A term applied to songs in which all stanzas of the text are sung to the same music, in contrast to those that are Through-composed and have new music for each stanza. The term ‘aria’ as used in 16th- and early 17th-century Italy nearly always implied strophic setting of a stanzaic text, and pieces such as chorales and hymns are by definition strophic. So, too, are the vast majority of folksongs and folk ballads, as are many 18th-century art songs which attempt to capture their spirit (volkstümliches Lied). Schubert used the form in setting simple lyrics and some narrative poems (Heidenröslein, Der Fischer) but frequently modified the basic structure by slightly changing the vocal line from stanza to stanza or by varying the figuration of the accompaniment (Im Frühling). One or more stanzas may also be set to different music or with a change of tonality (Schubert's Die Forelle; Brahms's Wie bist du, meine Königin). In fact every shade of modification is possible between the purely strophic and the through-composed song. The principle can also be adapted as a compositional or analytical tool for instrumental music (for example, variation sets are in a sense strophic). Occasionally, and particularly in recent times, the implicit or explicit use of strophes in vocal or instrumental works harks back to the poetic forms of classical antiquity such as the ode.
MICHAEL TILMOUTH/R