"The Shepherd on the Rock", D. 965, is a Lied for soprano, clarinet, and piano by Franz Schubert. It was composed in 1828 during the final months of his life.
Of the seven verses, the first four and the last came from the poetry of Wilhelm Müller, while verses five and six were attributed to Helmina von Chézy[1] but were written by Karl August Varnhagen von Ense.[2]
The Lied, Schubert's penultimate composition, was written as a belated response to a request from the operatic soprano Anna Milder-Hauptmann, a friend of Schubert. She had requested a show-piece that would allow her to express a wide range of feelings, and he wrote it as thanks for her attempts to stage one of his operas in Berlin. She received a copy of the score from Schubert's brother Ferdinand in September 1829,[3] and the work was published a year and a half after Schubert's death. Milder sang it for the first time at the House of the Blackheads in Riga on 10 February 1830.[4]
The Lied has three sections, with clarinet and voice equally challenged. The first, in B-flat major, is warm, as the lonely shepherd on the mountaintop listens to echoes rising from below. The second section grows dark as he expresses grief and loneliness; it starts in G minor, then modulates through A-flat major and A minor to G major. The short last section, returning to B-flat major, anticipates the coming of spring and, with it, rebirth.
| Wilhelm Müller – "Der Berghirt" (The Mountain Shepherd) | ||
|---|---|---|
Fern aus dem tiefen dunkeln TalSchwingt sich empor der WiderhallDer Klüfte. Je weiter meine Stimme dringt,Je heller sie mir wieder klingtVon unten. Mein Liebchen wohnt so weit von mir,Drum sehn' ich mich so heiß nach ihrHinüber.[5] | Far from the valley dark and deepEchoes rush through, upward and back to me,The chasm. The farther that my voice resounds,So much the brighter it echoesFrom under. My sweetheart dwells so far from me,I long hotly to be with herOver there. | |
| Varnhagen – "Nächtlicher Schall" (Nightly Sound) | ||
So sehnend klang im Wald das Lied,So sehnend klang es durch die Nacht,Die Herzen es zum Himmel ziehtMit wunderbarer Macht.[6] | So longingly did sound the song,So longingly through wood and night,Towards heaven it draws all heartsWith amazing strength. | |
| Wilhelm Müller – "Liebesgedanken" (Love Thoughts) | ||
de:Andreas Mayer (Wissenschaftshistoriker)
. 'Gluck'sches Gestöhn' and 'welsches Larifari': Anna Milder, Franz Schubert und der deutsch-italienische Opernkrieg. de. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft. 52. 1995. 3 . 171–204. 10.2307/930894 . 930894. none.