A feminist expansion on Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin”
“Focus more on doing what is really, really fun instead of doing all this stuff you hate because it’s what you’re supposed to do.”
I’m going to take good advice from my best confidante, so this blog post is going to be a little different, or rather, it will hearken back to Feminist Fridays because I’ve got something really, really fun to share. Pour yourself a glass of wine and put on your music history hats, folks. This is the blonde soprano version of Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus.
My favorite song cycle of all time is Die schöne Müllerin by Franz Schubert. To maximize our enjoyment of this Lieder lesson, let’s momentarily go to a vocab corner:
Song cycle: related songs intended to be performed as a complete set, tied together by narrative. In this way, I suppose an album like The Decemberists’ The Hazards of Love or, arguably, Taylor Swift’s Midnights would be good examples of a modern-day song cycle. Think of it as a concept album where performing the songs in a different order or omitting pieces would totally destroy the narrative.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was a prolific Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. You’ll notice he only lived until age 31– yikes! That means I would die this year if I were Schubert. However, he allegedly died from syphilis, for which we now have a cure. Phew! Unlike me, he composed over 600 Lieder (art songs) in his lifetime, for which he is most famous. However, saying he just wrote some art song is an understatement. The man revolutionized German art song and ushered in an era of musical romanticism that changed music forever— he basically invented the song cycle. Schubert also composed seven complete symphonies, sacred music (you’ve heard his Ave Maria at half the weddings you’ve attended), piano and chamber music, and even operas.
Lied (singular) and Lieder (plural) mean(s) art song(s). It’s strange to hear Germans talk about their favorite pop songs because they’ll say, “Oh, das ist mein Lieblingslied!” and I’m just like…“Lied? Mein Lieblingslied ist ‘Eifersucht und Stolz’ von ‘Die schöne Müllerin.’”
Incel: We haven’t gotten to this yet, but I’ll just give a definition now. The term incel, short for involuntary celibate, is used to describe an online subculture of dudes who identify as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Incels often express frustration, anger, resentment, and self-pity over their perceived inability to attract women, often shifting this blame onto those ladies who have rejected them. Many incels also hold misogynistic and violent views, exacerbated by sharing their experiences and feelings with each other on online forums and chat rooms (Reddit, anyone?). Incels often blame women for their lack of success in dating, and they may hold extreme views about gender roles and relationships. Some incels may even engage in online harassment or violence against women.
Werther: Not essential information, but I’ll give a quick background. The text of Werther is an entire blog post in itself. Werther is a fictional character from the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe also deserves his own post, but I don’t want everyone to stop reading now. Please keep reading!!!!! Werther falls in love with Charlotte, a woman already engaged to another man. Werther’s unrequited love and his ~romantic sensitivities~ lead him to despair and eventually suicide. There were lots of dudes driven to tragically end their own lives after the publication of the novel. For more on this: Werther effect or Copycat suicide.
Ready to really dig in?
The next question is what Die schöne Müllerin means. The title of Schubert’s groundbreaking song cycle, completed in 1823, usually translates to The Fair Maid of the Mill. Schubert expertly set 20 poems by Wilhelm Müller, who, interestingly, lived from 1794-1827, nearly identical to Schubert’s lifetime. In the Romantic period, it was typical for song composers to set established poetry to music. Thus, the period of literature and poetry usually preceded musical tastes. However, in this case, Schubert set a contemporary text. Müller also wrote the text for Winterreise— meaning Winter’s Journey– another of Schubert’s most famous works.
Die schöne Müllerin tells the story of a man who lives in my mind as The Wanderer as he comes upon a mill. He decides to inquire about employment, drawn in by The Brook and her beautiful surroundings. Nature is a pervasive theme in Romantic-era literature, art, and music, inspiring Schubert (and me) to cast The Brook as a character in his song cycle. Luckily for The Wanderer, The Miller seeks another apprentice and hires The Wanderer (an imagined part of the narrative, but stick with me) as an employee in his mill. Ah, to live in the 19th century. If only there weren’t so much cholera and racism, it would be perfect.
The Wanderer confides in The Brook, but his newfound work isn’t his only focus: The Miller also has a beautiful daughter. Schubert’s protagonist is completely transfixed by her beauty and how she says goodnight to him…and all the other apprentices. Driven mad with love (à la Werther!) he convinces himself that The Miller’s Daughter is also in love with him despite their forgettable interactions. In fact, The Miller’s Daughter only has one line in the entire original song cycle: in track 10, Tränenregen, she speaks: “The rain is coming. Bye. I’m going home.”
The Wanderer finds salvation in that one line: “She’s mine,” he sings triumphantly. Unfortunately, she’s been seeing The Hunter, unbeknownst to The Wanderer. When he finds out, she’s a slut. A whore. The Hunter will take her honor, surely! He doesn’t get her like he does. Girls never go for the “nice guys,” do they?
Jealousy and pride. The stupid green ribbon The Wanderer gave The Miller’s Daughter by The Brook. She took his ribbon. That beautiful color. That terrible color. Maybe it’s time to take a nap in The Brook forever. That’ll show her. The Brook sings a lullaby to our tragic, original incel as he drowns himself, hopeful that flowers will sprout from his grave as a reminder of his love.
And that’s the end.
Next to Werther, it’s one of the most iconic stories of the Romantic era. Unrequited love? Check. Nature? Check. Death? Check. Sturm und Drang??? I would argue, check.
It’s a masterpiece in every sense of the word. In one song cycle, Schubert and Müller wrote an opera, an opus, a hug, a slap in the face, a hangman’s noose. It’s not being able to get out of bed during a depressive state and a triumphant first-place finish after a marathon. Die schöne Müllerin is what it’s like to experience heartbreak, delusion, love, and hope all at once. Die schöne Müllerin is what it is to live and to love and to die. It’s perfect. Don’t let the incel community get ahold of Die schöne Müllerin.
I promised that term would come back around, didn’t I?
When I was in Madagascar in 2022, the artistic director asked me, “If you could create any project you wanted, what would it be?” I answered, “I don’t have any creative ideas.” I sipped my coffee. It tasted like my own failure and a slight burning in the beans. It tasted as stale as my stagnant mind.
Fine, let’s be honest. The coffee was fine; my brain was the problem.
I’ve cited this moment more than once as a turning point for me artistically, but now I’ll expand. Hours later, I replied, “My favorite song cycle is Schubert’s ‘Die schöne Müllerin.’ I’ve always wanted to somehow do it from the perspective of The Miller’s Daughter.”
I really couldn’t have imagined that just under two years later, I’d have created a chamber opera with award-winning composer Jodi Goble and Schubert himself, premiering through a gracious endowment from the Iowa Arts Council. The idea was mine, but through Jodi’s genius, my dream was written on paper. Schubert would be nary too impressed, given he wrote 600 Lieder by the time he was my age, but I have the advantage of modern medicine on my side. I’m not going to die from syphilis in the next year, mark my words. In fact, that’s my New Year’s Resolution.
Over the next few weeks, I will take some time to introduce everyone to what I think is the most perfect drama ever created and the feminist twist I imagined to honor Schubert 200 years after the composition was completed. What happened to The Miller’s Daughter as The Wanderer experienced heartbreak? Jodi and I had great fun imagining— I don’t think this would offend Franz. Truly, Schubert was no incel. I’d like to remind everyone once more he died from syphilis. He was fine. The man knew how to write a Romantic song cycle, and I didn’t take that out of our interpretation.
Die schöne Müllerin is a tragedy for The Wanderer, so it was important to me to make it a tragedy for The Miller’s Daughter, too. The Miller’s Daughter becomes a feminist tale simply by centering a woman’s narrative. What was the most tragic outcome for a woman before the feminist movement? Was it heartbreak? Not getting married was certainly terrifying, as it significantly lowered a woman’s standing in society, but heartbreak? I think not.
No, it was a lack of power. Agency. Choice. Our Miller’s Daughter has a choice to make, which The Wanderer was too selfish to see. Spoiler alert: the choice isn’t The Hunter versus The Wanderer– most women’s decisions are much more complicated than the choice between two men. Even in the 1800s, The Miller’s Daughter had considerable agency as the daughter of a merchant. While she wasn’t royalty, she wasn’t a pauper, either. The Miller’s Daughter craves love and adventure– just like The Wanderer. Two parallel narratives.
The world premiere of The Miller’s Daughter by Jodi Goble, Victoria Erickson, and our pal Schubert premieres at Iowa State University on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at 7:30 in the Martha Tye Recital Hall.
Featuring:
The Miller’s Daughter: Victoria Erickson, soprano
The Wanderer: Mario Arevalo, tenor
The Hunter: Craig Irvin, baritone
The Miller: Chad Sonka, baritone
The Brook and The Apprentices are sung by members of the ISU Opera Studio.
More to come. Have a great week.
-Victoria