"Ständchen" (known in English by its first line "Hark, hark, the lark"), D 889, is a musical piece for a single voice and piano by Franz Schubert. It was composed in July 1826 in the village of Währing, which is now part of Vienna. The song is based on the "Song" in Act 2, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. The song was first published in 1830 by Anton Diabelli, two years after Schubert's death. The original version of the song is short, and two additional verses by Friedrich Reil were included in Diabelli's second edition in 1832.

The German translation Schubert used is believed to have been done by August Wilhelm Schlegel, based on editions of Cymbeline published in Vienna in 1825 and 1826. However, the text Schubert set is not identical to the one in those editions. This particular adaptation of Shakespeare's work was already published earlier, in 1810, as the work of Abraham Voß. It was also published again in 1811 under the joint names of August Wilhelm Schlegel and Johann Joachim Eschenburg in a group collection of Shakespeare's works.

Song title

In German translations of Cymbeline, the short lyric that Schubert set to music is called Lied (Song). Schubert titled his piece Ständchen, which is often translated into English as Serenade, a type of music traditionally performed in the evening, from the French word soir (evening). However, the words of the poem and its place in the play clearly show that it should be sung in the morning. This is confirmed by a part of dialogue that appears just before the lyrics of the "Song":

Cloten: It's almost morning, is't not?
First Lord: Day, my lord.

The German word Ständchen does not clearly indicate the time of day when the music is performed. As noted by H. H. Furness in his Variorum Edition of Cymbeline, "This present song is the greatest example of all aubades…" The Schirmer edition of Liszt's piano arrangement for solo piano includes the title Morgenständchen (morning serenade), which provides additional context. Therefore, the German title Ständchen would be more accurately translated into English as Aubade, a type of music performed in the morning.

History

The text of the "Lied" from Shakespeare's Cymbeline that Schubert set has only small differences in spelling, such as "Ätherblau," compared to a version by Abraham Voß from at least 1810. This "Ätherblau" version was published in 1812 under the names of A. W. Schlegel and J. J. Eschenburg. It later appeared in at least four different printings of the "Vienna Shakespeare Editions" in 1825 and 1826, with and without Schlegel's name on the title page.

A story about how the song was created was told by a childhood friend of Schubert to the composer's biographer, Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn, in Life of Franz Schubert. Sir George Grove repeated this story word for word, though some people have called it "untrue" or "legendary."

Maurice J. E. Brown, in his critical biography of Schubert, partially challenges the story. He explains that the garden near "Zum Biersack" in Währing was next to the garden of the poet Franz von Schober. Schubert visited this area in the summer of 1826 with the painter Moritz von Schwind, but may have stayed overnight only once or twice. Brown suggests that Doppler might have been mistaken about the location of the event. In his book, Brown mentions Titze only twice and does not connect him to the story about the menu.

The earliest surviving autograph manuscript (MS) of Schubert is in the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus. It includes four Lieder, with "Ständchen" being the second. The manuscript is in a small book with musical staff lines drawn by Schubert. At the top of the first page, in Schubert's handwriting, it says "Währing, July 1826," followed by his signature. Schubert composed the "Lied" in the key of C major.

• "Trinklied," D888 – (from Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 7 – translated by Eduard Bauernfeld and Ferdinand Mayrhofer von Grünbühel)
• "Ständchen," D889 ("Hark, hark, the lark") – (from Cymbeline, Act 2, Scene 3 – possibly not translated by Schlegel)
• "Hippolits Lied," D890 – by Friedrich von Gerstenberg
• "Gesang," D891 ("Was ist Sylvia?") – (from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4, Scene 2 – translated by Bauernfeld alone)

The German translation Schubert used has the same rhythm as Shakespeare's original poem, allowing the music to be sung to the original English words.

Critical reception

Schubert's biographer John Reed (1909–1999) wrote that the song "celebrates the universality of two of the world's greatest song-writers." Richard Capell, in his study of Schubert's songs, described the Ständchen as "very pretty" but "a trifle overrated […] the song is hardly one to be very fond of. Not a lifetime of familiarity with it can bridge the gap that yawns between the Elizabethan's verse and the Austrian's tune." Howard Furness, while discussing different versions of Shakespeare's play, referred to "the version which Schubert sets to peerless music." Sir George Grove noted how "that beautiful song, so perfectly fitting the words, and so skilful and happy in its accompaniment, came into perfect existence."

Schubert's song was published after his death as "Ständchen von Shakespeare" in part seven of Diabelli's first edition of Schubert's songs (Schubert 1830, p. 3). See § Ex. 2 above. The text in Schubert's original handwriting was exactly reproduced in the first published edition of the song (Schubert 1830, pp. 14–15 [16–17]), except for some very minor punctuation changes. Good copies of two of the four songs in the Vienna Library MS ("Trinklied" and "Was ist Silvia?") are kept in the Hungarian National Library (National Széchényi Library).

Two additional verses were added to the song by Friedrich Reil (1773–1843) for the second edition (Schubert 1832). The Peters edition in the original key retains the attribution to "Shakespeare." Both the Breitkopf & Härtel edition of 1894–95 and the Peters edition for low voice credit A. W. Schlegel with the words. Otto Deutsch, in his 1951 Schubert Thematic Catalogue entry for D889, also lists "deutsch von August Wilhelm Schlegel," with no further details.

"Ständchen" has been arranged for various instrumental combinations, including Franz Liszt's transcription for solo piano. This version was published by Diabelli in 1838 as no. 9, "Ständchen von Shakespeare," from his collection of 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S.558.