Franz Schubert - "Der Tod und das Mädchen" for Soprano and String Trio

“Der Tod und das Mädchen” (Death and the Maiden) is a gorgeous “lied” composed by Franz Schubert in 1817. The word “lied” is a German term originally used to describe the fusion of poetry and music, or more specifically the practice of German-speaking composers setting Romantic German poems to music. “Der Tod und das Mädchen” is set for voice and piano, with the text derived from a poem by Matthias Claudius, a German poet and journalist who wrote under the penname Asmus. It became one of Schubert’s most acclaimed pieces, and was the basis for his string quartet of the same name.