The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

marcapra wrote:Der Erlkonig by Schubert is a great art song and is about a horse pulling a sleigh through the snow, but the song is not about the horse. The song is about the little boy's fear of being taken away from his father by the Elf King. It has the famous DaDaDa DaDaDa Dot Dot Daaaa!!!! tune in it that everyone who watched old movies or cartoons knows when something evil is about to happen.

There is nothing about a sleigh in Goethe's poem. I have always assumed that the journey was on horseback.

epigramophone wrote:

marcapra wrote:Der Erlkonig by Schubert is a great art song and is about a horse pulling a sleigh through the snow, but the song is not about the horse. The song is about the little boy's fear of being taken away from his father by the Elf King. It has the famous DaDaDa DaDaDa Dot Dot Daaaa!!!! tune in it that everyone who watched old movies or cartoons knows when something evil is about to happen.

There is nothing about a sleigh in Goethe's poem. I have always assumed that the journey was on horseback.

You guys have combined three big interests of mine into one! The german language, Schubert's music and phonographs have always been fascinating to me. Now I'll have to find a copy of Erlkönig on blue amberol. Hint, hint, hint. By the way Goethe's poem does not mention a sleigh instead the boy and his father are riding horseback.

Stephen

I kind of guessed that title would draw you out of the Forum's woodwork, Stephen!

Having never learned German I prefer my recordings of The Erl King in English, and the best by far is the Australian bass-baritone Peter Dawson on HMV, widely available to listen to on YouTube.
The clarity of his diction, and his ability to sing in three different voices (the father, the child and the Erl King) are astonishing. Listen to it, and feel the hairs standing up on the back of your neck!

Just to add another notorious Leitmotiv of our musical heritage:

Ride of the Valkyries (i.e.Walkürenritt from Wagner's Ring der Nibelungen)
Edison Concert Band
GMR 9338

And of course (definitely less Teutonic)

Camptown Races
(the famous early Al Jolson cylinder)

Just found in my group of cylinders:

Edison 4 Minute Wax - #335 A Race For A Wife - A Race Track Sketch by Ada Jones and Len Spencer

-Mark

I guess you guys are right. Somehow, somewhere in my distant past, I imagined that Schubert's song The Erl King took place during a horse drawn sleigh ride. It just seemed more romantic that way, and I tend to have a romantic imagination. I also perhaps incorrectly thought that the Erl King was a creature who came out with the winter frost. Someone mentioned Horses, but didn't know if it came out on Blue Amberol. It did, and I have it on 5153 by Earl Oliver's Jazz Babies (1926).