What is a lieder by Schubert?

Answer 1

A lied is a 19th century song with piano accompaniment set to German poetry. The greatest exponents of this form were Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf although there are plenty of others like Mozart, Beethoven, Loewe, and Franz, and there were lieder still being written in the 20th Century by people like Richard Strauss, Mahler and Schoenberg. The basic idea is that the piano part is not strictly just an accompaniment but an equal partner with the singer. The piano part can often very effectively imitate the words or ideas that the poetry is suggesting - as in, for instance, 'Erlkonig' by Schubert where the piano sounds like the galloping of the horse that the singer is telling us about.

Answer 2

Lied is the German word for song.

The Lieder "Du bist die Ruh, "Die Shöne Müllerin and "Winterreise were among the first in the song cycle which Schubert wrote in 1823. Schubert's most famous lieder are: Erlkonig, or 'Earl King', Der Konig en Thule, Gretchen am Spinnrade (at the spinning-wheel), Ganymede, and of course his most famous composition, Ave Maria.