Schubert's Wiegenlied in A-flat major, D. 498, set to an anonymous poem, became the musical material for borrowing in two twentieth-century operas: "Töne, töne, süsse Stimme" in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, op. 60, and "Gently, little boat, across the ocean float" in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. Both Strauss and Stravinsky quoted the first measure of Schubert's lullaby. The quotation can be seen as a "double reminiscence": three lullabies and two mythological operas. The borrowings include musical, poetic, and dramatic elements. The anonymous poem of Schubert's Wiegenlied implies that the child is perhaps dead, but his mother's love remains with him and protects him even after death; and he will receive a rose when he "wakes." This theme has close association with the texts of Strauss's and Stravinsky's lullabies, as both deal with death, transformation, immortality and the love of a woman who embodies utmost fidelity. Strauss not only borrowed the melody from Schubert, he also borrowed the Schubertian harmonic style. Stravinsky's borrowing is more remote. Neither Strauss nor Stravinsky ever mentioned these borrowings.

Works: Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos, "Töne, töne, süsse Stimme" (35-41); Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress, "Gently, little boat, across the ocean float" (41-47).

Sources: Schubert: Wiegenlied in A-flat Major, D. 498 (35-47).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Tong Cheng Blackburn