from: Eight Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 6
Text: Friedrich Nietzsche
First written copy
1905
Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien
The first verse describes the wanderer’s nocturnal roaming. The second describes details of an interruption by birdsong which – he believes – intends to distract him from his journey. In the third section, the bird informs the wanderer that his song only finds him a companion and nothing else. In the fourth section the bird contemplates why the wanderer has come to a halt. A low, rhythmic motif heard in the introduction dominates the first section of the song and returns in the final section. The middle sections contrast with the outer sections in their texts, motifs, and harmony.