Die Forelle

opening of Die Forelle

Franz Schubert composed his lively Lied "Die Forelle" (German for "The Trout") in the summer of 1817 for solo voice and piano. Eleven years later the Wiener Zeitung published it. On his fourth and final autograph of the song (i.e., the fourth time he wrote it out by hand), Schubert dedicated it to his friend Josef Hüttenbrenner. Only the last autograph contains the six-measure piano introduction.

The text is from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, originally published in the Schwäbischen Musenalmanach of 1783. In the Deutsch catalog of Schubert's works it is number 550, or D550. The original key is D-flat major. Hirsch describes its type in the Schubert lieder as a "lyrical song with admixtures of dramatic traits".

The poem was originally a warning to young women against being "caught" by "angling" young men. Schubert did not set the final lines of the poem, however, concentrating on a person's observation of the trout and the reaction to its being caught by a fisherman. Thus, Schubert's song "reflects both the life cycle of the earth and the progress from innocence to experience". The famous singer and author Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau believed that "the vividness of the imagery, with the alternate troubling and smoothing of the surface of the water along with the exuberance of the melody itself, account for the song's universal appeal.

Musical features

The piece is written with a Varied (or Modified) Strophic structure, meaning the "verse music" is generally the same, with one different verse. The melody evokes a "folklike naivete" that "delivers both delight and emotional power". The primary rhythmic figure in the piano accompaniment suggests the movement of the fish in the water. When the fisherman catches the trout, the music changes from major to minor and the flowing phrases are "broken by startled rests".

Other versions

The popularity of the song prompted Schubert to quote it in a set of variations in the fourth movement of his chamber work called the Trout Quintet (D.667), composed in 1819.

In 1846 it was transcribed and paraphrased by Franz Liszt in two versions for solo piano.

In popular culture

• The song was featured in Guy Ritchie's 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, where it is sung by Professor James Moriarty, accompanied by a record of the song. It is also used as an analogy for the conflict between Holmes and Moriarty with the fish representing Holmes and the fisherman being Moriarty (at the end Holmes flips the metaphor where it turns out the "trout" is actually a shark that eats the fisherman, symbolising Moriarty's defeat).
• This is the song the Samsung 5451 dryer "sings" when the load is dry.

References

• Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich; translated by Kenneth S. Whitton (1978). Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 105–107. ISBN 0-394-48048-1. 
• Hirsch, Marjorie Wing (1993). Schubert's Dramatic Lieder. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 96–97. ISBN 0-521-41820-8. 
• Reed, John (1985). The Schubert song companion. New York: Universe Books. pp. 159–160. ISBN 0-87663-477-3. 
• Ringer, Mark (2009). Schubert's Theater of Song: A Listener's Guide. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Amadeus Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-1-57467-176-6. 

External links

• Die Forelle, D.550: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Text and translations
• Musical version of the Schubert Lied - free recording (mp3)
• Full score and MIDI file at Mutopia