Der Doppelganger

Der Doppelganger was written by Schubert in 1828, a few years before he died. It focuses on the words of a poem written by his friend, Heinrich Heine, telling of how a man's love has left him, and all he has now is his Doppelganger. The piece is from a collection of Lieder (German for song), and this was the final collection he wrote before he died. The poem and the piece are both sinister in nature, utilising a minor key, augmented 6ths (also known as German sixths) and dissonance. The piece focuses heavily on the note F#, giving it it's minor quality. While the piece is through composed, it focuses heavily on the words, with the expressive melodic line reflecting the meaning of the words. Contrasts in texture also help to reflect the nature of the poem, which starts;

Still ist die Nacht,

es ruhen die Gasen...

The piece is written for solo tenor voice with piano accompaniment, and the piano part is characterised by the block chords and ostinato. Extreme dissonance is used, especially in the piano part, and chromaticism is used as well in bars 43 – 47 (the score can be found on Amazon and in many music books, and on google as well, I think). The majority of the piece is syllabic, with melisma helping to accent certain important words such as "alter" in bars 54–55. Schubert died soon after writing this piece, and it remains one of his greatest works. It is currently on the syllabus for AS students studying music in England.