Franz Schubert: Winterreise – Die Krähe (The Crow)
Franz Schubert – Winterreise:
“Die Krähe” is song no. 15 from Franz Schubert’s Winterreise D 911 (1827), after Wilhelm Müller. After the deceptive vision of old age in Der greise Kopf, there now appears a dark companion that no longer disappears: the crow circling above the wanderer.
Schubert shapes this into a plain strophic chamber scene in C minor, 2/4, somewhat slow. The seemingly unagitated ostinato makes the bird’s circling flight audibly present. It is precisely in this calm that the uncanny resides: the crow is not merely an omen, but a figure of persistence, fidelity, and the nearness of death.
The verse (Wilhelm Müller – from the printed original edition of 1824)
From: Winterreise – Song XV
Eine Krähe war mit mir
aus der Stadt gezogen,
ist bis heute für und für
um mein Haupt geflogen.
A crow came with me
out of the town,
and to this day, ceaselessly,
has circled round my head.
Krähe, wunderliches Thier,
willst mich nicht verlassen?
meinst wohl bald als Beute hier
meinen Leib zu fassen?
Crow, strange creature,
will you not leave me?
Do you think soon to seize
my body here as prey?
Nun, es wird nicht weit mehr gehn
an dem Wanderstabe.
Krähe, laß mich endlich sehn
Treue bis zum Grabe!
Well then, it will not be much farther
on this wanderer’s staff.
Crow, let me at last behold
faithfulness unto the grave!
Work data & overview
- Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
- Cycle: Winterreise D 911, no. 15 (Die Krähe)
- Text source: Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise (1823/24)
- Composition: 1827; first print 1828 (Part II)
- Key / metre / tempo: C minor, 2/4, somewhat slow
- Duration: approx. 1:40–2:30 minutes
- Scoring: voice and piano (transpositions common)
- Form: simple strophic form with constant accompanying ostinato
Data on the verse
- Author: Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827)
- Stanza form: 3 quatrains; alternating rhyme
- Devices: personification, death metaphorics, antithesis of companion/devourer, guiding image of the circle, paradoxical figure of fidelity
Origins & cycle context
Die Krähe follows directly upon the disenchantment of Der greise Kopf. There, the white hair was only a frosty deception. Here, the momentary illusion of age becomes a lasting companion: death, as it were, flies alongside.
The song belongs to that phase of Winterreise in which outward signs become ever more clearly mirrors of inner states. The crow is at first still a real image. But very quickly it opens itself semantically: as carrion bird, messenger of death, sign of fate, uncanny companion, perhaps even as the only figure that truly remains faithful to the wanderer.
Here one sees, paradigmatically, how openly the imagery of this cycle works. More on this in the introductory essays The semiotics of song as well as Art that keeps working.
More on the larger context in the Winterreise – Overview and in the article Winterreise as a journey into the abyss of the soul.
Performance practice & reception
Pulse & line: a calmly sustained 2/4 pulse, without dramatic exaggeration. The voice remains sober and directly guided. It is precisely this apparent objectivity that makes the scene all the more oppressive.
Piano image: a uniform, lightly connected ostinato as the crow’s circular trace. Little pedal, cool colour, clear contour. The crow must not sound blatantly “evil,” but relentlessly persistent.
Historical reference interpreters
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – baritone
- Hermann Prey – baritone
Current interpreters with whom I collaborate
Analysis – music
Circular gesture & ostinato
The high, repetitive accompaniment pattern traces the crow’s circling flight path. The music turns, as it were, above the wanderer, without ever truly resolving. The voice responds with short, concise gestures, more declarative than eruptive.
Precisely here lies the semiotic power of the song: the ostinato does not signify merely “a bird.” It can be read as circling, pursuing, watching, waiting, or fate. The sign remains open, and it is exactly this openness that allows each interpretation to hear something slightly different: nearness of death, fidelity, threat, or an almost tender black accompaniment.
Harmony, form & proximity to death
Within the field of C minor, diminished turns and subtle frictions create a constant inner tension. The strophic design feels almost relentless, because it offers no escape. Everything returns, just as the crow returns.
What is especially striking is that Schubert does not turn the song into a grand vision of death. He remains small-scale, concise, concentrated. Precisely through this, the nearness of death becomes all the more uncanny: not as an exceptional state, but as an enduring presence.
Visual representation
Artistic visualisation by Evgenia Foelsche:
A winter cemetery stretches out.
The graves are covered with snow; simple crosses stand in silent rows.
A large crow sits on a stone cross.
Its dark plumage stands out sharply against the white of the snow.
The image takes up the symbolism of the song:
the crow is not a sudden omen,
but a persistent presence.
It does not fly away.
It remains.
It is precisely this stillness that makes it so piercing.
Whether it is a messenger of death, a companion, or the last witness,
remains open.
This openness corresponds exactly to the effect of the song:
the crow is an image that keeps working,
because it is never completely fixed.
Analysis – poetry
The poem “Die Krähe” belongs to the most penetrating scenes of encounter in Winterreise. For the first time, an animal acquires lasting companion-power over the wanderer. The crow is not merely seen, but addressed. Thus an existential dialogue arises out of outward observation.
Eine Krähe war mit mir
aus der Stadt gezogen,
ist bis heute für und für
um mein Haupt geflogen.A crow came with me
out of the town,
and to this day, ceaselessly,
has circled round my head.
The very first stanza already establishes a sense of fatefulness. The crow has accompanied the wanderer ever since he left the town. Its circling around his head makes it a kind of visible thought, something constantly suspended above him. It is not merely an animal, but a sign that has attached itself to him.
Krähe, wunderliches Thier,
willst mich nicht verlassen?
meinst wohl bald als Beute hier
meinen Leib zu fassen?Crow, strange creature,
will you not leave me?
Do you think soon to seize
my body here as prey?
In the second stanza, direct dialogue begins. The crow is treated as an addressee, almost as a secret interlocutor. The wanderer immediately interprets its behaviour in terms of death: he already sees his own body as its future prey. This is more than a foreboding of death. It is a moment of radical self-objectification.
Nun, es wird nicht weit mehr gehn
an dem Wanderstabe.
Krähe, laß mich endlich sehn
Treue bis zum Grabe!Well then, it will not be much farther
on this wanderer’s staff.
Crow, let me at last behold
faithfulness unto the grave!
In the third stanza, the relationship shifts. The crow is no longer merely a threat, but a possible faithful companion. It is precisely here that the disturbing greatness of this song lies: what was lacking in life – fidelity – is now sought, of all places, in the sign of death.
The crow thus becomes an open symbol. It may be read as a harbinger of death, but also as a mirror of the inner state, as the black shadow of consciousness, as a figure of inescapability, or as a final, perverse form of reliability. It is exactly this open semantics that makes the song so powerful.
Meaning & effect within the cycle
Die Krähe marks a decisive step in the radicalisation of the cycle. The wanderer enters into a relation with death that is no longer merely thought, but imagined as a constant accompaniment. The landscape recedes. In its place stands a relationship – and indeed one with a sign of death.
Here one sees paradigmatically why this art continues to work beyond its own time: the crow is not unambiguous. Every listener may perceive something different in it: fear, consolation, persecution, loneliness, fidelity, or the longing finally no longer to be alone. Precisely because the sign remains open, each person can recognise themselves in it in their own way.
Thus Die Krähe directly prepares the later songs in which the wanderer increasingly loses every bond to the world of the living. The crow is not the end. But it is already flying within his circle.
Evgenia Fölsche – performances & audio
Pianist Evgenia Fölsche keeps the ostinato cool and hovering, while the voice speaks straight ahead. The accent on “Grabe” remains concise – more sign than outburst.
Listening example: Die Krähe with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore
Winterreise for your concert programme
Franz Schubert’s Winterreise belongs to Evgenia Fölsche’s song repertoire and can be realised in different performance formats. Depending on the occasion, venue, and artistic concept, various scorings and forms are possible.
Possible options include performances with different voice types from soprano to bass, versions with choir, with images, or in staged form. An overview of formats, scorings, and artistic possibilities can be found on the concert page for Winterreise.
To the Winterreise concert pageFrequently asked questions about Schubert: “Die Krähe” (Winterreise No. 15)
Click on a question to display the answer.
Is “Die Krähe” strophic?
Yes: a simple strophic form with a constant ostinato frame.
Which key and metre are typical?
C minor in 2/4, somewhat slow; transpositions are common depending on voice type.
How is the crow’s circular motion rendered musically?
With a calm, even ostinato, sparing veils of pedal, and precise declamation of the text; less dramatic waves than persistent presence.
