Like Fahrt zum Hades this is a relentless D minor journey to the
abyss, but the river of life is more turbulent than the viscous
depths of the Styx. For sheer harmonic audacity there is no
water music like this in all Schubert; it unleashes itself with
the power of a tightly coiled spring. A glance at the poem is
sufficient to see why the composer's predisposition towards
modulation is here given unbridled licence. The words 'krausen
Wogen' were obviously Schubert's starting point: the curling
waves lash against the climbing and plunging vocal line with
unruly abandon. There is a moment of comparative respite at the
beginning of the second verse as repeated As in the vocal line
burrow their way through a valley flanked by a bank of
semiquavers. The third verse with its dizzy modulations recalls
a similar passage in the Schiller setting Der Pilgrim - the
fruitless search for the answer to life is common to both songs.
On hearing the piano introduction with an innocent ear, Schubert
is not the first composer to