Franz Schubert’s Erlkonig or The Erlking uses solo voices and a piano accompaniment to tell the story of a boy and his father. The composition tells the audience how the father and son were riding on horseback when the ailing son hallucinates and sees the Erlking, the king of the elves and an omen of death. The father continually tries to reassure his son that nothing is there but once they arrive at their destination, the son is dead. The song uses only the piano and voice to convey the tone Schubert was aiming for. When the different characters are singing to tone shifts but not enough to stray away from the mood as a whole. The overall tone is foreboding and ominous and the minor keys and the low notes that are mostly used really add to
