Editing Song cycle (section)

==Song cycles in German Lieder==
Although most European countries began developing the [[art song]] genre by the beginning of the 19th century, the rise of [[Lieder]] in "Austria and Germany have outweighed all others in terms of influence."<ref>Tunbridge, p. 2</ref> German-language song composition at the end of 18th century shifted from accessible, [[Strophic form]], more traditional folk songs to 19th century settings of more sophisticated poetry for a more [[Bildungsbürgertum|educated middle class]], "who were gradually supplanting the aristocracy as the main patrons of the arts".<ref>Tunbridge, pp. 2–3.</ref> Since these songs were relatively small-scale works, like the lyric poetry used for their musical settings, they were often published in collections, and consequently borrowed various poetic terms to mark their groupings: ''Reihe'' (series), ''Kranz'' (ring), ''Zyklus'' (cycle) or ''Kreis'' (circle).<ref>Tunbridge, p.&nbsp;3.</ref> In the first few decades of the 1800s, the collections of poetry and the subsequent song settings took on more underlying coherence and dramatic plot, giving rise to the song cycle.<ref>Tunbridge, pp.&nbsp;3–4.</ref> This coherence allowed the song genre to be elevated to a "higher form", serious enough to be compared with symphonies and cycles of lyric piano pieces.<ref>Tunbridge, p. 4</ref>

Two of the earliest examples of the German song cycle were composed in 1816: [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[An die ferne Geliebte]]'' (Op. 98), and ''Die Temperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten'' (J. 200-3, \Op. 46) by [[Carl Maria von Weber]].

The genre was firmly established by the cycles of [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]; his ''[[Die schöne Müllerin]]'' (1823) and ''[[Winterreise]]'' (1827), settings of poems by [[Wilhelm Müller]], are among his most greatly admired works. Schubert's ''[[Schwanengesang]]'' (1828), though collected posthumously, is also frequently performed as a cycle.

[[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s great cycles were all composed in 1840. They comprise ''[[Dichterliebe]]'', ''[[Frauenliebe und -leben]]'', two collections entitled ''Liederkreis'' ([[Liederkreis, Op. 24|Opp. 24]] & [[Liederkreis, Op. 39|39]] on texts by [[Heinrich Heine]] and [[Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff|Eichendorf]] respectively)—a German word meaning a song cycle—and the ''Kerner Lieder'' (Op. 35), a ''Liederreihe'' (literally "song row") on poems by Justinus Kerner. [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] composed settings (Op. 33) of verses from [[Ludwig Tieck]]'s novel "Magelone", and modern performances usually include some sort of connecting narration. He also wrote ''[[Vier ernste Gesänge]]'' ("Four Serious Songs"), Op. 121 (1896). [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]'s ''[[Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen]]'', ''[[Kindertotenlieder]]'', and ''[[Das Lied von der Erde]]'' expand the accompaniment from piano to orchestra.

[[Hugo Wolf|Wolf]] made the composition of song collections by a single poet something of a specialty, although only the shorter ''[[Italian Songbook]]'' and ''[[Spanish Songbook]]'' are performed at a single sitting, and [[Hanns Eisler|Eisler]]'s ''[[Hollywood Liederbuch]]'' also falls into the category of anthology.

''[[The Book of the Hanging Gardens|Das Buch der hängenden Gärten]]'' by [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] and [[Ernst Krenek|Krenek]]'s ''[[Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen]]'' are important 20th-century examples. Wilhelm Killmayer composed [[Song cycles (Killmayer)|several song cycles]], on lyrics by [[Sappho]], French Renaissance poets, German Romantic poets, and contemporary poets. The tradition was carried on by [[Wolfgang Rihm]], with cycles such as ''[[Reminiszenz]]'' (2017).<ref>Brown, Jeffrey Arlo: [https://web.archive.org/web/20240801014657/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/arts/music/wolfgang-rihm-dead.html Wolfgang Rihm, Prolific Contemporary Classical Music Composer, Dies at 72] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 29 July 2024</ref> Graham Waterhouse composed [[Song cycles (Waterhouse)|song cycles]] including ''Sechs späteste Lieder'' after [[Friedrich Hölderlin|Hölderlin]]'s late poems in 2003.<ref>[https://www.klassika.info/Komponisten/Waterhouse_Graham/Lied/2003_01/index.html Sechs späteste Lieder nach Hölderlin''] klassika.info</ref>