Franz Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin – Des Baches Wiegenlied (The Brook’s Lullaby)
Franz Schubert – Die schöne Müllerin:
“Des Baches Wiegenlied” is song no. 20 from Franz Schubert’s cycle Die schöne Müllerin D 795 (1823), after Wilhelm Müller. The brook itself sings a song of sleep and death to the exhausted miller lad: images of consolation (moon, roses, angels) veil his sight — the world grows wide and still. Schubert shapes a strophic, rocking finale in E major, whose calm pulse and “covering-note” sonority make the act of covering over musically audible.
The Poem (Wilhelm Müller – Seventy-Seven Poems from the Posthumous Papers of a Travelling French-Horn Player, 1821), with Schubert’s alteration.
Good rest, good rest!
Close your eyes!
Wanderer, you weary one, you are at home.
Faithfulness is here,
You shall lie with me,
Till the sea would drink all the brooklets dry.
I shall bed you coolly
On a soft pillow,
In the blue crystal chamber.
Come hither, come hither,
All that can rock,
Surge and rock my boy to sleep!
If a hunting horn sounds
Out of the green wood,
I shall rush and roar all around you.
Do not look in,
Blue little flowers!
You make my sleeper’s dreams so heavy.
Away, away
From the mill-bridge,
Wicked little maid, lest your shadow wake him!
Throw in to me
Your dainty kerchief,
So that I may keep his eyes covered!
Good night, good night!
Until all awakens,
Sleep out your joy, sleep out your sorrow!
The full moon rises,
The mist departs,
And the heaven above — how wide it is!
(Schubert: And the heaven up above — how wide it is.)
Work Data & Overview
- Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
- Cycle: Die schöne Müllerin D 795, No. 20 (final song)
- Text source: Wilhelm Müller, “Des Baches Wiegenlied” (1817/18; published 1821)
- Composition: 1823; first published 1824
- Key area / character: E major; “moderate,” rocking lullaby; strophic
- Duration: approx. 5–8 minutes (depending on tempo and forces)
- Scoring: Voice and piano (transpositions common)
- Form: strophic lullaby with text-sensitive inner accents
Data on the Poem
- Author: Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827)
- Stanza form: 5 stanzas of 6 lines each; addresses and imperatives (“come,” “away …”)
- Devices: lullaby formula, images of nature and heaven, gestures of protection (covering, shielding), topoi of consolation (moon, wideness of the sky)
Genesis & Cycle Context
After the consoling dialogue of “Der Müller und der Bach” (No. 19), the brook closes the cycle with a lullaby epilogue: it keeps disturbances at bay (hunting horn, flowers, maid), covers the eyes, and releases the gaze into vastness. The ending is calm without return — sleep as an image of death.
More on the cycle (contents, work data, all song articles): Die schöne Müllerin – Overview.
Performance Practice & Reception
Gesture: calm, collected, rocking — no sentimentality, no grand gesture. The stanzas develop a quiet pull; the final expanse (“heaven … so wide!”) should be bright, but without triumph.
Piano texture: a bound overtone-carpet with a covering sustained note (“covering note”) and gentle inner motions — use pedal with fine restraint so that textual accents (“away,” “covered”) remain audible.
Reference Recordings (Selection)
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – Gerald Moore
- Ian Bostridge – Mitsuko Uchida
- Christoph Prégardien – Andreas Staier (fortepiano)
- Matthias Goerne – Christoph Eschenbach
- Nathalie Stutzmann – Inger Södergren
Analysis – Music
“Covering Note” & Cradle Gesture
The sustained, repeated upper note (“covering note”) lies over the inner melody like a blanket — the rocking arises from delicate waves beneath a calm surface. The voice remains syllabic, close to the word; the lines do not end “open,” but sink downward.
Form, Tonal Space & Sound Direction
Strophic design in E major with inner colourings shaped by the text: disturbances (hunting horn / flowers / maid) lead to small darkenings, which the brook immediately “covers over.” The final expanse (“full moon / moonlight / wideness”) opens the sound without breaking the calm.
Visual Representation
Artistic visualisation by Evgenia Foelsche:
The image shows the miller lad on the bed of the brook, quietly laid within the water,
which no longer guides him but now encloses and protects him. In this way, the image
condenses the cycle’s final state into a scene of deep repose, in which pain, exhaustion,
and dissolution merge into one another. The brook is no longer merely companion or
interlocutor, but becomes the very place of sleep, enfolding, and final silence.
Of particular poetic poignancy is the figure of the water nymph, who seeks to veil his
face with a cloth. In this gesture tenderness and farewell, care and final covering,
come together. The water nymph appears here not as an enticing force, but as a gentle
guardian of the transition. She covers the miller lad’s face as though she wished to
hide him from the world, to guide him into the sleep of the water, and to wrap all
suffering in silence. The cloth thus becomes the sign of a final, quiet grace.
Like Schubert’s music, the image bears a tone of moving tenderness. Nothing here is
harsh or violent; even the nearness of death appears transformed into a gentle rocking.
The brook sings no longer of desire, but of rest, forgetfulness, and shelter. Visible
here is what resonates in text and music: that in the end the miller lad does not
merely sink down, but is received by the water itself — as into a final sleep protected
by the water nymph’s careful hand.
Analysis – Poetry
Wilhelm Müller’s poem “Des Baches Wiegenlied” forms the close of the cycle Die schöne Müllerin. The brook now takes over the word entirely. It addresses the miller lad like a child and rocks him into death. Nature, love, and death are here completely fused.
The first stanza opens with a lullaby formula:
Good rest, good rest!
Close your eyes!
Wanderer, you weary one, you are at home.
Faithfulness is here,
You shall lie with me,
Till the sea would drink all the brooklets dry.
The brook speaks soothingly and tenderly. The miller is no longer a wanderer, but “at home.” Death appears as homecoming. Time is stretched into infinity: only when the sea has drunk up all the streams will this rest come to an end.
The second stanza unfolds the image of the grave:
I shall bed you coolly
On a soft pillow,
In the blue crystal chamber.
Come hither, come hither,
All that can rock,
Surge and rock my boy to sleep!
The water becomes a bed, a sheltering space. The miller is called “boy” — he is completely relieved of responsibility and suffering. The rocking replaces every human burial ritual.
The third stanza keeps disturbing memories at bay:
If a hunting horn sounds
Out of the green wood,
I shall rush and roar all around you.
Do not look in,
Blue little flowers!
You make my sleeper’s dreams so heavy.
The hunting horn — sign of the rival — must not disturb his sleep. Even the blue flowers, once symbols of longing, are kept away. Everything that recalls love and pain is to be excluded.
The fourth stanza sends the beloved away:
Away, away
From the mill-bridge,
Wicked little maid, lest your shadow wake him!
Throw in to me
Your dainty kerchief,
So that I may keep his eyes covered!
The miller maid is now explicitly excluded. Not even her shadow may touch the sleeping one. The kerchief serves to close his eyes once and for all — a gentle, yet irrevocable farewell to the world.
The fifth stanza closes in cosmic stillness:
Good night, good night!
Until all awakens,
Sleep out your joy, sleep out your sorrow!
The full moon rises,
The mist departs,
And the heaven above — how wide it is!
Joy and sorrow alike are slept away. Death is not punishment, but balance. The wide heaven opens — the poem ends in quiet transcendence.
Formally, the poem is shaped as a lullaby: repetitions, gentle imperatives, and flowing images create a hypnotic calm. Language itself becomes song for sleep.
Meaning & Effect within the Cycle
“Des Baches Wiegenlied” completes the inner logic of Die schöne Müllerin. Death appears as release from unfulfilled love and tormenting longing.
The brook is now no longer a mirror of feeling, but an active presence: it receives the miller and shields him from the world.
Within the cycle, this song is the final close. There is no return, no hope, but also no terror — only repose.
Schubert sets this poem with one of the simplest and at the same time most moving melodies in the Lied repertory. The music itself rocks the listener into a state of quiet reconciliation.
Evgenia Fölsche – Performances & Audio
Pianist Evgenia Fölsche shapes the finale as breathing calm: bound texture, sparing pedal, text-close diction — a rocking that widens the space at the close.
Listening example: Des Baches Wiegenlied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore
Concert Enquiry
Die schöne Müllerin by Franz Schubert belongs to Evgenia Fölsche’s Lied repertoire and is regularly performed in collaboration with renowned singers. Concert programmes can be arranged flexibly and adapted to different scorings.
Evgenia Fölsche has collaborated, among others, with singers such as Johannes Kammler, Benjamin Russell and Gerrit Illenberger who include Die schöne Müllerin in their repertoire.
Send concert enquiryFrequently Asked Questions about Schubert: “Des Baches Wiegenlied” (Die schöne Müllerin No. 20)
Click on a question to reveal the answer.
What key is the song in, and is it strophic?
Original key E major; the song is strophic in design (5 stanzas), with text-sensitive inner colourings.
Who speaks here — the brook or the miller?
The brook is the speaker and active presence: it rocks, covers over, and keeps disturbances away — as the consoling force of the finale.
Is there a reliable online source for the poem text?
Yes, the full text (German/English) is available at Oxford Song; notes on variants can also be found at SchubertSong.uk and LiederNet.
