Schubert: Die Schöne Mullerin Mini-Episode No. 1 (Free Preview)
May 8, 20266 min · 832 words
Show notes
This is a free preview of my new series of mini-episodes over on Patreon all about Schubert's Die Schöne Mullerin, one of the great masterpieces of the 19th century. Each week we'll explore one song from the cycle, in a series of 21 episodes! Come join us over on
Highlighted moments
For example, the piece we're going to be talking about during this series, the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, was never publicly performed in Schubert's lifetime, and had to wait until 1856 for its premiere performance, which was 28 years after Schubert's death.
Transcript
0:00Hello and welcome to this free preview of my Patreon-exclusive series of mini-episodes on Schubert's song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin. This is episode one, which will talk about the background of this song cycle and what we are going to explore going forward. If you're not familiar with this song cycle, it's one of the great masterpieces of the 19th century, and each week I will talk about one of the songs from Die Schöne Müllerin. We'll talk about how to perform them, the text, and of course the remarkable music that Schubert wrote for this cycle.
0:35I really hope you join us over at patreon.com slash stickynotespodcast, and here is episode number one.
0:57Hello and welcome to this new series of mini-episodes all about Die Schöne Müllerin, Schubert's remarkable first song cycle and one of my all-time favorite pieces. Each week, we're going to explore one of the songs from the cycle, but today we're going to set the stage and give ourselves a bit of background on where Schubert was in his life, when he wrote the cycle, the poetry, and where we are going to go with this series.
1:38We actually don't know nearly as much about Schubert's life as we do about other composers. There are several reasons for this, from Schubert's lack of public profile during his lifetime, his very private nature, and his early demise at the age of just 31. Much of Schubert's work was unpublished during his lifetime, and his reputation slowly grew, thanks to advocates like Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, among others. For example, the piece we're going to be talking about during this series, the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, was never publicly performed in Schubert's lifetime, and had to wait until 1856 for its premiere performance, which was 28 years after Schubert's death.
2:23What we do know about Schubert at the time he wrote the song cycle was that he had just been diagnosed with a disease that would eventually kill him, syphilis. He wrote an abject letter of despair to a friend, one of the few letters of Schubert's like this that we have. Some of this despair and agony certainly went into this piece, but we'll get to that as we start to explore the later songs of the cycle.
3:07Two other things to mention before we close up this episode and prepare to start the cycle. First, the title, Die Schöne Müllerin, which is very hard to translate into English. There are a few commonly used versions, the fair maid of the mill, the beautiful maid of the mill, or the lovely miller's daughter. I'm partial to the fair maid of the mill because it's a bit more poetic, which brings me to the poetry that Schubert uses for the cycle, which was by Wilhelm Müller.
3:39Müller was dealing with some unrequited love himself when he wrote a set of 25 poems, five of which Schubert omitted for his song cycle, on the miller's daughter, which for Müller was a stand-in for Louise Henzel, Felix Mendelssohn's sister-in-law. Everybody's connected. The poems tell the story of a young man's first falling in love with the miller's daughter, his joy and then his slow descent into despair, as the miller's daughter spurns him for a handsome hunter. The set ends in the suicide of the main character.
4:13Schubert, in the great romantic tradition, was very taken with this poetry, and created this song cycle, which I can't really express enough appreciation for. Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, tu die Augen zu. Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, tu die Augen zu. Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, Gute Ruhe, G
5:11Müller himself had almost written the poetry to be sung, and said, quote, My songs lead but half a life, a paper existence of black and white, until music breathes life into them, or at least calls it forth and awakens it if it is already dormant in them. Even though Müller never knew Schubert or his songs, his legacy has been carried forward almost exclusively by Die Schöne-Müllerin and the other Müller-Schubert masterpiece, Winterreise, which very well might be part two of this series.
5:45But for now, we've set the stage, and next week we'll begin the journey through one of the supreme masterpieces of musical history. Let me know your favorite recordings of this piece in the comments, and I'll see you next week.
6:23Herr Meister und Frau Meisterin, lasst mich in Frieden weiterziehen und wandern und wandern und wandern.