- Date: 1816 10
- Composer: Franz Schubert
- Period: Romantic (1820-1869)
Review
Schubert's catalog has many songs with "Der Wanderer" as the title or part of the title: the two famous settings of Goethe, Wandrers Nachtlied I (D. 224) and Wandrers Nachtlied II (D. 768); the beloved setting of Seidl's Der Wanderer an den Mond (D. 870); and the two Der Wanderer's themselves, the setting of Friedrich von Schlegel (D. 649) and this setting of Georg Schmid's poem (D. 489, formerly 493). There is clearly something about the subject that fascinated and inspired Schubert and brought forth from him some of his most moving songs. The Schmid Der Wanderer from October 1816 is not the least of these; in Schubert's lifetime, it rivaled Erlkönig as his most popular solo song. It's easy to see why: it is easily comprehensible, its structure is based on the form of an operatic aria; wonderfully affecting, the longing of the vocal melody is palpable; and both elements work together to create a single artistic unity. Structurally, the song sets Schmid's five verses in four parts. After a gloomy and ominous Sehr langsam (Very slowly) piano introduction, Schmid's first verse is set as an accompanied recitative. After a fermata, his second verse is set as a slow arioso and, after another fermata on a second inversion, his third and fourth verses are set as Etwas geschwinder (Somewhat faster) and then Geschwind (Faster) cabaletta in 6/8 time. After a final fermata on a diminished seventh chord comes Schubert's master stroke: a return to the slow arioso in the relative major leading to a heartbreaking cadenza for the voice. Within this structure, Schubert deploys some of his most affecting vocal melodies. The irresolutely rising scale that opens the vocal melody rises only to fall, the gorgeous embellishments of the arioso slowly turning the melody to the relative major, the hopeful leaps of the Etwas geschwinder section, the rising curve of the Geschwind section, the defeated return of the arioso melody nearly shorn of its embellishments, and the cadenza's slow descent to the bottom of the singer's range: all of these things make the vocal melody of Der Wanderer one of Schubert's most moving. And together, both elements create an amazingly effective unity.Opening the song in the subdominant of F sharp minor by using the tonic C sharp minor as dominant while the vocal melody rises and falls, reaching the true tonic in the arioso but moving it through the vocal embellishments to the relative major of E major for the Etwas geschwinder section, changing the time signature for the Geschwind section only to have the hopes of its faster time and tempo crash into the fermata on a diminished seventh, and returning to the relative major crushed under the weight of the heavy harmonies of the closing arioso: all of these things collude to make Der Wanderer one of Schubert's best-composed as well as most affecting songs. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
