Baker !

Robyn Baker

Dr. Helvering

TH 142-01

26 April 2017

Der Mller und der Bach Analysis

Franz Peter Schubert was born to Elisabeth Veitz and Franz Theodor Florian

Schubert (Solomon 4). He was born on January 31st, 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund,

Austria (Winter 1). In 1822, Schubert contracted syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease

that eventually shuts down the victims organs and bodily nervous system if left

untreated. In November 1828, 31-year-old Schubert passed away from typhoid fever.

There is much dispute whether his death was of a syphilitic nature or if it was unrelated

(Sams 15).

In the time when Schubert was alive, families were fortunate to not have to bury

their young children. The infant mortality rate was nearly 50%. Schubert was one of

five surviving children of the 14 births of Elisabeth. When Schubert was 15, his mother

passed away. His father remarried less than a year later to a woman named Anna

Kleyenbock, birthing an additional five children to the Schubert family (Winter 2-3).

Schuberts father was a schoolmaster, allowing young Schubert to receive a well-

rounded education and later the opportunity to teach at his fathers institution (Solomon

8, 10-12). His family encouraged musicality early in his life. Schuberts older brother,

Ignaz, taught him how to play piano, and his father taught him violin. Later on, young

Schubert took lessons on counterpoint, figured bass, voice, and organ from Michael

Horlzer, the organist at the church he attended. Schubert later auditioned and was
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accepted to Kaiserlich-knigliches Stadtkonvikt - Imperial and Royal City College and

studied composition with Salieri. However, Schubert dabbled with composition from a

younger age than this, with the earliest discovered being from the age of 13 - the

Fantasie in G for piano duet and Hagars Klage (Winter 1-2).

Little information pertaining to Schuberts love life is known, other than

speculation. He once fell in love with a noblemans daughter during his time serving

them. And prior to that, Schubert is said to have had some involvement with a

housemaid (Bennett 12).

Apart from his music, Schuberts life was little or nothing (Bennett 14).

Schubert left behind no journals or diaries of detailed personal thoughts and feelings.

The closest understanding of Schuberts mind is through his music. Schubert is

believed to have suffered from some form of depression, though he masked it through

heavy drinking and putting on a cheerful attitude. Schubert once described himself as,

the most unhappy, the most miserable man on earth. He also wrote once, My peace

is gone, my heart is sore, gone for ever and evermore. Schubert very rarely spoke of

how he felt (Bennett 12-14).

We seem to be nearest the man when we study his music, wherein he could not

help expressing feeling or avoid showing, unconsciously, that which he, of purpose,

would never have revealed in speech (Bennett 13). This revelation of his inner misery

is especially present in his song cycles, Die schne Mllerin and Winterreise. These

song cycles deal with delusions of life, which for Schubert was an escape and a way

of outpouring his inner turmoil (Bennett 13).

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Die schne Mllerin is a series of poems by Wilhelm Mller, as well as

Winterreise. The Schubert song cycle contains 20 of the 23, omitting the prologue and

epilogue. The story follows a young man, who is representative of the common people

and working class. He sets out on a journey following the stream to a mill, where he

soon acquires a job as a miller. This young man falls in love with the daughter of the

miller and loses her to another. His only comfort and companion in this is the brook, in

which he eventually drowns himself in because he can no longer bear to suffer the pain

he faces. The Miller in the story talks to the Brook as if it is alive, and according to the

text, it answers him. Wilhelms writing is over the top and dramatic. He implies that the

Brook is a representation of the Millers internal struggle projected onto this flowing

brook that the Miller keeps returning to. This allows Schubert much freedom with the

music he writes to accompany the text. Schubert writes his music based on the text,

and plays with the words to shape the phrases (Reed 412-412).

Der Mller und der Bach is the nineteenth song in the Die schne Mllerin

song cycle. This particular piece is an accumulation of the ideas and emotions

throughout the whole cycle. It is the last song cycle before the Millers death and

surrender to his emotions is implied. The Miller is arguing with the Brook, saying that

the pain from love is too much. The Brook tries to comfort him, but the Miller refuses to

listen. The Millers death is heavily implied in this song.

The first verse of the piece is spoken by the Miller. The English translation of this

text in this section is, When a loyal heat perishes from love, the lilies wither in every

field; The full moon must hide itself in the clouds, so people wont see its tears; And the

angels close their eyes and sob and sing his soul to peace. Schubert is very deliberate
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when he writes, doing a lot of text-painting. He shows the withering of the lilies with a

Neapolitan 6 chord in measure 8. To show the moon hiding in the clouds, Schubert

comprises the phrase of a series of secondary dominants ending on an imperfect

authentic cadence in Bb, the mediant of the key. This creates an effect that makes the

music sound unsettled. Schubert next draws out the tears with Neapolitan 6 moving to

vii7/V to V and does this again when with sobbing in measure 25. He concludes this

section on the word ruh, which means peace. He ends on a perfect authentic

cadence, finally bringing this section to definite and settled point.

The entire first section is in g minor, it does not modulate anywhere, although

there are some tonicizations through secondary dominants in measures 11, 13, and 17.

Other than these secondary dominants and a few Neapolitan 6 chords, this section is

explicitly in g minor. The first period of this section is comprised of the phrase occurring

from measures 1-6 ending in an imperfect authentic cadence, and the phrase occurring

from measures 6-10 ending in a perfect authentic cadence. This phrase is an

asymmetrical contrasting period due to a phrase extension in the first phrase. The set

of phrase, which occurs from measures 10 to nineteen, is too inconclusive to be a

period, making it an asymmetrical contrasting phrase group. The final period of this

section is made up by the phrase from 19 to 23 ending with an imperfect authentic

cadence and the phrase from 23-28. This period is almost identical to the first period of

this section, but it is a symmetrical contrasting period because it lacks the phrase

extension that extends the tonic area in the first phrase

The next section, the B section, is spoken by the Brook. The translation of the

German text for this section is, And when frees itself from pain, a little star, a new one,
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twinkles in the sky; And three roses spring, half red and half white, that never wither,

from the thorny stem. And the angels cut off their wings and every morning go down to

earth. The accompaniment in this section consists of constant pulsing sextuplets, which

represent the rushing water of the Brook. This section begins in G Major with a

secondary dominant sequence, which represents the love freeing itself from pain. This

section is a change of the mode of g from the minor to the parallel major by phrase.

The constant motion springs away from the pain expressed in the A section in g minor.

Schubert, in this section, pays close attention to the punctuation of the text. He

modulates to D Major after the semicolon at the word erblinkt. He eventually

modulates back to G Major, and following the same trend as before, he modulates at

the period in the text. All of these modulations are by phrase, he just picks up in the

next key. Schubert does more text-painting in this section, showing the cutting of the

angels wings and their journey to earth. He does this with the half cadence with a

secondary dominant, this inconclusive resolution shows that there is more in store than

just the cutting of the wings - they will come to earth.

The first period of the B section consists of the sequencing phrase happening

from measures 28 to 32 ending with a half cadence and the phrase from 32 to 36

ending with an imperfect authentic cadence. This period is a symmetrical contrasting

period. The three following phrases are all end with perfect authentic cadences,

happening from measures 36 to 40, 40 to 44, and 44 to 48. The first and third of the

three end with a semicolon in the text. The second phrase of this group begins with a

phrase modulation in the key of D, moving by adding one sharp to the key and using the

circle of fifth for a logical modulation. The following three phrases form a symmetrical
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contrasting three-phrase period back in the key of G. The first phrase of this period

begins at measure 48 and ends at measure 52 with a half cadence. The second phrase

occurs from 52 to 56 and ends with an imperfect authentic cadence. The third phrase

ends at measure 60 with a perfect authentic cadence resolving with an 8-6-4 to 7-5-3

cadential pattern. This final cadence is the resolution of the B section of this piece and

ends still in G Major.

The first verse of the piece is spoken by the Miller. The English translation of this

text in this section is, Oh brook, dear brook, you mean so well: Oh brook, but do you

know what love does to you? Ah, below, down there, the cool repose! Oh brook, dear

brook, just sing to me. This final section is a return of the material from the A section

with some alterations to the melody and the accompaniment, making it A prime. Unlike

the first verse, this accompaniment contains the rushing water sextuplets. Schubert

does this to represent the fact that the man is in the brook now. Schubert reuses many

of his ideas for text-painting in this section. On the word leibe, which means love, he

places the vii7/V to V preceded by a Neapolitan 6 chord. He does this to wrap up the

ideas of the entire song cycle. These couple of measures are the Miller reliving the pain

of the love he has felt. This entire section is comprised of imperfect authentic cadences

and half cadences and eventually draws to the final perfect authentic cadence at

measure 82. The accompaniment cycles through another perfect authentic cadence,

which emphasizes the final line that tells the Brook to sing to him. That is exactly what

Schubert does with the playing out of the piece being just the pianist still pulsing the

sextuplets.
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The whole piece is in ternary form, with an A section, a B section, and then finally

A prime. Der Mller und der Bach works well as the lead up to the final piece. It

wraps up the story, both in the text and the music. The rushing water lightmotif returns

once again. The text sets up the listener for the Millers death. The modulations

throughout the piece show a distinct change in character and meaning of text. The

conclusion in g minor allows the listener to come to terms with what will happen next.

The piece ends with another phrase of just the piano, which is the rushing sextuplets of

the Brook. The last text is the Miller telling the Brook to just sing to him, and Schubert

ends the piece with the Brook.

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Works Cited

Bennett, Joseph. "Franz Schubert. Born January 31, 1797." The Musical Times and Singing Class

Circular, PDF ed., vol. 38, no. 647, 1 Jan. 1897, pp. 12-15.

Reed, John. Music & Letters, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 1978). Oxford University Press. Oxford

Journals, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/733940.pdf.

Sams, Eric. "Schubert's Illness Re-Examined." The Musical Times, PDF ed., vol. 121, no. 1643,

Jan. 1980, pp. 15-22.

Solomon, Maynard. "Schubert: Family Matters." 19th-Century Music, vol. 28, no. 1, Summer

2004, pp. 3-14. University of California Press, www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1525/ncm.

2004.28.1.3.pdf.

Winter, Robert. "Schubert, Franz, 1: Life." Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press,

www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/25109pg1?

q=Franz+Schubert&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit.