Prometheus (art song)


"Prometheus" is an intensely dramatic art song composed by Franz Schubert in October 1819 to a poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Music

The lied was written for bass voice in the key of B major, but the key moves repeatedly through various major to minor tonalities, ending in C major. In Goethe's dramatic declamation by Prometheus, which would be set again, with very different effect, by Hugo Wolf, "with his alternations of ariosos and recitatives, Schubert created a miniature oratorio", observes Edward F. Kravitt.
Among many other lieder by Schubert, Max Reger also created an orchestration for "Prometheus".

Poem

Recordings

;Voice and piano
;Voice and orchestra