Schubert, Das Wandern

Background

Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin is an early Romantic song cycle that follows a young journeyman miller from carefree wandering and first love to jealousy, despair, and self‑destruction, all framed by the constant presence of a brook.

Composed in 1823, the cycle sets 20 poems by Wilhelm Müller and is one of Schubert’s most important contributions to the Lied repertoire. The songs trace a simple but devastating story: a wandering miller finds work at a mill, falls in love with the miller’s daughter, loses her to a hunter in green, and finally drowns himself in the brook that first guided him.

“Das Wandern” (“Wandering”) is the first song from the song cycle Die schöne Müllerin. This song opens the cycle with an exuberant celebration of movement and restlessness as the natural state of the young miller. It praises how water, mill‑wheels, and even stones are always on the move, suggesting that wandering is not aimless but a joyful life‑force that propels him into the story’s journey.

The song is in strophic form – each of the five stanzas is set to the same music. 

 

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Listening

Das Wandern

0:00  Stanza 1 – The miller's love of wandering

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

To wander is the miller’s delight;
to wander!
A poor miller he must be
who never thought of wandering,
of wandering.

0:34  Stanza 2 – The incessant flow of the water

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

We have learnt it from the water,
from the water!
It never rests, by day or night,
but is always intent on wandering,
the water.

1:02  Stanza 3 – The ceaseless turning of the mill's wheel

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

We can see it in the wheels too,
the wheels!
They never care to stand still
but turn tirelessly the whole day long,
the wheels. 

1:30  Stanza 4 – The stones seem to be moving as well

Die Steine selbst, so schwer sie sind,
Die Steine!
Sie tanzen mit den muntern Reihn
Und wollen gar noch schneller sein,
Die Steine. 

The stones themselves, heavy as they are,
the stones!
They join in the merry dance and
seek to move still faster,
the stones. 

2:00  Stanza 5 – The joy of wandering

O Wandern, Wandern, meine Lust,
O Wandern!
Herr Meister und Frau Meisterin,
Lasst mich in Frieden weiter ziehn
Und wandern. 

O wandering, my delight,
O wandering!
Master and mistress,
let me go my way in peace,
and wander.