Writing at about the same time with Schubert were the opera composers Ludwig Spohr, Heinrich Marschner, and Weber. The song output of these men has not proved historically important, but they have to their credit the fact that they were true to the German faith. Marschner’s songs are not altogether dead to-day, and Weber’s are in a few instances excellent. They come nearer than those of any other composer to the true style and spirit of the folk-song, and reveal from another angle the presiding genius of Weber’s operas.
The place for the ballad which Schubert left almost vacant in his work was filled by Johann Carl Gottfried (Carl) Löwe, born only a few months before him.[91] The numerous compositions of his long life have been forgotten, except for his ballads. And these have lived, in spite of their feeble melodic invention, by their sheer dramatic energy. Löwe’s ballads depend wholly on their words--that is their virtue; as music apart they have scarcely any existence. But Löwe’s dramatic sense was abundant and vigorous. A study of his setting of ‘The Erlking’ as compared with that of Schubert will instantly make evident the differences between the two men. The motif of the storm is more complex and wild; the speeches of the Erlking are strange and mystical, as far as possible removed from the suave melody of Schubert. The voice part is at every turn made impressive rather than beautiful. Superficially Schubert’s method looks the more superficial and inartistic, but it conquers by the matchless expressive power of its melody. Löwe’s ballads compel our respect, in spite of their lack of melodic invention. They are carefully selected and include some of the best poetry of the time. They are worked out with great care, and are conscientiously true to the meaning of the words as songs rarely were in his day. They are designed to make an impressive effect in a large concert hall. They have a considerable range, from the mock-primitive heroics of Ossian to the boisterous humor of Goethe’s ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’ And in their cultivation of the declamatory style and of the delineative accompaniment they were important in the musical development of the age.
Schumann was not, like Schubert, a singer from his earliest years. He was at first a dilettante of the piano, and as he grew up dreamed of becoming a virtuoso. He was enchanted by the piano, told it his thoughts, and was fascinated by its undiscovered possibilities. His genius came to its first maturity in his piano works, and all his thoughts were at first for this instrument.