The poem (Wilhelm Müller – from the printed original edition of 1824)

From: Winterreise – Song XXII

Fliegt der Schnee mir in’s Gesicht,
schüttl’ ich ihn herunter.
Wenn mein Herz im Busen spricht,
sing’ ich hell und munter.

If the snow flies in my face,
I shake it off and onward.
When my heart begins to speak within my breast,
I sing out bright and cheerful.

Höre nicht, was es mir sagt,
habe keine Ohren;
fühle nicht, was es mir klagt,
Klagen ist für Thoren.

I do not hear what it tells me,
I have no ears for it;
I do not feel what it laments to me,
lamenting is for fools.

Lustig in die Welt hinein
gegen Wind und Wetter!
Will kein Gott auf Erden sein,
sind wir selber Götter!

Gaily out into the world,
against wind and weather!
If no god will be on earth,
then we ourselves are gods!

Work data & overview

• Composer: Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
• Cycle: Winterreise D 911, No. 22 (Muth)
• Text source: Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise (1823/24)
• Composition: 1827; first print 1828 (Part II)
• Key area / metre / tempo: G minor, 2/4, ziemlich schnell
• Duration: approx. 1:00–1:40 minutes
• Scoring: Voice and piano (transpositions common)
• Form: through-composed with song-like refrain character and march-like bearing

Data on the poem

• Author: Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827)
• Stanza form: 3 quatrains; alternating rhyme
• Devices: speech of defiance, self-encouragement, antithesis between inner lament and outer hardness, formula of hubris (“then we ourselves are gods”)

Origins & cycle context

After “Das Wirtshaus”, “Muth” startles with an abrupt change of affect. Precisely because even death as a place of rest has been denied to the wanderer, he now forces himself into a renewed forward movement. This song is not natural consolation, but an almost aggressive act of pulling himself upright.

In the second part of Winterreise, “Muth” thus stands at a precarious threshold: it sounds like an outbreak of energy, yet inwardly it is fed by despair. The wanderer resolves no longer to listen to his heart. The song therefore marks no healing, but a consciously forced severing from the inner self.

In the larger context, one sees here how Winterreise increasingly lives from counter-images: courage appears where exhaustion actually reigns; brightness sounds forth where the inner world has long since darkened. More on this: Winterreise as a journey into the abyss of the soul.

Performance practice & reception

Pulse & diction: The song needs a clear, springy 2/4 march pulse. It must not become broad or heroic. The voice remains lean, direct, and almost cutting in its diction. What matters is that the defiance never tips into comfortable cheerfulness.

Piano texture: The piano carries the impulse of motion without interruption. Short chordal strokes, sharp contours, and a dry articulation make the song seem like a forced pressing onward. Even in the apparently bright moments, an inner hardness must remain audible.

Especially delicate is the final line, “sind wir selber Götter!”. It must not sound triumphant, but rather like an exaggerated, desperate act of self-incantation.

Historical reference interpreters

• Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – baritone
• Peter Schreier – tenor
• Hans Hotter – bass-baritone

Current interpreters with whom I collaborate

• Gerrit Illenberger
• Benjamin Russell
• Matthias Lika
• Johann Kristinsson
• Johannes Kammler

Analysis – music

March rhythm & gesture of defiance

Schubert draws “Muth” with an energetic, almost march-like impulse. The piano relies on clear stepwise figures, pointed accents, and a nervous forward drive. The voice remains syllabic and direct, as though urging itself onward.

What is decisive is that this gesture does not arise from inner security. The march is audibly forced. The song sounds as though the wanderer had to compel himself anew with every bar to keep walking.

Harmony, form & forced upsurge

The basic tonal sphere of G minor keeps the song in shadow, even when the surface seems momentarily brighter. That is precisely where the sharpness of the piece lies: there is movement, energy, almost brightness— but no true consolation.

The through-composed design prevents any comfortable return. Instead, the song pushes forward in block-like surges. The closing formula therefore does not feel like an arrival, but like the outermost point of an act of self-persuasion.

Visual representation

Artistic visualisation by Evgenia Foelsche:
The wanderer moves defiantly across a barren winter height. Snow and wind strike him head-on, yet his posture remains upright. This is not a free, radiant departure, but a forced advance against the elements.

It is precisely this resistance that makes the image of the song visible: courage appears here not as confidence, but as a counterforce against exhaustion, pain, and inner emptiness.

Analysis – poetry

The poem “Muth” belongs to the most striking counter-movements within Winterreise. For the first time in a long while, the wanderer speaks in a tone that might almost seem cheerful. Yet this tone is profoundly ambiguous: it is speech of defiance, self-encouragement, and the warding off of his own pain all at once.

Rebuffing outward harshness

Fliegt der Schnee mir in’s Gesicht,
schüttl’ ich ihn herunter.
Wenn mein Herz im Busen spricht,
sing’ ich hell und munter.

If the snow flies in my face,
I shake it off and onward.
When my heart begins to speak within my breast,
I sing out bright and cheerful.

The first stanza formulates the programme of the song: outward harshness is actively shaken off, inward stirring immediately covered over with song. The wanderer does not answer with lament, but with demonstrative cheerfulness. And yet precisely here one senses how great the pressure is against which he must defend himself.

Refusal of inner listening

Höre nicht, was es mir sagt,
habe keine Ohren;
fühle nicht, was es mir klagt,
Klagen ist für Thoren.

I do not hear what it tells me,
I have no ears for it;
I do not feel what it laments to me,
lamenting is for fools.

Here the self-division is spoken openly. The wanderer decides that he no longer wishes to hear his own heart. Pain is not overcome, but repressed. The proverbial phrase “Klagen ist für Thoren” sounds like a harsh, almost brutal disciplining of the self.

Hubris as final defiance

Lustig in die Welt hinein
gegen Wind und Wetter!
Will kein Gott auf Erden sein,
sind wir selber Götter!

Gaily out into the world,
against wind and weather!
If no god will be on earth,
then we ourselves are gods!

The final stanza drives the gesture to an extreme. The word “lustig” can scarcely still be understood here in any unbroken sense. It is the tone of someone singing against the world because every other hope has been exhausted. The closing formula of the “gods” is not triumph, but overstatement: a final, defiant act of self-empowerment in the face of abandonment.

Meaning & effect within the cycle

“Muth” is one of the great mask-moments of Winterreise. The song sounds like an act of straightening up, yet inwardly it is fed by despair. That is precisely why it cuts so sharply: the wanderer manufactures courage because nothing else remains to him.

For the cycle, this does not mean a turn toward light, but a further intensification. The heart is split off, pain drowned out, the world answered with a forced song. After this, Winterreise can only move deeper into that zone in which reality, self-deception, and existential resolve can scarcely be separated from one another any longer.

Evgenia Fölsche – performances & audio

Pianist Evgenia Fölsche shapes “Muth” with a clear, elastic pulse and dry articulation. The voice remains straight, direct, and deliberately unsentimental— the defiance sounds as energy, not as comfort.

Audio example: Muth with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore

Back to the Winterreise overview