Zander:
Because the triplet…
And you’re on twos (singing).
Christian Schwebler:
Okay.
Ben Zander:
That’ll been much more beautiful. Here, go one more time. (singing)
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Right. So your pain, the pain and the suffering is in your words, in the consonants. Not in the… This is the opposite of Erlkönig. Erlkönig has the desperation of the speed, the rushing, because a life is at stake.
Here, you’ve resigned yourself to this desperate situation. You are using nature, as the Germans always do, the German literature, always uses nature to explain human experience.
So every word of this, the rushing torrent, the roaring forest, the menacing rock, is my resting place. And it is a resting place because he’s accepted it. He’s not trying to get out.
Christian Schwebler:
Okay.
Ben Zander:
Right. Good, beautiful. One more time. And if you can give…the triplets going. Colorful triplet. (singing).
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Yeah. No, there’s no diminuendo. This is all forte, isn’t it? Here, this is all forte. Then comes the diminuendo.
Good. This is beautiful. Do this first again.
Christian Schwebler:
Okay.
Ben Zander:
Very beautiful. Hawk in… So now as in the high tree tops, they stir and heave and my heart beats endlessly for some love, no doubt. We don’t know what it is, but it’s some love. But he’s there forever. It’ll never go away. This pain will never go away. So can we just lead into it? And here… Where… Yeah. Yeah, just before. Here.
Dina Vainshtein:
Yeah.
Ben Zander:
This is an end. And then there’s… (singing)
Christian Schwebler:
(singing)
Ben Zander:
Wow, that’s powerful. Bravo, bravo. Beautiful. Amazing. Who knew?
These three-minute songs create a whole world.
Christian Schwebler:
Couldn’t agree more.
Ben Zander:
We know all about this man’s experience and we knew all about his experience because he takes us to the extremity of the feelings as, perhaps, no other composer does. Yeah.
Bravo. Bravo, Bravo.
Christian Schwebler:
Thank you so much.
Ben Zander:
What a pleasure to have you in our life.
Christian Schwebler:
Oh, it’s my pleasure.
Ben Zander:
And thank you for the work you’re doing.
Christian Schwebler:
Of course.
Ben Zander:
I’m sure looking after Nick Littlefield helps you with your singing.
Christian Schwebler:
It does.
Ben Zander:
And I know that your singing helps you look after Nicholas. See, for me, music and life are one thing. There’s no separation.
Christian Schwebler:
I’m discovering that as I go along.
Ben Zander:
Yeah, yeah. It’s all one thing. And you cannot be a greater musician than you are a person. You can’t be a greater person than you are a musician. It’s just linked together. And it’s beautiful. And you brought everything you have in that last fortissimo. The voice will get some more color to it, but the feeling is all there, which is beautiful.
Christian Schwebler:
Thank you so much.
Ben Zander:
Thank you.
Christian Schwebler:
All right.
Ben Zander:
Beautiful. Well done! Great. Beautiful. Wow.
Everyone needs a little Zander in their life!'