Ex. 14-4: Der Müller und der Bach

No. 19 from Schubert's song cycle Die schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Miller's Daughter, D. 795), composed in 1823. The poems are by Wilhelm Müller.

The cycle tells the story of a young miller who follows a brook to a mill, falls in love with the miller's daughter, loses her to a hunter, and drowns himself in the brook. Schubert reportedly found the poems at a friend's house and composed three songs the very next day.

In this penultimate song, the miller and the brook sing in dialogue. The brook tries to comfort the dying man. In the final song, the brook sings a lullaby over his body.

Franz Liszt transcribed this song for piano solo as No. 2 of his Müller-Lieder (S.565).