Der Wanderer

By Franz Schubert

Introduction

I performed this piece at the Spring 2024 Kathryne Jenning’s (Stanford) Studio Recital.

“Der Wanderer” is a song composed by Franz Schubert with lyrics by Georg Philipp Schmidt. The song reflects the feelings of a wanderer who is searching for the place he used to belong, expressing a deep sense of longing and melancholy. The wanderer describes the coldness and emptiness he feels in the world around him and his yearning for the past land where he felt at home. The song’s haunting melody and poignant lyrics capture the essence of the wanderer’s eternal quest for happiness and belonging. The final line echoed back to the wanderer, “There, where you [the wanderer] are not, there is happiness,” underscores the wanderer’s belief that true happiness is always out of reach, existing only in places where he is not.

Video

Lyrics + Translation

German Lyrics	English Translation
Ich komme vom Gebirge her, Es dampft das Tal, es braust das Meer. Ich wandle still, bin wenig froh, Und immer fragt der Seufzer: wo?	I come from the mountains, The valley steams, the sea roars. I wander silently, am somewhat sad, And always sighs: where?
Die Sonne dünkt mich hier so kalt, Die Blüte welk, das Leben alt, Und was sie reden, leerer Schall, Ich bin ein Fremdling überall.	The sun seems so cold here, The flowers wilted, life old, And what they say, empty sound, I am a stranger everywhere.
Wo bist du, mein geliebtes Land? Gesucht, geahnt und nie gekannt! Das Land, das Land, so hoffnungsgrün, Das Land, wo meine Rosen blühn,	Where are you, my beloved land? Searched for, sensed, and never known! The land, the land, so full of hope, The land where my roses bloom,
Wo meine Freunde wandeln gehn, Wo meine Toten auferstehn, Das Land, das meine Sprache spricht, O Land, wo bist du?	Where my friends walk, Where my dead rise again, The land that speaks my language, O land, where are you?
Ich wandle still, bin wenig froh, Und immer fragt der Seufzer: wo? Im Geisterhauch tönt’s mir zurück: „Dort, wo du nicht bist, dort ist das Glück!“	I wander silently, am somewhat sad, And always sighs: where? In the ghostly breath it sounds back to me: "There, where you are not, there is happiness!"