Die Wetterfahne

Die Wetterfahne is the second song in schuberts song cycle Winterreise composed by Franz Schubert. The song cycle tells the story of a man who goes on a journey in winter because his lover's feelings have wandered elsewhere . He experiences many different feelings throughout the jounrey expressed in each song such as when he notices a crow flying above him ponders in why it is there and thinks it is waiting for him to die or in Die Post when he hears the post horn sound and he becomes excited because it reminds him of receiving letters from his beloved. Die Wetterfahne describes how he looks at the house where his beloved stayed and the weather vane is blowing in the wind pointing him away from the house. Understanding he has lost her, he makes his way out of the town onward on his journey. The piano accompaniment could be describing 2 things; the gust of wind blowing the weather or the weathervane itself or both. The piano part has a recurring theme in which the anacrusis of each bar is 3 semi-quavers followed by a calming 3 quavers. the 3 semi-quavers feel like a short blast of wind which blows the weather vane then the quaver passages feel like there is a temporary cease in the blowing of the wind. The use of rubato reinforces the feeling of the wind being unpredictable. The voice and piano are in unison for the first sentence of the song. The sentence describes how he is looking up at the weathervane being blown on by the wind. The music ascends here which gives the impression of the man slowly looking up towards the weathervane. The first two bars ascend and descend throughout the phrase. I feel this describes weathervane twirling side to sidebye the wind but then by bar 9 it continues to rise as if the wind has settled on a direction. I believe this could represent the indecisiveness of how his beloved had moved on from him. This phrase ends with a fermata as if the man has a moment of thought but them the weathervane and wind start up again with the 3 semi-quaver piano anacrusis and leads to a brief key change to the relative major. In bar 12 the second chord creates interest. The bflat in the bass makes the chord sound dissonant and unsure. It feels as though it should go to the A natural to make is a diminished 7th chord. The words above this chord are describing how the man has become delusional in thinking the weathervane is

whistling to him. The delusion is word painted with this strange chord. The rhythm at 16-23 in the voice becomes more complex and has a lot more movement. The diminished intervals at the start of 16- 18 make the man sound like he is frustrated. The first line "Er hatt es eher bemer ken sollen (If he had seen it before)" The man is speaking in third person to his self which someone would do if they were frustrated with themself. He regrets ever getting involved with the woman. The ascending phrase in the music ends with a quick flourish of semi-quavers which heighten the drama of the man resentful and angry feelings towards the woman. In bar 26 the opening vocal line returns, this time with the accompaniment being an octave lower. There is also an extra fermata before the end of the phrase. Schubert keeps the listener held in suspense on the eflat which is the highest note in the phrase. The opening melody is used again because the words are similar. Instead of the man describing the wind playing with the weathervane, he states that the wind is effecting his beloved's heart. The words after the fermata are, 'But not so loudly' , which implies that no one understands that he loved her except him only. The last line of the song is full of bitterness towards the girl and her family. He thinks to himself, 'What is my suffering to them? Their child is a rich bride.' In each line this appears the accompaniment changes from the flowing wind to bold chords which seem to represent a false sense of boldness and arrogance from the man as if he was tossing his feelings to the side and not caring about the girl. These two last lines are repeated with varying music each time. The second time the line, 'Der wind spielt drinnen mit den Herzen ,

wie auf dem dach nur nicht so laut' ,is sung, there are trills in the accompaniment like a sudden force of wind but still pianissimo which continues to the last line which continues with the bold chords and ends with an ascending scale with a perfect cadence. This once again reinforces the man's false sense of arrogance and comfort towards not listening to his true feelins about the girl. This does not last long though for as he makes his way on his journey, the eerie wind slowly picks back up and ends with dying trills.