DESCRIPTION:
This video is from the Senior Recital of Shawn Patrick Fletcher on April 26, 2012.

Best known for his lieder, Franz Schubert (1797-1828), was encouraged to pursue music at a young age. When he was only eleven Schubert left home to sing in the choir at the Imperial Court Chapel, as well as to study at the Royal Seminary. His studies enabled him to become familiar with the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven while he both sang in the choir and played in the orchestra. During this time, it was noted that Schubert was very shy and thus spent most of his time alone practicing or composing. His study proved to be successful in 1814 when Schubert wrote Gretchen am Spinnrade, the first of his many great lied. In his lieder Schubert displayed the unique ability to tell the story through his piano accompaniment, both painting a scene and providing an emotional foundation for the singer.

Written in 1823, Die Schöne Müllerin, is considered the first great song cycle of the nineteenth century. It tells the tragic story of young miller who follows a stream and pursues the adventure he's always longed for. Schubert's collaboration with Müller's poetry creates two voices in the cycle, the miller and the brook. Schubert's accompaniment becomes the voice of the stream, which according to Müller is the miller's companion and only friend. In this first song, Das Wandern, the miller begins his journey, finding his inspiration from the tools he works with and asking his master's permission to leave.


Das Wandern

Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust,
Das Wandern!
Das muss ein schlechter Müller sein,
Dem niemals fiel das Wandern ein,
Das Wandern!

Vom Wasser haben wir's gelernt,
Vom Wasser!
Das hat nicht Rast bei Tag und Nacht,
Ist stets auf Wanderschaft bedacht,
Das Wasser!

Das sehn wir auch den Rädern ab,
Den Rädern!
Die gar nicht gerne stille stehn,
Die sich mein Tag nicht müde dreh'n,
Die Räder!

Die Steine selbst, so schwer sie sind,
Die Steine!
Sie tanzen mit den muntern Reih'n
Und wollen gar noch schneller sein,
Dei Steine!

O Wandern, wandern, meine Lust,
O Wandern!
Herr meister und Frau Meisterin,
Lasst mich in Frieden weiterziehn,
Und wandern!

Poem by Wilhelm Müller

Wandering

To wander is the miller's joy,
To wander!
He must be a sorry miller,
Who never had the urge to wander,
To wander!

From the water we have learnt it,
From the water!
Which has no rest by day or night,
And is ever bent on wandering,
The water!

We get it from the mill-wheels too,
The mill-wheels!
Which cannot bear to keep still,
But turn untiring all day,
The mill-wheels!

Even the millstones, heavy though they are,
The millstones!
They dance in a lively roundelay
And want to go even faster,
The millstones!

O wandering, wandering, my delight,
O wandering!
O my master and mistress,
Permit me to go on in peace,
And wander!

Translation by Sergius Kagen