Schubert was only 18 when he composed this ballad with the title "Erlkönig" or "Elf King", considered among his most famous compositions. Full of drama and tension, the music expresses Goethe’s poem of the same title, depicting the death of a child.
The story depicts a father carrying home horseback his moribund young son through a dark and wintry forest. The child is having visions of the "Elf King", a terrible and evil supernatural being who wants to take the boy away to his kingdom by promising him amusement, rich clothes and the attentions of his daughters while the father is trying to outrace the demon and get help for his child. The father comforts the boy by telling him that what he sees and hears is just a trick of his imagination from the sounds and sights of nature. At the end, the child tells his father that the "Elf King" has declared that he would take him by force and the father gallops faster. Upon reaching their destination, the child is already dead.
Originally composed as a song, with the singer representing the voice of four different characters, Schubert set this sad poem into music in a very masterful way, reflecting the drama and anxiousness of the father and boy. It is beautiful music not only to enjoy but also to reflect on, by accompanying it with Goethe's poem or by a video as the one that cinematographer Georges Schwizgebel has created for this piece.