Classical Music | Baritone

Recorded on 10/12/2004, uploaded on 01/13/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In Johann Gabriel Seidl’s poem Der Wanderer an den Mond(“The Wanderer Speaks to the Moon”), the narrator compares himself to the moon above him. He, like his celestial companion, wanders from land to land. Yet, that is where their similarities end. The narrator goes on to muse on their differences—he wanders on troubled, while the moon is peaceful and pure. He finds no place of rest in his wandering; the moon, he says, is at home wherever it is in the night sky. Finally, he remarks that happy is the man who always “stands on native ground” wherever he is.

Schubert set Seidl’s poem in 1826, only two years before his death and the year preceding the composition of the great Winterreise song cycle. The vocal melody of Schubert’s setting is simple, almost of folk-like origin. The first two stanzas are nearly identical and differ only in their endings. The accompaniment, also, is simple consisting of a steady bass line with chords above it, mimicking slightly strummed chords on a guitar. The third stanza, where the poet shifts his focus from himself to the moon, moves away from the tonic key of G minor to its parallel major. The vocal melody remains mostly unchanged but the accompaniment shifts to gently undulating arpeggios. The fourth and final stanza differs from the previous three. It remains in the tonic major key and suggests the narrator’s peaceful acceptance of his life as a wanderer.      Joseph DuBose

Der Wanderer an den Mond   Franz Schubert

Ich auf der Erd', am Himmel du,

Wir wandern beide rüstig zu:

Ich ernst und trüb, du mild und rein,

Was mag der Unterschied wohl sein?

Ich wandre fremd von Land zu Land,

So heimatlos, so unbekannt;

Berg auf, Berg ab, Wald ein, Wald aus,

Doch bin ich nirgend, ach! zu Haus    

Du aber wanderst auf und ab

Aus Ostens Wieg' in Westens Grab,

Wallst Länder ein und Länder aus,

Und bist doch, wo du bist, zu Haus.

Der Himmel, endlos ausgespannt,

Ist dein geliebtes Heimatland;

O glücklich, wer, wohin er geht,

Doch auf der Heimat Boden steht!

--Johann Gabriel Seidl

The Wanderer's Address to the Moon

I on earth, you in heaven,

both of us moving sturdily on.

I sad and cheerless, you gentle and clear,

what can the difference really be?

I go as a stranger from one land to another,

so homeless and unknown;

uphill, downhill, in and out of forests,

but, ah, nowhere is my home.

But you travel up and down,

from your eastern cradle, to western grave,

sail in and out of every land,

and yet you are home wherever you are.

The heavens, endlessly outstretched,

are your beloved native land.

Happy is he, who wherever he goes,

stands on his native soil.

--Johann Gabriel Seidl

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.