Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) Op.post.129 D 965

Schubert Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) Op.post.129 D 965
High voice, Piano, Clarinet (in B-flat).

In the final year of his life Schubert wrote two large scale Lieder which called for the use of an obbligato solo instrument as well as voice and piano: a horn in Auf dem Strom (D 943) of March 1828, and a clarinet in Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (D 965) of October 1828.  According to an account by his friend Josef von Spaun, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen was composed “at the request of the opera singer Anna Milder”.  

A few years earlier this celebrated soprano, then resident in Berlin, had told the composer what she expected from a Lied:  the composition should be intended “for a large audience”, and it should be “brilliant” and “capable of being sung in different tempos” so that the singer “can express a number of emotions”.  At first Schubert hesitated to agree to Mme Milder’s requests as they did not conform to his own idea of what a Lied should be.  Actually, he did not write a Lied but rather – within the context of his style – a “brilliant” three-section aria with stretta.

- Vocal score with separate clarinet part

- Urtext of the New Schubert Edition