"Der Leiermann" (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man) is the final song of Franz Schubert's Winterreise (Winter Journey), D.911, composed in 1827. The text is by Wilhelm Müller. It is one of the most extraordinary endings in all of music literature.
The wanderer, at the end of his desolate winter journey, encounters an old hurdy-gurdy player standing barefoot on the ice, his begging plate forever empty, ignored by all. The piano imitates the droning of the hurdy-gurdy with an ostinato open fifth in the left hand — a sound that is at once hypnotic and chilling in its emptiness. The vocal line is stark and modal, stripped of all Romantic ornament, as the wanderer asks: "Strange old man, shall I go with you? Will you play your hurdy-gurdy to my songs?"
This final question — left unanswered — is one of the most haunting moments in the entire song repertoire. The hurdy-gurdy man has been interpreted as a symbol of death, of artistic alienation, or of the ultimate outsider. The music's radical simplicity and emotional devastation make it a profoundly moving conclusion to what many consider the greatest song cycle ever composed.
Composed in
1827
Catalog
D.911
Source
Public Domain
