Dilettante Music

Schubert was a master at creating a mood in an instant and at telling a story in a constrained space of time with just the piano and voice. This very brief song is incredible in its conveying a complete drama in a very short span of time, without giving any feeling of rush or of missing parts. Rather, Schubert breaks down the story to its essentials and presents them to the listener in their most distilled form.

The song opens with quiet minor chords that immediately convey the mood of a funeral march. The mood changes to sudden near-hysteria as the maiden sees death approaching her, and begs it to leave her, she is still so young. The first theme plays again as death, in a soothing monotone for the first few bars, reassures her, saying that he has come as a friend, not to punish, and that in his arms she will sleep. The final word, "sleep" plunges down to a low D, as the song comes to an end. ~ All Music Guide