Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe
“In der Fremde” (2) (opening: “Ich hör’ die Bächlein rauschen”) is Song No. 8 from Robert Schumann’s cycle Liederkreis op. 39 after Joseph von Eichendorff. The poem feels its way through nocturnal signs of nature — little brooks, nightingales, moonlit shimmer — and holds the soul in a floating placelessness. Schumann responds with strophic brevity, a breathing middle register, and a harmony that makes “not knowing where I am” audible.
The Poem (Joseph von Eichendorff)
From: Poems – “In der Fremde” (variant “Ich hör’ die Bächlein rauschen”)
Ich hör’ die Bächlein rauschen
Im Walde her und hin,
Im Walde in dem Rauschen
Ich weiß nicht, wo ich bin.
Die Nachtigallen schlagen
Hier in der Einsamkeit,
Als wollten sie was sagen
Von der alten, schönen Zeit.
Die Mondesschimmer fliegen,
Als säh’ ich unter mir
Das Schloß im Tale liegen,
Und ist doch so weit von hier!
Work Data & Overview
- Composer: Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
- Cycle: Liederkreis op. 39 (Eichendorff), No. 8
- Text source: Joseph von Eichendorff (1788–1857)
- Origin (composition): May 1840 (year of song); first published 1842
- Tonal space / notation: muted minor/modal character, calm figuration, short postlude gesture
- Tempo indications: Calmly moving; sustainable middle register, little external rubato
- Duration: approx. 1½–2 minutes; contemplative nocturnal miniature
- Scoring: voice (various ranges) and piano
- Form: strophic (3 stanzas) with fine variation; short fading postlude
Data on the poem
- Poet: Joseph von Eichendorff
- Stanza form: 3 stanzas of 4 lines each (Schumann sets these three)
- Rhyme scheme: cross rhyme (ABAB)
- Devices: nature-sound synaesthesia (rustling, nightingale, moonlit shimmer), motif of placelessness
Origins & Contexts
The second “In der Fremde” in the cycle contrasts with No. 1 (“Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot”): here there is no biographical summing-up, but a momentary snapshot — hearing, seeing, non-place. Schumann places these sensory impressions into a delicate sonic skin that does not dramatise lostness but preserves it.
Within the cycle, the song stands after the rigid time-image of Auf einer Burg (No. 7) and before Wehmut (No. 9) — a transitional space from outer image to inner resonance.
Performance Practice & Reception
Sound idea: p–mp, syllabic cantabile, clear diction; piano legato with sparing pedal changes (clarity before “forest mist”). Set “Ich weiß nicht, wo ich bin” calmly — as a fact, not as drama.
Reference Recordings (Selection)
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – Christoph Eschenbach
- Elly Ameling – Dalton Baldwin
- Christian Gerhaher – Gerold Huber
- Ian Bostridge – Julius Drake
- Matthias Goerne – Christoph Eschenbach
Analysis – Music
Night Pulse & Placelessness
The accompaniment flows like a little brook; the voice remains speech-like and slender. Harmonic undertones (modally coloured) avoid any firm “arrival” — not-being-in-a-place becomes a principle of sound.
Strophic Form & Moon-Shimmer
Stanza 1 establishes the rustling (hearing); stanza 2 opens toward memory (nightingale); stanza 3 allows the strongest pictorial quality (moon/castle) — a brief upward glance, then a fading away in the postlude. No pathos climax, but suspension.
Visual Representation
Artistic visualisation by Evgenia Fölsche:
High above a
mist-covered valley,
a wanderer stands
on a wooded height.
Beside him
a small mountain stream
rushes down the slope
between stones,
roots,
and dark
fir trees.
The valley below him
is almost entirely
veiled
by a dense layer
of cloud.
The river,
winding through
the landscape
deep below,
remains invisible.
Only from this
sea of mist
does a distant castle
rise,
lit by pale
moonlight
like an unreal
apparition.
Above the scene,
a nightingale
flies through
the still air.
Its song
seems to fill
the forest
as much as
the murmur
of the brook.
The image captures
the peculiar suspension
of the song:
a landscape
between reality
and memory,
between orientation
and lostness.
The wanderer looks
downward
and seems
to see a castle
lying in the valley —
and yet the vision
remains distant,
indistinct,
and unreachable.
Schumann’s music,
too,
traces this atmosphere.
The flowing movements
in the piano
recall the murmur
of the little brooks
and the wind
in the forest,
while the vocal line
wanders across
the nocturnal landscape
like a searching gaze.
Nature thus becomes
the mirror
of an inner
experience:
estrangement,
longing,
and the intimation
of a distant,
almost dreamlike
world
that reveals itself
only for a moment
in the moonlight.
Analysis – Poetry
This second “In der Fremde” unfolds a different mood from the opening song of the cycle. Here the centre is not existential lostness, but hovering memory. Nature becomes the resonant space of inner disorientation.
Stanza 1 – Lost in sound
Ich hör’ die Bächlein rauschen
Im Walde her und hin,
Im Walde in dem Rauschen
Ich weiß nicht, wo ich bin.
The poem begins acoustically. It is not sight, but hearing that shapes perception. The little brooks rustle “here and there” — directionless, circling.
The repeated “Im Walde” intensifies the sense of enclosure. The forest is not a space of paths, but a space of sound. The final line states the consequence: orientation is lost — not only spatially, but existentially.
Stanza 2 – The call of the past
Die Nachtigallen schlagen
Hier in der Einsamkeit,
Als wollten sie was sagen
Von der alten, schönen Zeit.
The nightingale — traditionally a symbol of love — sounds out here in “solitude.” Its song seems meaningful, almost speech-like.
The birds point toward “the old, beautiful time.” The past appears transfigured, yet it remains indirect: only in “Als wollten sie,” in the mode of possibility.
Memory is audible, but not graspable.
Stanza 3 – Vision and distance
Die Mondesschimmer fliegen,
Als säh’ ich unter mir
Das Schloß im Tale liegen,
Und ist doch so weit von hier!
Moonlight creates a vision. Again the subjunctive appears: “As though I saw.” The image of the castle appears like a dream.
The castle symbolises origin, home, perhaps childhood. But the final line breaks the illusion: “And yet it is so far from here!”
Nearness and distance fall apart. Fremdheit is not merely a place, but a state of being cut off from one’s own past.
Meaning & Effect within the Cycle
This second “In der Fremde” deepens the motif of inner uprootedness in Liederkreis op. 39. Nature speaks, sounds, beckons — yet it does not lead home.
The poem lives from suspended states: dream and reality, nearness and distance, memory and present. Everything appears in the subjunctive, as intimation.
Schumann’s setting takes up this shimmering uncertainty. The music is mobile, yet never firmly grounded. It makes uncertainty audible without breaking into overt drama.
Thus there emerges an image of romantic estrangement: home lives on within — but as a distant vision, not as a reachable place.
Evgenia Fölsche – Performances & Audio
Pianist Evgenia Fölsche reads “In der Fremde” (2) as a piece of placelessness: elastic pulse, hardly any vibrato, text to the fore; the moon-stanza opens only briefly — the postlude closes like a gentle curtain.
Frequently Asked Questions about “In der Fremde” (Liederkreis op. 39, No. 8)
Click on a question to show the answer.
Are there multiple “In der Fremde” songs in the cycle?
Yes. No. 1 (“Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot”) and No. 8 (“Ich hör’ die Bächlein rauschen”) set two different Eichendorff poems.
Does Schumann use the fourth stanza (“Meine Liebste … tot”)?
No. Schumann sets the three stanzas printed here; longer poem versions with a fourth stanza belong to other textual traditions.
How loud and how fast?
Calmly moving, with a basic dynamic of p–mp. Micro-dynamics on key words rather than large arches; no pathos on “Ich weiß nicht, wo ich bin.”
Interpretive tip?
Change the pedal often so that the “rustling” remains clear; brighten the moon/castle image briefly — then immediately withdraw again.
